How to Cultivate Your “Personal Power” as a Leader

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We carefully curate this feed from across the HBR portfolio, aiming to help you unlock your next level of leadership. I hope you enjoy the episode. Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast from Harvard Business Review. I'm Alison Beard. We all know the stereotypes of leaders who use charisma, manipulation, domineering behavior, or their status in the hierarchy to exert control. But when you think about the people in your organization who actually command the most respect and have true power over their teams, the business, and their careers, who comes to mind? Our guest today has spent years studying the second type of leader, people who've developed and display personal power that's not necessarily related to their position on the org chart. He's investigated what this kind of power is, where it comes from, and how it can enhance our lives. And he's developed some simple strategies and tools to help us tap into our own personal power. Chris Lipp is a professor at Tulane's Freeman School of Business, an executive coach, and author of the new book, The Science of Personal Power. Chris, thanks so much for joining me. My pleasure. Thank you. Let's start by defining personal power. What exactly is it, and how does it relate to formal power hierarchies or status in the workplace? Personal power is our belief in our own capability to create impact. And this is why I think it's such an interesting topic, is a lot of books, they're very, sometimes it feels like it's very Machiavellian, where you need to practice certain behaviors that don't make you feel good on the inside as they are getting you success on the outside. On the flip side, you've got all these, you know, self-help books and a lot of great literature on developing ourselves, but they don't necessarily lead to results on the outside. And it just makes sense that why shouldn't psychology be evolved, that what makes us successful on the outside is also what makes us feel good on the inside. And personal power really plays into that. So it's behaviors that when you have a greater belief in yourself, in your capacity to create impact, you naturally radiate these qualities outward, and people take these signals and then give you more respect as a result. Okay, so let's dig into what you've learned so far about where personal power comes from and how you can cultivate it. Personal power really has three foundations. It's a sense of control, a sense of agency, or what I say is an internal orientation towards ourselves, responding to inner signals versus external signals, and then a focus on action. And when you look at those who act courageous, for example, those who are whistleblowers, they tend to exude these exact three qualities. And so a lot of what I write about in the book and how you can capture your own power, personal power, tap into it, is really through these three vehicles. And so if it starts inside each of us, you know, with feeling in control, internally oriented, focused on action, how do we get there on all three of those counts, especially if, you know, we feel like we're coming from a relatively powerless place and like don't necessarily have a lot of autonomy at work, for example? Sense of control, for example, is taking responsibility over the environment. And you're right, in lower positions within a formal hierarchy, for example, we have less control. It's just the environment. However, those who feel a greater sense of personal power tend to see things, even if they're not in their control objectively, tend to say, oh yeah, I do have some impact on this in some way. They see the angle through which they have control. Or they simply see their control over their own ability to respond to the situation. For example, their control over their emotions. Control is a very big, important one, but one that I really want to share, and I think this is super powerful, is there's a lot, today there are a lot of people who feel unmotivated at work and they're, you know, they feel disempowered. And how do I get out of an environment that's already disempowering me into an environment where I'll feel more empowered? Well, the way to get into those environments, for example, the way to go up the hierarchy, is to tap your personal power. The research is super clear that many of the behaviors that you radiate outward when you step into your power are behaviors that people see as more leaderly. They're more likely to promote you to management leadership positions as a result. Okay, so then how do we do it, right, when we're disempowered? Researchers have found a very simple way to do it is not to affirm your capability, but to affirm your values. When you affirm your values, a couple of things happen. Number one, it focuses you internally on what's important to you. So you begin to experience that agency again. Number two is it reframes your perspective into the bigger picture. Naturally, when people begin to think more abstractly, that's associated with greater personal power versus more concretely, which is associated with less personal power. So what they found is if you go, for example, 20 minutes before an interview, if you sit down and you write out from a list of values, you pick your top values, and then for four to five minutes, you write about why this one value is important to your life. Not necessarily to the job, but to your life. Doing nothing else, no interview skills, no better resume, doing nothing else. If you affirm that value for four minutes, when you walk into the interview, you're almost twice as likely to get the job. And it's just because you're focused on yourself, your own strengths, your own beliefs, and that comes out when you're speaking to the other person? When you are tapped into yourself and you have that big picture perspective, people subconsciously evaluate you as a more powerful, more effective leader, for example. And so they're more likely, for example, in an organization, they're more likely to promote you. But in an interview, they're more likely to see, wow, this person will bring a lot of value to the organization. And so you talk also about