Clever Geek Handbook
25 December 2025

The Third Screen

Recommendation

Chuck Martin is a “mobile evangelist” and the guru of mobile marketing. The CEO of the Mobile Future Institute, Martin is a respected pioneer in the digital interactive marketplace, and an authority on marketing products and services to mobile users. In this book, he expertly segments and details the enormous and burgeoning mobile marketplace, which offers many large-scale and rather easily accessed portals to profit. BooksInShort suggests that if you want to learn everything you can about mobile and how your company should plan, organize and handle its mobile marketing, you cannot find a better guidebook.

Take-Aways

  • Nearly three out of four people worldwide own cellular telephones.
  • Besides television and the personal computer, mobile technology is the “third screen.” It will soon be the most important one.
  • Promoting your products and services via cellphones offers tremendous marketing opportunities.
  • Mobile technology has become popular with users because of smartphones such as Apple’s iPhone.
  • The smartphone is a camera, a movie player, a musical instrument and a Web surfer. It makes phone calls and is the perfect place for a marketer to reach you.
  • Smartphones enable marketers to influence consumers directly at the precise moment they plan their purchases inside stores.
  • Mobile users, not corporations, control the mobile marketing channel.
  • Most marketers who try mobile marketing expand their original initiatives.
  • Mobile phones are ubiquitous and always on, so marketing companies must post up-to-date messages in real time, every minute of the day.
  • Mobile phones are not search devices; they are “find” devices.

Summary

Calling All Cars.com

Mobile technology is your “third screen.” The first is television, which communicates from giant companies to mass audiences. The second screen is the personal computer. The future belongs to the third screen.

Within a year of Cars.com’s 1997 debut, visitors reviewing automobile classified ads numbered half a million. Users indicate the “make and model” they seek, a preferred price and local postal code. In seconds, they receive a full list of sellers and contact information for the cars they want. Today, Cars.com boasts 10 million monthly visitors. In 2009, Cars.com began featuring a mobile phone interface geared to quick sales. “With the mobile site, the assumption is that the user is not looking for detailed specs,” says Nick Fotis of Cars.com. The mobile browser looks for cars close to the shopper who wants “to buy them now.” The company’s smartphone app is faster than browser access at its website. Cars.com’s research indicates website visitors check “12 to 15 pages per visit,” while mobile app users see “25 to 35 pages per visit.” The app brought Cars.com “a 100% increase in mobile traffic.” Fotis expects 20% to 30% of the site’s traffic to be mobile soon.

Time to Go Mobile

Five billion people (or 73% of the world’s population) use mobile phones to connect to the Internet, send messages, access bank accounts, buy almost anything, check the weather, monitor traffic, view movie clips, and so on. In 75 countries, including Russia, Spain, Uruguay, Iceland and New Zealand, “cellphone penetration exceeds [the] population.” In 2010, “45 million mobile subscribers” routinely accessed the Internet. Mobile technology is in a far more advantageous position – and far more advanced – than the Internet was during the mid-1990s. At that time, Web infrastructure was still developing. Today, mobile devices are fully adapted to exploit a robust and mature Web. Many mobile industry developers and leaders have digital backgrounds and experience with practical business models for the Internet, including mobile technology’s “digital interactive model.”

“In a world gone mobile, all information is available to all, all the time, creating new business challenges, including how to market in real time and how to market all the time.”

While sharing many of the PC’s attributes, mobile technology also offers unique benefits:

  • “It’s personal” – People often share computers and televisions, but seldom share mobile devices.
  • “Multifaceted communications capability” – Mobile phones communicate “by voice, by typing or by tapping.” Plus, you can create, send and receive videos and pictures, as well as “read, record voice, or scan.”
  • “Time, location, and supply and demand” – Marketers can discover customers’ precise location and plan their advertising messages accordingly.
  • “The standing up medium” – PCs and television are not ideal for reaching people on the go. Accessing content while moving is the whole point of mobile technology.
  • “Installed base” – Mobile technology’s base of customers nears “100% in many countries” and has reached 94% in the US.
  • “Ramp-up speed” – The network for mobile technology does not need to come up to speed; it is mature and sophisticated.
  • “Self-service platforms” – Mobile platforms already exist. Mobile marketers can go right to work.
  • “Call-to-action capability” – “Buy now” has greater relevance when you know your customer is shopping in a store that sells your products.
  • “The mobile ecosystem” – Mobile technology’s offerings are rich and diverse.
  • “Customer-centric” – With the first screen, television advertisers are in charge. With the third screen, mobile technology customers call the shots.

