“Jeff Pfeffer is of immense service to the world with his work, blending academic rigor and practical genius into wonderfully readable text. The leading thinker on the topic of power, Pfeffer here distills his wisdom into an indispensable guide.” — Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and How the Mighty Fall

“Talk about speaking truth to power! In refreshingly candid prose, Jeff Pfeffer offers brilliant insights into how power is successfully built, maintained, and employed in organizations. It’s well known that when Pfeffer speaks about power, smart people listen. This book shows why.” — Robert Cialdini, author of Influence

“Jeff Pfeffer nails it! Political skill, not just talent, is central to success in every field. In Power, this leading scholar comes down to earth with practical, even contrarian, tactics for mastering the power game.” — Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Chaired Professor, Harvard Business School, and bestselling author of Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End and SuperCorp

“[Power] will help you get comfortable with challenging assumptions and lingering on the pause....[Pfeffer] draws on a wealth of social-science and psychology research.” — Inc.

“Its candor, crisp prose, and forthrightness are fresh and appealing... Brimming with frank, realistic insights on paths to the top, this book offers unexpected―and aggressive―directions on how to advance and flourish in an ever-more competitive workplace.” — Publishers Weekly

“[Academics and consultants] have an interest in presenting business as a rational enterprise.... This leaves the analysis of power to retired businesspeople...(who strive to present themselves as business geniuses rather than Machiavellis) and practicing snake-oil salesmen…Jeffrey Pfeffer of Stanford Business School is an exception to this rule.” — The Economist

“[Power] ought to be required reading for would-be leaders...[E]xcellent.” — Financial Times

In this crowning achievement, one of the greatest minds in management theory reveals how to succeed and wield power in the real world.

Over decades of consulting with corporations and teaching MBA students the nuances of organizational power, Jeffrey Pfeffer has watched numerous people suffer career reversals even as others prevail despite the odds.

Our most common mistake is not having a realistic understanding of what makes some people more successful than others. By believing that life is fair, we tend to subscribe to the “just-world phenomenon,” which leaves us unprepared for the challenges and competition of the real world.

Now Pfeffer brings decades of his incredible insights to a wider audience. Brimming with counterintuitive advice, numerous examples from various countries, and surprising findings based on his research, this groundbreaking guide reveals the strategies and tactics that separate the winners from the losers. Power, he argues, is a force that can be used and harnessed not only for individual gain but also for the benefit of organizations and society. Power, however, is not something that can be learned from those in charge—their advice often puts a rosy spin on their ascent and focuses on what should have worked, rather than what actually did. Instead, Pfeffer reveals the true paths to power and career success. Iconoclastic and grounded in the realpolitik of human interaction, Power is an essential organizational survival manual and a new standard in the field of leadership and management.

Jeffrey Pfefferis the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. He is the author or coauthor of fifteen books, including Leadership B.S., Power, The Human Equation, Managing with Power, and The Knowing-Doing Gap. Pfeffer has led seminars in thirty-nine countries and for numerous US companies, associations, and universities. He has won many awards for his writing, has an honorary doctorate from Tilburg University in the Netherlands, and was listed in the top 25 management thinkers by Thinkers50, and as one of the Most Influential HR International Thinkers by HR Magazine. He lives in Hillsborough, California.