the importance of giving as a way to build and exhibit personal power. And I totally get that piece of why delivering value to others is important. It's sort of that's how you build trust. It's how you build credibility. It's how you persuade people you're competent. But how do you make sure that you translate that into actual power rather than just being the workhorse? Personal power really has two dimensions when we look at the behaviors and the communication. Number one is, of course, giving. And we know this. I mean, every organizational book will tell you to add value to your organization and the importance of that, which is critical. It actually is critical. In fact, hierarchies are based around your value add, not necessarily your dominance. But, you know, people pleasers don't rule the world. Right. Because if a person has power over their environment and we see that, then we know that they can actually act in service to us. Whereas somebody who's powerless, even if they're all for us and everything, they're just powerless. And so they can't influence and they can't add value to the organization. And what happens then? OK, so I had this happen to a colleague. She was negotiating for a job and they made her an offer that was significantly under market. And so she's like she confided in me. She's like, with this salary, it's going to be a real struggle to take care of my family. But at the same time, she was very nervous and very scared of pushing back because she felt, you know, what if they don't like me? What if they rescind the offer? And fear is one of the hallmarks of the low power mindset or more specifically reacting to fear. And so I told her, you got to push back, but she didn't. And she ended up accepting the low offer. Now, it's kind of a mistaken belief to think that if you push back, people will like you less. What the research actually suggests is powerful people are focused on fairness. And when others observe you wanting fair treatment, people will give you more power. They will perceive you to have more power. So by pushing back on an offer, particularly under market and asking for a more fair compensation, what you do is you exhibit more personal power, which makes you more valuable, which then in the mind of the interviewer makes them more justified in giving you what you want. Right. That's a virtuous circle. So that push and pull, sort of the giving, but then the also taking or self-assertion is very important. Getting that balance right. And certainly being assertive is what we expect from powerful people. But how do you make sure that you do it in a way that isn't off-putting, especially when you don't have a lot of formal power or, you know, as you described with your friend, you're coming from a demographic group that might be penalized for assertiveness. For example, you're a woman or a person of color. It really comes Spend your time talking to candidates who are actually a good fit. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash onleadership. Terms and conditions apply. Is it fair to say that personal power needs to be exercised differently in different contexts at work? You know, if you're dealing with a boss versus an employee or in small groups versus large ones? The foundations of personal power are the same. The expressions of personal power may differ on the situation. And so that's why in the book, you know, I address both the theory and the application with a lot of different examples to ensure that people understand, okay, well, this is the root, right? Sense of control and responsibility, internal orientation, and action. Now, here's this unique situation. How do these pillars apply? So yes, you're absolutely right. And you have already shared some great stories, but let's talk about some of the famous examples in the book from the business world. The Rune Arledge, Bob Iger one from very early in Bob Iger's media career before he became CEO of Disney was one that really stuck with me because it was counterintuitive. You wonder how these people, for example, Bob Iger, how do these guys go from being like at the very bottom of the hierarchy to the tip top, right? CEO of Disney today. And I was very curious about this. This actually was part of what led into my exploration of personal power. And so there's the situation you're mentioning, right? Back at ABC Sports, Rune Arledge was head of ABC Sports. I think this is like back in the 70s when Bob Iger was just basically a kid. Rune Arledge was the inventor of Monday Night Football, big mogul in sports broadcasting. He invented instant replay and these things. But ABC Sports missed a world record event in the mile. So Monday morning he has an all hands meeting and he walks into that room and he just starts shouting. Everybody's really embarrassed and nobody's making eye contact, right? And we all know that there's this idiom in business, which is in order to get ahead, you want to associate yourself with wins and distance yourself from failures. And so Rune Arledge, he looks at everybody and he's like, whose fault is this? And the whole room is just silent, right? And Bob Iger then from the very back, he raises his hand and he's like, yeah, that was me. Rune just stared at him. And then the conversation moved on. And the way Bob Iger tells the story, he says, you know, every time I saw Rune in the hallway, he treated me differently with more respect. So he gained power by admitting his mistake. A sense of control is part of what's power. So imagine this. If by taking responsibility, what you communicate implicitly is that you have control over the situation. Now you might've made a mistake, but it's within your power to correct. Whereas if you blame or if you do not take responsibility, right? Blaming is often the way we do it. What we're communicating implicitly to the audience is I had no control over that situation. There's been a lot of research on this. And when managers see others, including other managers, take responsibility, they see them as more trustworthy. They see them as more likable, more respected. And when other people do not take responsibility, they were less likable, less respected, less managerial. And you also talked about Andy