Close Connections with Consumers

Advertisers now spend more than 50% of their marketing dollars on “nontraditional media,” and, increasingly, that means mobile. Still, many companies do not understand mobile and remain unsure how to promote to “untethered” customers. This may be why 41% of advertisers who do not now promote on mobile do not plan to do so in the future. That would be a grave tactical error; mobile marketing will be the next big wave, and that wave is already forming.

“The individual customer has more control than ever before.”

Thanks to mobile technology, advertisers can create personal, relevant connections with customers and prospects. Every marketer seeks strong one-on-one relationships with consumers. Mobile technology users develop close connections with consumer brands.

Smartphones are where the action is. These amazing devices include “a speaker, microphone, keyboard, display screen, circuit board with microprocessors, camera, GPS locator and storage.” The Apple smartphone, the iPhone, with its “hundreds of thousands of applications,” put mobile on the map. Cheryl Lucanegro, senior vice president of the music site, Pandora, says that half of the site’s “free listening is now done over mobile, and the iPhone doubled use overnight.”

“With the mobile revolution, there are two types of people: those who see it and those who don’t.”

Marketers need to know which platforms – iPhone, BlackBerry, “Android-based phone” or others – their customers and prospects prefer. And they should know how and why their customers use their mobile phones. Since most mobile users belong to online social networks – “Facebook is the largest draw on mobile” – companies need to learn their consumers’ online identities to connect with them on the Web. Firms must leverage “location-based services” (LBS) that focus on social media. In terms of platforms, marketers may decide to market exclusively to smartphone users (USPT for “Using Smartphone Technology”), or to people with any cellphone (UPT for “Using Phone Technology”). Those who go the USPT route can develop a “mobile website” known by the acronym WAP (wireless access protocol).

“If we told people a decade ago that they would be typing messages with their thumbs, they would not have believed it.”

Like Cars.com, you can develop your own applications (“branded apps”) for your customers. Research indicates that 80% of those who use smartphone apps believe it is worth receiving an onscreen ad message in return for a “free app.” InterContinental Hotels Group’s app lets mobile users check rates and book rooms. The Automobile Association of America (AAA) offers the AAA Discounts app, which shows members the discounts they can earn. A company’s dream situation is when “one consumer is telling another, ‘Hey, look at this new app’...as he holds up his smartphone to show a friend.”

AIDA Is So 20th Century

AIDA, that is, “Attention, Interest, Desire and Action,” is a marketing concept employed successfully for decades. But it does not work for mobile marketing. The “untethered consumer,” not the company, “drives the [AIDA] process.” Transactions are much “faster and more intimate” than in years past. At the same time, mobile allows more active engagement with consumers when they plan to buy something.

“Mobile marketing is now poised to transform the entire coupon value proposition.”

To illustrate, a smartphone user can use an app to “check in” to a retail location. If the user agrees, the store can immediately send marketing messages to the smartphone regarding shopping information, including special pricing that is relevant to that customer. “Marketing in place” is the name for this sophisticated, personal outreach. Coupons.com leads the market in downloadable product coupons that encourage sales. “Use location as a research tool,” advises Phuc Truong of the mobile marketing agency Mobext. One savvy mobile marketer, Steve Madden Ltd., a women’s shoes, handbags and accessories firm, employs a seven-part “mobile strategy”:

  1. “Assessment” – Define the business goals and “statistics.”
  2. “Departmental” – Determine which business units to involve. Be certain to include “e-commerce, IT, marketing, finance and legal.”
  3. “Process” – Manage the mobile initiative, including “hosting, testing, security, calendar, go-live strategy, data collection, methods, vendor selection and contracts.”
  4. “Testing” – Make sure everything works. This may encompass “e-commerce vulnerability testing, load testing, mobile environment testing and uptime testing.”
  5. “Soft launch” – Bring the mobile site online for a select, small audience. Make sure your “site management” is effective.
  6. “Formal launch” – Get your full-blown mobile initiative underway, with features such as “Short Message Service, the text communication service component of mobile communication (SMS),” Web and phone systems, WAP site, ‘Quick Response Code, a two-dimensional bar code intended to be read at high speed’ (QR Code), and click-to-call capabilities.”
  7. “Mobile marketing and data analysis” – Monitor your mobile system using appropriate “technology and tools.”
“Untethered consumers are doing more on their mobile phones than ever before, and plan to do even more over time.”

