Via Stanford Graduate School of Business

“So I think power does make people uncomfortable. I don’t think power is the last dirty secret. I think it’s the secret to success.

I say all the time that the Stanford Business School’s motto is “Change lives, change organizations, change the world.” If change were going to happen without the exertion of power and influence, it would have happened already. If we’re going to in fact change lives, change organizations, and change the world, we’re going to need power.”

— “Power” Fireside Chat: Professor Jeff Pfeffer and Dean Jon Levin, watch at 3:24

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Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business has spent over four decades studying power, and his view is blunt: “I don’t think power is the last dirty secret; I think it’s the secret to success.”

His book Seven Rules of Power lays out seven rules, some counterintuitive enough to be worth examining closely.

1. Get out of your own way.

Stop self-sabotaging through imposter syndrome, self-deprecating language, or reluctance to embrace ambition. You choose which adjectives define you.

Pfeffer tells of a woman at a tech company who described herself as “the only woman, the youngest person, and the one with the least seniority.” He offered three alternatives: “the most analytically skilled, the only one who graduated from a prestigious business school, and the person who ran the project that made the most money.” Six adjectives. You get to pick which three.

2. Break the rules.

The status quo exists for a reason. If you want to change things, you have to be willing to disturb the equilibrium, whether in social movements or business strategy.

The late US representative John Lewis used to say “get into good trouble.” Martin Luther King wrote his famous letter from Birmingham Jail. Nelson Mandela became the father of South Africa while imprisoned. In business, the same principle applies: Southwest Airlines redefined turnaround times, Whole Foods sold food people actually wanted to eat, Apple built a closed ecosystem in elegant designs. None of them succeeded by doing what everyone else was already doing.

3. Show up in powerful fashion.

Confidence is often mistaken for competence. Great leaders are great actors. Project certainty, because showing up uncertain drives away customers, employees, and investors.

Andy Grove of Intel was candid about this: “Oftentimes at Intel I didn’t know what I was doing, but you have to act like you do. Because if you show up and say ‘I have no idea what we’re doing’—the customers are going to leave, the employees are going to leave, the investors are going to leave.”

4. Create a powerful brand.

Stand for something with a succinct, integrated story that connects your past, present, and future. Consistency is the brand.

Pfeffer’s own brand is a case in point. Friends from his private school days will tell you he was a troublemaker then. He still is. That’s his brand, and it’s been consistent across a forty-year academic career that includes books many in the leadership industry would rather not have written.

5. Network relentlessly.

Leadership is getting things done through other people. The more people you know, the more you can accomplish. Networking isn’t optional; it’s the work.

Pfeffer frames this as a simple equation: if your job is defined as getting things done through other people, the size and quality of your network directly determines what you can accomplish. The math isn’t complicated. It’s just uncomfortable for people who’d rather be judged on individual merit alone.

6. Use your power.

When someone puts you in a role with authority, they expect you to do something. Nobody made you Dean or CEO to do nothing.

When Amir Rubin took over Stanford Healthcare, he used his authority. After about three years, 70% of the people three levels down were different. That same willingness to act, to move the right people onto the bus, later defined his leadership at One Medical, which Amazon acquired.

7. Understand that once you have acquired power, what you did to get it will be forgiven, forgotten, or both.

Success creates its own legitimacy. Once you achieve results, people revise their opinions, sometimes dramatically.

Pfeffer points to Lindsey Graham. Once the “ultimate never-Trumper,” Graham is now one of Trump’s strongest supporters. But this rule doesn’t just apply to politicians. When it became clear Trump would actually use presidential power extensively, many business leaders who had opposed him changed their positions too. Pfeffer’s conclusion: “Once you’re successful, you’ll have more friends than you want.”

The discomfort people feel around power is exactly why most people don’t acquire it, much to their own detriment. And Pfeffer is pointed about who pays that price most: people who start with structural disadvantages need these rules more than those born into privilege. They are learnable skills. It is never too late to start. The only question is whether you decide to learn them.

Practical Things to Try

Reframe Your Self-Description:

• List adjectives you currently use to describe yourself, especially those emphasizing what you lack.
• Create an alternative list of adjectives highlighting your strengths, unique skills, and accomplishments.
• Practice introducing yourself using the empowering descriptors instead of self-deprecating ones.

Build Your Personal Brand:

• Write a one-sentence description of what you stand for that integrates your past, present, and future.
• Identify 2-3 characteristics that have been consistent throughout your life.
• Test your brand statement with trusted colleagues to see if it resonates.

Act with Confidence:

• Identify one situation this week where you feel uncertain but need to project confidence.
• Prepare what confident body language, tone, and word choice look like for that situation.
• Practice acting “as if” you’re completely certain, even when you’re not.

Network Strategically:

• List 5-10 people who would be valuable to know for your current goals.
• For each person, identify a specific way to meet them or get an introduction.
• Reach out to at least one person this week.

Stop Seeking Excessive Approval:

• Identify one decision you’ve been delaying because you’re worried about being liked.
• Ask yourself: “What would I do if my job was to get results, not win a popularity contest?”
• Make the decision based on effectiveness, not likability.

Use Your Current Power:

• List the authority and influence you currently have in your role.
• Identify one change you’ve been hesitating to make despite having the power to make it.
• Take action on that change this week.