Grove, Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates in their heydays. You know, all very domineering leaders, but also very successful at getting the best from their people. I think because you, as you explained, it was in service to this sort of greater ambition or goal. One pushback on that would be to say like, well, those guys were geniuses. They were at the top of their field. Does that really work for everyone? Nelson Mandela spent 30 years in prison and became the president of South Africa. So to suggest that, you know, these people had something special and unique. I mean, you could say Nelson Mandela had something special about him, but he did. And what he had special was his personal power. A lot of people point to privilege. Maybe Steve Jobs had that. But no, it wasn't because he was a founder or anything. He just had power. And that's what made him powerful. Was he a genius? I know a lot of geniuses, and I'm sure you do too, who don't get a lot of recognition. Right. They don't get respect. As a listener, you might know that you are have really intelligent ideas, but nobody takes you seriously. And this this is actually my own story. And I studied engineering at UC Berkeley. And when I got out into the engineering world, of course, you know, I had been at this university where my everything was brain. Like I was just like thinking, thinking. And so then I get into the business world and suddenly people aren't aren't listening to me. Right. This is why I wrote two books on persuasion before power, because I thought, well, persuasion must be the vehicle for for me to really make my voice heard, which, of course, persuasion is such a powerful tool. But it's also more than that. If you are in an environment where you are communicating disempowerment, no matter how persuasive you are, people just won't take you seriously. Powerless words are powerless no matter how persuasive they are. So ultimately, back to your question, you know, what about intelligence? I don't think the research supports that. If you were to look at all the intelligent people in the world, I think you would find very little correlation between their ability to rise to the top versus others. Let's talk a bit more about meetings, because that is where power dynamics often show up in a work group. Are there any other tips that you have for how to show up in a more powerful way, whether you're the person leading the meeting or the least senior person there? There's some great research that shows the different status levels within meetings, low status, medium and high. And low status is really focused on being liked, like being accepted and getting a sense of belonging within the group. And the way that this tends to take sort of the extreme version is, you know, you've got the joker or the clown. And then you've got and there's nothing wrong with telling jokes and stuff. I do that all the time. But it's like if that's your role, right, that's not so good. Or if you're taking menial tasks like getting coffee, you know, any of these roles that are kind of stereotypical. I want to belong to the group, so I'm going to show how much I care about everybody or whatnot. It's kind of a low status role. Medium status role really focuses on on adding value. So that's, you know, discussing problems, offering solutions, these things. Very powerful, right? Medium status is not a place of disempowerment. It's a good place. But they found that people on the highest status, they added value, but they also did something different, which is they also guided the flow of the conversation itself. So they weren't just a cog in the machine. They were actually directing the efforts of the machine. And yeah, mostly that takes the one way that we tend to think about that stereotypically is literally like, let's go to the next agenda item. What's the next item? And then address the item, get feedback from the group. So let's say, for example, that you're not the expert in the room. Okay, so how do you, what can you, how can you contribute in a meeting where you're not the expert, but it's full of other experts? And I actually got this advice from Maggie Neal over at Stanford. She's a Stanford faculty in the Graduate School of Business there. And she said, one of the most impactful things you can do in that situation is to moderate the meeting. You begin to take control of the flow of the conversation, not in service to yourself, right? That kind of person who's like, look at me, but actually the moderator is almost the opposite. The moderator is like, what do you think? What do you think? What do you think? And then they take all these ideas. They might write ideas. They write it on a whiteboard. They synthesize it for the group and then they offer maybe that synthesize back. And that role is very valuable to the group. So if you're in that situation where you aren't the expert or you're not quite sure how to contribute or you just want more status, see how you can moderate the meeting, not just contribute to it. Yeah. And it also shows curiosity, right? And you're empowering others because you're asking their opinions. So I think as a journalist, I've always found that I'm most successful in conversations when I'm steering them, but only by asking other people questions. Absolutely. In the book, I write about this concept, what I call the spotlight principle. And when we think about, for example, who has more power and you put a spotlight down, right? Is it the person in the spotlight or the person in the darkness who has the most power? And of course, the person in the darkness doesn't really have any power, right? So everybody says, oh, it's the person in the spotlight. That's actually not. The person who has the most power in a room is the person controlling the spotlight. So what if you are managing someone who you think has a lot of potential but is really struggling to develop these personal power skills? How can you help as a boss? Well, you could, for example, give them more autonomy. But a few things. One is it behooves leaders to share goals with their subordinates, their employees, not to micromanage and necessarily give all the concrete details. But in doing that, without giving the