Some percentage of mobile customers always is up and active, no matter what time of day. Since the aggregate of global mobile consumers is immense, the number of people awake and busy at every hour of the day in every time zone of the world is substantial. Companies must keep their marketing up to date and dynamic 24 hours a day, an approach called “real-time marketing.” “Many smartphone owners are willing to view ads on mobile devices, leaving marketers who do not adapt at a sizable disadvantage.” Mobile phones enable numerous advertising formats, including:

  • “Full screen” – The messages capture the phone’s whole screen.
  • “Expandable” – The user enlarges ads that start out in a small format.
  • “Location-based” – The ad directs users to the nearest place to buy the product.
  • “Tap-to-video” – The user taps the screen to activate a video. “Tap-to-social network” uses the same idea, but tapping brings up Facebook or a similar website, and “tap-to-call” provides a commercial phone number to contact.
  • “Commerce-enabled” – The user can buy something immediately; for example, a song from the iTunes store for Apple’s mobile devices.

Mobile Users Don’t Want to Search, They Want to Find

Search dominates the Internet, but searching is passé in the mobile universe. Users care about locating what they want quickly, including products or services that trusted sources recommend for their needs. Well-known finder services include Yelp, which features “11 million reviews”; Aloqa, which constantly updates activities and events of interest on a user’s mobile phone; and Urbanspoon, which provides information about restaurants, including availability, and allows users to make reservations. Smartphone cameras’ ability to read UPC codes opens a new way for companies to market their goods. When users scan a product’s UPC label, an app such as Red Laser immediately retrieves online discount pricing for that product, and provides information and prices for nearby retailers.

“Mobile is the next video platform.”

Mobile is “push-pull”: Companies push their commercial messages to users, who pull in the information. Your company can score big with sophisticated apps for smartphone users, but you should not neglect SMS, or quick text messages. An SMS can reach virtually everyone in the mobile universe. Your customers must grant permission (or “opt-in”) to receive your text messages. MobileStorm helped pioneer SMS messaging, and other respected vendors include iLoop Mobile (California), Open Market (Washington) and Express Text (Illinois). Multimedia messaging service (MMS), for “photos and video,” is another option. California’s Mogreet is a leading MMS vendor.

“Mobile is not incremental, it is transformational.”

While the mobile third screen is a growing venue, it faces some bumps in the road. Connectivity and availability are problems in some areas. Another issue is overloading users with too much mobile information (too many apps, too little time). The best way to achieve mobile marketing success is to deliver true value to mobile users. Help consumers find what they want, when and how they want it, to win in the dynamic new mobile arena.

About the Author

Chuck Martin is CEO of the Mobile Future Institute and author of The Digital Estate.

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The Third Screen

Book The Third Screen

Marketing to Your Customers in a World Gone Mobile

Nicholas Brealey Publishing,
 


25 December 2025

Resonate

Recommendation

Presentations can affect decisions at the highest levels of business, but, alas, most presentations fail. Many speakers mystify their audiences with annoying jargon, bore them with banalities and put them to sleep with endless slides. In this beautifully designed volume – though some may find that some of the lovely white space could have been used to add a little more meaty material to the text – presentation expert and graphic designer Nancy Duarte teaches speakers how to employ storytelling and screenwriting techniques to make powerful, effective presentations. Nicely written and featuring eye-catching graphics, Duarte’s manual is instructive, entertaining and often moving. BooksInShort thinks her advice can help you become a better storyteller and, thus, a better presenter.

