You open your book by stating that “power is misunderstood.” Describe what you call the three pernicious fallacies about power.
My co-author [Harvard Business School Professor] Julie Battilana and I have conducted extensive research on power and change around the world, and on this journey, we have found strikingly common misconceptions in how people think about power. The first myth is that power is a ‘thing’ that someone possesses, and that there are special traits that give power to some people and not to others. The reality is that power is always relative: You can have great influence in one relationship and be completely dependent in another.
Second, power and authority are not the same. When we ask people to think about individuals who they consider powerful, the vast majority mention those high up in a formal hierarchy, whether it be CEOs, world leaders or bosses of different stripes. But authority is no guarantee of power, and nor do you need to be high in a hierarchy to have power. For example, in our research we have found that the most effective changemakers in organizations are not necessarily the people at the top, but instead those whom others go to for advice.
The third fallacy — and perhaps the most common one — is that power is somehow ‘dirty business’ and should be avoided so you don’t get sullied by it. But contrary to popular belief, power isn’t intrinsically good or bad, and it doesn’t have to be acquired via manipulation or cruelty. These misconceptions are harmful because they prevent us from understanding how power works in our lives — and make
