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POWER TOOLS
Welcome to POWER TOOLS, where I am going to discuss the contents of my book THE POWER GAMES, and adress questions I have received concerning it
Before we begin, I'd like to clarify the concept of Power, because one of the first questions I was asked was "isn't writing a book like this a bad idea?"
Part 1: POWER? Before we begin, I'd like to clarify the concept of Power, because one of the first questions I was asked was "isn't writing a book like this a bad idea?"
Before we begin, I'd like to clarify the concept of Power, because one of the first questions I was asked was "isn't writing a book like this a bad idea?"
Because if you go out and ask people what they think when they hear the word "Power", you often get rather negative answers
People think of having to do things against their will, they think of an uncomfortable feeling, they think of "men in suits"
Regardless of your political views, if you have negative associations to power, the kind of image that pops up in your head is this:
And there's obviously something wrong here, because when you look at the definition of "Power", you see the following:
"Power" is an ACTION, but it's also an ABILITY, that A can use to cause B to act in a certain way, even if this action is opposed to B:s desires or interests.
To put it more simply, power is the ability to influence another individual
Strangely enough, this is almost the same thing as communication, as it's very difficult to communicate something to somebody without influencing them
Whether you just say "Hi" or anything else, you're making them understand something, think something, or believe something, and that means you're influencing them
So power and communication are closely related, and power comes into play in any encounter where you're communicating
That makes it strange for us to have this negative attitude to power, and I think it has to do with the "opposed to B:s desires or interests" part of the definition
But that's not "Power", that's "Abuse of power"
I think it's problematic that this definition from the Swedish National Encyclopedia confuses the abuse of power with its natural use
I don't think that has to be the case, even though it often is, unfortunately
Norwegian researcher Linda Lai claims that between 70 and 80 percent of all people who hold power will either abuse it or at least commit some questionable act
70 to 80 percent
And meanwhile, power and communication are that closely related
I began to think about this, and decided that there had to be some good "use"of power, as opposed to the "abuse" of it
And I realized there was a way to use power where you use techniques to influence people, sure, but also to establish good relationships
You begin to use power in a good way
When people ask me "How do I know if I've used power in a good way or not?", I often say "If the person you exerted power against is in a more negative state than before, it was bad, an abuse"
"But if they are in a more positive state than before, then it was good power"
And I really mean "good power". I claim that it exists, that it can be used, and that it is useful. I am convinced of this!
Of course, if you're a dictator, and have a whole country to rule over, and a military, and don't care about the consequences, fine
That's abuse of power, but in everyday life, and in the workplace, those kinds of contexts, I'm convinced that genuine power isn't something we hold OVER others
We hold genuine power THROUGH others
True power is not something we take, it's something we are given
It's when other people want to do what we want them to of their own accord, not because we coerced them, but because it's in their interest
It's when they make their own decision to be on our side, that's when we hold the good, and most effective, power that I believe to exist
And that's basically what I'm going to tell you how to do
And we'll begin right away in the next part of this series, where we will examine non-verbal power. I'll see you in part 2!
POWER TOOLS