Take-Aways

  • When speakers prepare and execute presentations properly, they can be singularly effective change agents.
  • Format your presentations as stories to hold and stir your audience.
  • Employ storytelling and screenwriting techniques.
  • Your presentation story needs a hero, and that hero is your audience.
  • Your role as presenter is to serve as mentor to your audience by humbly sharing your knowledge and wisdom.
  • Learn about your audience. Find out what resonates most strongly with them. Adjust your presentation accordingly.
  • Start by brainstorming concepts for your talk and narrow them down as you polish.
  • Prepare your presentation with uncluttered visuals, and then practice again and again.
  • You want to transform the audience and move it from “what is” to “what could be.”
  • Include a “STAR” moment – “something they’ll always remember.”

Summary

Presentation Storytelling

Film director Alfred Hitchcock was fastidious when planning and organizing his films. He coordinated all the complex components of moviemaking: costumes, visual effects, sets, production elements, shot lists, camera angles, scenes and storyboards.

Actress Janet Leigh explained, “In his mind, and sketched on the pages of his script, the film was already shot. He showed me the model sets and moved the miniature camera through the tiny furniture toward the wee dolls, exactly the way he intended to do in the ‘reel’ life. Meticulously thorough down to the minutest detail.” Or as Hitchcock told French film director François Truffaut, “I never look at a script while I’m shooting. I know the whole film by heart.”

“Presentations fail because of too much information, not too little.”

Hitchcock sets a great example. When delivering a presentation, adopt his scrupulous attention to detail and tell powerful stories. When you set your talks within a story framework, your presentations will be memorable and will engage your audience. Compelling stories deliver meaning and information while enabling your audience to see and feel your message.

“Great presenters transform audiences. Truly great communicators make it look easy, as they lure audiences to adopt their ideas and take action.”

The presentations that engross people tell stories. In 1863, German dramatist Gustav Freytag created a graphic depicting the “five-act structure” of ancient Greek dramas and Shakespearean plays. The graphic illustrates a story’s dramatic shape as it moves through five phases: “exposition, rising action, climax, falling action” and “denouement.” Shape your presentations according to this structure. A strong dramatic framework means your audience will remain connected to every point you make.

“Unorganized presentations follow an invisible neurotic pathway that only makes sense to the presenter.”

Presentations are not the same as stories. They seldom feature a single protagonist whose journey proceeds to a dramatic climax. Presentations have multiple peaks. They are more layered than stories and must explain problems or offer information. Yet the story framework can work wonders. Stories have an almost mystical power that has inspired audiences for thousands of years. Exploit this power in your presentations.

Presentation Failures

Many presentations are boring, banal and inert. Those offensive qualities are particularly troublesome for today’s busy audience members who tend to have short attention spans. Film directors and advertising agencies expertly use up-tempo production techniques to rev up their audiences’ excitement and interest. This puts speechmakers at a disadvantage.

“If you don’t map out where you want the audience to be when they leave your presentation, the audience won’t get there.”

Most presentations fail to captivate their listeners. However, a sound presentation holds an advantage over any mass-market message. A good presenter leverages “human contact” to bring about change in audiences’ attitudes and actions. To enact that shift, you must present your ideas well.

Fascinating Ideas

Select ideas you find compelling. They should stand out like someone wearing an orange safety vest in a roomful of people in suits. If you’re a presenter, you need to take a risk to rise above the herd. Don’t rely solely on facts. Get in touch with your emotions and your audiences’ interests.

“Gussying up slides that have meaningless content is like putting lipstick on a pig.”

Reports belaboring exhaustive information stand at one end of a spectrum; dramatic tales stand at the other. In the middle are explanatory presentations. Like a report, a good presentation contains information, but it should also include a story. When a presentation includes information and drama, it delivers a special experience to the audience.

The Audience as Hero

Every story needs a hero. The hero of your presentation is never you. If it is, your audience will disengage. Your presentation’s hero is always the audience. As screenwriter Chad Hodge once wrote, business speakers should help “people to see themselves as the hero of the story, whether the plot involves beating the bad guys or achieving some great business objective. Everyone wants to be a star, or at least to feel that the story is talking to or about him personally.”

