Power and Influence for Positive Impact
Course Number 2055
Paper
This course aims to change the way you understand and see power. Power is one of the most talked about topics, but it is also one of the most misunderstood—and therefore vilified—ones in our society. Many assume power is predetermined by personality or wealth, or that it’s gained by strong-arming others. Many write it off as “dirty” and want nothing to do with it. Our misconceptions about power, what it is and where it comes from have devasting consequences for all of us individually and collectively. Individually, these misconceptions are frustrating, because they prevent people from having the impact that they wish to have in their lives, at work, in their community, and in society. Collectively, they make us less likely to identify, prevent, or stop power abuses that threaten our freedoms and well-being.
Course overview:
Designed for individuals at any stage of their career, this course is meant to debunk our fallacies about power and explore the fundamentals of power in interpersonal relationships, in organizations, and in society. In doing so, it will lift the veil on power, revealing to you what it really is and how it works, ultimately unleashing your potential to build and use power to effect change at home, at work, and in society. It is meant for those who want to make things happen, despite the obstacles that might stand in their way. This course also prepares you to use power responsibly, resist its corruptive perils, and exercise it to make the world a better place. As such, it will equip you to leverage power and influence not only for personal gain but also for the common good.
The course introduces conceptual models, tactical approaches, and assessment tools to help you develop your own influence style and understand political dynamics as they unfold around you. By focusing on specific expressions of power and influence, this course will give you the opportunity to observe effective—and ineffective—uses of power in different contexts and stages of a person’s career. The subject matter will challenge you to define for yourself what constitutes the ethical exercise of power and influence in your life.
The course builds on the book “Power, For All: How It Really Works and Why It is Everyone’s Business” (Simon & Schuster, 2021) that I co-authored with Tiziana Casciaro. Some of the chapters of the book will be assigned together with other readings throughout the course, but you do not need to have read the book (except for the introduction that will be an assigned reading for the first session) before the beginning of class.
The detailed list of readings and the detailed schedule of each of the course sessions will be posted in early August, which will give you ample time to prepare before the beginning of the course.
Course Modules & Objectives:
After introducing the fundamentals of power that will enable you to understand power across contexts and levels of analysis, the course will help you develop your own sources of power and your repertoire of influence styles before focusing on what it takes to become more effective change makers. The course will be structured around five interrelated modules:
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Module 1 Understanding the Nature of Power |
Module 2 Assessing and Building Your Sources of Power |
Module 3 Earning Trust and Exercising Influence |
Module 4 Encountering Entrenched Power in Organizations and in Society |
Module 5 Leading Change in Organizations and in Society |
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Driving Questions |
What must I understand about the nature of power to help me “see” power and influence in my environment? |
What sources of power can I draw upon and cultivate, and how can I accurately map my sources of power and those of others? |
What does it take to earn people’s trust? How can I evaluate and develop my own personal influence style? |
Why does the status quo persist, and why is it so difficult to change? |
What leadership roles must I assume if I want to be an effective change maker in my organization and/or in society? |
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Learning Objectives |
- Understand the relational nature of power & refute common fallacies. - Understand power as a force that can be harnessed for good but that can also corrupt. - Identify strategies for protecting yourself from abuses of power. - Identify personal, relational and positional sources of power. |
- Analyze your personal, positional, and relational sources of power. - Learn how to read and diagnose an organization’s political landscape through power mapping. - Analyze professional networks and identify key patterns. - Understand and apply strategies for cultivating and maintaining mentor relationships and networks. |
- Understand what it takes to earn people’s trust. - Identify and describe stereotypes that may bias our perceptions and impede our ability to trust each other. - Evaluate and develop your personal influence style. -Analyze, evaluate, and refine your personal influence style, and identify which approach will most benefit specific situations. |
- Explain how existing power hierarchies develop and perpetuate themselves. - Describe the role of both the powerful and the powerless in reinforcing hierarchies and explain the reasons people resist change. - Understand and apply strategies for overcoming the impact of legitimizing narratives and stereotypes. -Identify the conditions that enable change. |
- Describe and distinguish between three roles leaders must assume to implement change. - Unpack the politics of change in organizations and in society, and identify factors of success in implementing change. - Understand and apply strategies for redistributing power and holding the powerful accountable in organizations and in society. |
Course Pedagogy:
The course will rely on a mix of traditional case studies, biographical case studies of historical figures, exercises, and class visits by guests who experienced different paths to and through power. The exposure to the development and uses of power in many different social settings including the private, public, social enterprise and non-for-profit sectors, and at various points in history will allow a comprehensive analysis of power in action. In addition, self-assessment tools will be included throughout the course to help you assess your own bases of power and influence style. As part of the course, you will also engage in two in-class simulations, as well as an individualized, personal coaching session, all of which will be debriefed in class.
A number of readings, both required and recommended, will supplement the case material and the various simulations and exercises described above. The course builds on the book “Power, For All: How It Really Works and Why It is Everyone’s Business” (Simon & Schuster, 2021) that I co-authored with Tiziana Casciaro. The chapters of the book will be assigned together with other readings throughout the course, but you do not need to have read the book before the beginning of class.
Course Requirements:
Grades will be based on two components (each accounting for 50% of the final grade):
1. Class participation: (50%)--including class attendance, contribution to class discussions and completion of the different exercises, coaching sessions and simulations. Students’ participation will be assessed based on the following criteria:
The class participation grade rewards students who help our collective learning through their contributions to class discussions. High-quality interactive class discussions are critical to this course, because learning about power and influence is an exercise in rigorous logical reasoning, which we achieve collectively by wrestling with incomplete information and conflicting interpretations, and by making disciplined use of qualitative and quantitative data.
2. Final paper assignment: (50%)