Eight Personal Qualities that Build Power

Hard to do research on “personal qualities “

The two big categories are skill & will

1–>Ambition
Success requires effort and hard work as well as persistence
• requires some driving ambition

The desire for career success help the individual with contorlllign their emotions and relentless focus


2–>energy

Energy does three things that help build influence
1) energy is contagious
LBJ is famous for overusing his two aids
“Your hard work signals that the job is important, people pick up on that signal , or the opposite” “people are more likely to expend their effort if you are too”

2)energy and the long hours permits an advantage in getting things accomplished

Social psychologist Dean Simonton : spent 25 years studying the determinants of genius

“Individuals differences in performance in a wide diversity of talent dominos can be largely attributed to the number of hours devoted to the direct acquisition fo he necessary knowledge and skill”

Having the energy to work help you the master the subject more quickly is an advantage



3) expending great energy signals a high degree of organization commitment and loyalty


EXERCISE: SPEND ENERGY TO GET ENERGY





3—-> Focus

1) specialization insulin an particular industry or company

A recent profile of CEOs of S&P 500 companies, the median tenure with company was 15 years

2)concentration on limited set of activities or functional skills

Even genius requires a large number of hours to achieve outstanding levels of competence

3) focus is to concentration on those activities within your particular job or position that are the most critical



Focus is actually surprising rare
• people are often unwilling or unable to commit themselves to a specific company , industry or job function
• You are more likely to acquired powe by narrowing your focus and applying your energy



4–> Self knowledge

There is no learning and personal development without reflection

People think to think they have 20 years of experience. They actually have a year of experience repeated 20 times

Famous CEO: Joe Benedict (German financial firm) he was 39, young for CEO role
• author ask what makes you successful so early
◦ Not his school, he did not go to Ivy League
• Reading at least one non-fiction book a week
• Practice structured self-reflection
◦ After a significant meeting or interaction. He would write down what had gone well, what hadn’t the outcome of the meeting


5–>confidence

A tumor surgeon confidently telling the patient the preferred treatment
• don’t want them to lose hope
• They would follow through with the plan, not go somewhere else


Power is likely to cause people to behave in a more confident fashion
• observers will associate confident behaviors with actually having power

Confident and knowledgeable—>help you build confidence




6—-> empathy with others

The ability to put yourself in another’s place is also useful for acquiring power

Empathetcialy accurate perceives are who ae consistently good at “reading” other people’s thoughts and feelings



7–> capacity to tolerate conflict

Most people are conflict-averse
• they avoid difficult situations and difficult people

Willing to engage in conflict—->western cultural trait ? Not really

Lee Kuan Yew: father of Singapore
• describe as something often “Rude and contemptuous”
• Lee came to powe by taking on the British, who showed no reluctance to back down






8—>intelligence
Job performance is not strongly correlated with the ability to acquire power

The research shows that intelligence is the single best predictor of job performance

There are lots of researching trying to study it , but it has no conclusive results
• Because you need more than one kind of intelligence to success, IQ + EQ


(Traps)
Intelligence might leads to arrogance
Not colloborating
Can afford to be less sensitive to others’ feeling
Intelligence can be intimidating