“Designing a presentation without an audience in mind is like writing a love letter and addressing it ‘to whom it may concern’.” (Ken Haemer, former AT&T presentation research manager)

You are the hero’s mentor; you are the Yoda to your audience’s Luke Skywalker. Your job – and a primary point of your presentation – is to help the hero, your audience, by providing information or knowledge that changes their lives for the better. Learn everything you can about the hero of your story, your audience members. Parse them according to demographics and other useful criteria, such as lifestyles, values and influencers. Find out who they are, not merely what they do. Consider your role as a mentor as you assemble the information you will convey. Establish common ground with your audience through shared experiences and mutual goals.

A Heroic Quest

The Hero’s Journey, a story model “drawn from the psychology of Carl Jung and the mythological studies of Joseph Campbell,” offers a storytelling concept that analyst Christopher Vogler conveys graphically by showing a circle to depict the journey of the hero. As the protagonists travel from the “ordinary world” to a “special world,” they encounter obstacles and road blocks, and learn lessons before making the return journey to the ordinary world.

“Creating an interesting presentation requires a more thoughtful process than throwing together the blather that we’ve come to call a presentation today.”

If your presentation is successful, you will take your audience members, the hero, to a special world, a place where they go on a quest that involves the new knowledge you give them. Your listeners may decide to move into your world, but they may not immediately assume your point of view. When your presentation inspires audience members to undergo an internal change of intention, they will alter their perceptions. When something in your presentation moves them forward, you encourage listeners to cross a threshold toward acting to fulfill your goal for them.

Resonance

Every presentation should set out to be persuasive and to transform the audience in a beneficial way. Accomplishing these goals requires resonance, which “occurs when an object’s natural vibration frequency responds to an external stimulus of the same frequency.”

“If you don’t filter your presentation, the audience will respond negatively – because you’re making them work too hard to discern the most important pieces.”

In nonscientific terms, you will achieve resonance when you tailor your presentation to the “frequency of your audience” in such a way that they experience the transformation that is your presentation’s goal. Audiences remain in stasis unless presenters get them to change; resonance generates that change.

The “Big Idea”

A storytelling presentation requires resolving a conflict – that is, shifting from “what is” to “what could be.” Your content should point audience members toward the destination you’ve chosen to pursue. Explicitly map things out for them as you explain your overall message or big idea. Develop stories that make your big idea meaningful. Think about your life, and try to match your presentation ideas with significant events.

“No matter how stimulating you make your plea, an audience will not act unless you describe a reward that makes it worthwhile.”

To organize your presentation, first generate ideas; consider as many concepts as possible to find your big idea. Sift through the concepts to find the ones that deliver “ethical appeal, emotional appeal” and “logical appeal.” Evaluate your ideas with your mind and your heart. When you identify the best ones, cluster them. Arrange them to develop your messages, slotting them into the right order for maximum effect. Do your research beforehand and learn about your crowd. Each audience prefers a certain “content contour” in order to hear and retain information.

“While entertainment has raised the bar for audience engagement, presentations have become less engaging than ever.”

Sort your messages for optimum impact by providing “emotional contrast.” In order to build a balanced pace, alternate “analytical content” – such as facts, case studies, examples and documentation – with “emotional content” – such as metaphors, analogies, humor and shocking statements. Vary your delivery to engage your audience members. Fluctuate from the traditional – for example, avoiding disruptions and using “the stage as is” – to the nontraditional – for example, organizing and creating disruptions, and employing “the stage as a setting.”

“Presentations are not to be viewed as an opportunity to prove how brilliant you are.”

Your big concept should articulate your viewpoint and spell out the stakes at hand in this conversation with the audience. Explain why your audience should care about your message and the transformation you seek for them. Use a complete sentence to set out the transformative goal, such as, “This software will make your team more productive and generate a million dollars in revenue over two years.” Expect resistance to your big idea. The reward your proposed solution will deliver should eliminate this resistance.

“An audience will not adopt your idea unless they understand it.”

Once you finalize your structure and message, transform your words into visual images. Keep them simple. Don’t clutter your slides with too much information, or with excess words or images. Produce slides to support your messages. Establish strong presentation turning points. Then, transform the topics in your presentation into various compelling messages, for example, “We have an aggressive competitor grabbing our market share.” When you are ready, practice. Then, practice again and again.

