Is there a secret to lasting power? Yes, and Dacher Keltner has been teaching leaders about it for decades. And the secret is not the ruthless, manipulative approach associated with 15th-century politician and writer Niccolo Machiavelli. It is actually the opposite.
As a University of California, Berkeley, Professor of Psychology, and Founder and Director of the Greater Good Science Center, Dacher Keltner shares research-based insights he has gained. And in his latest book, The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence, he discusses a new science of power and 20 guiding power principles.
In this interview, we talk about:
- How the legacy of Niccolo Machiavelli continues to inform power
- Why power is about so much more than dominance, manipulation, and ruthlessness
- Why we need to question a coercive model of power
- The short- versus long-term impact of different kinds of power
- Why power is about lifting others up
- Why lasting power is given, not grabbed
- The important role that reputation, gossip and esteem play in who gains power
- How, within days, group members already know who holds the power
- What makes for enduring power
- How our body language and words speak volumes about power
- Why Abraham Lincoln is a fascinating study of empathetic power
- The fact that great and powerful leaders are incredible storytellers
- How feeling powerful makes us less aware of risk
- How feeling powerful makes us less empathetic, attentive and responsive to others
- How feeling powerful actually overrides the part of our brain that signals empathy
- How drivers of more expensive cars (46 percent) tend to ignore pedestrians
- How powerful people often tell themselves stories to justify hierarchies
- The price we pay for powerlessness
- Concrete ways we can cultivate enduring, empathetic power
- Gender and power
- Why the key to parenting is to empower children to have a voice in the world
Episode Links
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
Thomas Clarkson and the abolition movement
Why Civil Resistance Works by Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan
The 100-Year Life by Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott
Science of Happiness course on edX
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