Adventure and Action

A memorable presentation should jolt your listeners. Trust in the proper presentation components – a beginning, middle and end – by drawing on traditional storytelling structures from mythology, literature and film. Your presentation should feature two clear turning points: The first is the “call to adventure,” which represents the void between what is and what could be. The other is the “call to action,” which spells out what you want your audience to do or how your listeners must change.

“New Bliss”

If you offer contrasting content in the middle of the presentation, you can use its “dramatic tension” to engage your audience. Inspire your audience at the end of your presentation. Explain that your idea is not only totally feasible but is your listeners’ best option.

“There’s something sacred about stories.”

When the audience members accept and adopt your presentation ideas, a sense of new bliss will inspire or energize them. Now is the time for the audience to cross the threshold and engage in action. If you handle your presentation properly, your audience will fully approve of your idea. But acceptance is only part of what you want; you want your listeners to act decisively on your call to action.

The “STAR Moment”

Every presentation needs “something they’ll always remember,” a “STAR moment.” Create your moment by using sound bites, visuals and emotional storytelling. In 2008, Steve Jobs shared a quintessential star moment. He introduced Apple’s superthin MacBook Air notebook computer by sliding it easily into a manila envelope. Audience members frequently repeat such unforgettable presentation moments to others.

See Yourself on the Radio

A presentation is like a radio broadcast. Make your presentation’s message – equivalent to a radio signal – strong and clear so your audience receives the information you hope to convey. To move an audience, the presenter must tune into its special “resonant frequency.” Your big idea must tune out all irrelevant frequencies. Pay attention to your presentation’s “signal-to-noise ratio.” Eliminate as much noise as possible. Noise takes four forms:

  1. “Credibility noise” – You make a poor first impression and people don’t believe you.
  2. “Semantic noise” – You use too much jargon or too many buzzwords.
  3. “Experiential noise” – You exhibit poor body language.
  4. “Bias noise” – Your material is self-centered.

To screen for noise before the main event, present your program to candid critics.

People have put these powerful presentation techniques and tools to work to achieve evil purposes. Think of how Enron executives fooled their investors, employees and public constituencies. Adhere to the goal of making the world better, not worse.                                                                                                                   

About the Author

Nancy Duarte, CEO of Duarte Inc., wrote the best-selling and award-winning book Slideology. She serves as a TED Fellows committee member and presented at TEDxEast.

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Resonate

Book Resonate

Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences

Wiley,
 


25 December 2025

Power

Recommendation

If power corrupts, why does everyone lust after it and worship those who have it? Power – used wisely – can keep you healthy, make you rich and let you achieve great things for humanity. Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor of organizational behavior, explains why seeking power is in your best interest and shows you how to attain power and keep it. He debunks the objections you usually hear from the powerless and the powerful alike. He lays out a step-by-step guide on how to start building your power, what you’ll need and, most important, what it’ll cost you to achieve. BooksInShort recommends Pfeffer’s somewhat-less-than-Machiavellian, but still useful, book to anyone who ever has felt powerless in work or in life and wants to power up.

Take-Aways

  • Actively pursuing power is in your best interest.
  • Power can make you healthier, richer and more capable of improving the world.
  • Doing a good job is, by itself, often insufficient to gain power and wealth; performance correlates with power and career success, but the relationship is small.
  • The world will not hand you what you deserve. Life’s not fair, so seek power on your own.
  • Avoid “self-handicapping” or not trying because you’re afraid of failure.
  • Stand out from the crowd, define your success parameters, know your boss’s priorities and make others feel good about themselves.
  • Ask for help from those in power; flatter them, and they’ll remember you.
  • Network diligently, support others, and project authority in your speech and behavior.
  • Handle power conflicts by allowing adversaries to save face, rising above your emotions and never quitting.
  • Once you reach the pinnacle of power, staying on top is even harder than getting there, but when it’s time to go, “leave gracefully.”

Summary

Truth to Power

Power has a bad rap. Scores of overweening politicians, underhanded businesspeople and crafty leaders abuse power while promoting their own interests at the expense of others. Many people shy away from the pursuit of power, seeing it as a distasteful, self-aggrandizing climb to rewards that may not be as alluring as they appear. Yet seeking power is common in all societies and endemic to all cultures; in fact, social scientists call power a “fundamental human drive.”

“Seek power as if your life depends on it. Because it does.”

If you’re unsure about why you should aspire to power, consider these three reasons:

  1. “Power is related to living a longer and healthier life” – Studies show that those with less power and influence over their working lives have higher mortality rates. Less power brings stress and ill health; greater control “prolongs life.”
  2. “Power...can produce wealth” – High status and visibility lead to higher pay and career advancement opportunities. Although not every powerful individual chooses to cash in, more power can mean more money.
  3. “Power is part of leadership” – To accomplish almost anything for yourself or for others, you need to wield power.
“Power and resources beget more power and resources.”

You might think that with determination, talent and hard work, you’ll get the power, money and recognition you need. That is misguided attitude. Why?

  • “Stop thinking the world is a just place” – Life isn’t fair. It never was and it never will be. Believing that you’ll get your just deserts if you do the right thing and perform superbly on the job is not just naive but self-deceiving. Psychologists call this belief the “just-world hypothesis.” It describes how the desire for a predictable, controllable environment leads people to consider life ultimately fair. The world will never come to you.
  • “Beware of the leadership literature” – Don’t believe everything you read in books and studies about storied business leaders. Those sermonizing about their road to authority often overlook the “power plays” they had to make to succeed. They tend to attribute their achievement to qualities such as honesty, transparency and morality – traits that fit “how people wish the world and the powerful behaved.”
  • “Get out of your own way” – People often sabotage their own efforts. This “self-handicapping” results when individuals fear that they won’t measure up and decide that not trying is better than failure. If you shun playing office politics as a way to get ahead, ask yourself if you’re just not trying.

Power Up

Performance doesn’t lead to power; if it did, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon might today be running Citigroup, Arthur Blank and Bernard Marcus might never have started Home Depot, and Steve Jobs might have held on to Apple in the 1980s. Each of these leaders, while talented and capable, fell victim to power plays in corporate politics. Obtaining great results from your work matters less than you think: Job advancement correlates with age, tenure and how much your boss likes you, as well as with your performance. Being too good at your job could even stifle your career advancement because your superiors will want to keep you where you are rather than lose you to a promotion. Demonstrate proficiency, but don’t forget these equally significant imperatives:

  • “Get noticed” – Because we choose and prefer what we remember, stand out and get attention. Don’t expect your bosses to intuit when you’re working hard. Make yourself known to higher-ups; become memorable.
  • “Define the dimensions of performance” – No one excels at all aspects of a job, so focus attention on those facets of your performance that make you shine. Influence the criteria others use to judge your work.
  • “Remember what matters to your boss” – Don’t assume you know what your managers prize; talk to your superiors on a regular basis to keep in touch with their priorities, which may change over time and differ from yours.
  • “Make others feel better about themselves” – Take care of your bosses, provide cover if they make mistakes and point out their accomplishments to others in the organization. Remember that flattery, judiciously applied, creates a sense of “reciprocity” (the need to return the flattery) in the person you’re complimenting – and that gives you power.

Assembling a Power Base

Creating your power takes planning, time and effort. Conduct an honest self-appraisal, judging which qualities are acceptable and which you can improve. Evaluate your “will” and your “skill”: Determine if you have the will to persist. Assess whether you have the ambition and drive to get things done, the energy to sustain yourself and to project your capabilities to others, and the focus and single-mindedness to concentrate on gaining power. Then, refine your self-reflection, confidence, empathy and conflict tolerance.

“You get only one chance to make a first impression.”

You don’t need to be smart to gain power and influence. While “intelligence is the single best predictor of job performance,” it’s not sufficient for obtaining power. In fact, too much intelligence can work against your power: Really smart people believe they’re better than others at tasks, so they keep their activities to themselves, and they can become overconfident, arrogant, intolerant and threatening – all qualities that work against achieving power and influence.

“One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking that good performance – job accomplishments – is sufficient to acquire power and avoid organizational conflicts.”

Where you work in an organization affects your path to power. To assess the relative power of a function or department, consider the wages that people in that group earn relative to others in the firm; the group’s “physical location and facilities,” since you don’t want to work away from the action; and the importance of the group’s head (whether he or she serves on the corporate board or executive committees, for example). Most people assume that joining the part of a company focused on its major product or capability is the surest road to power, but you’ll face more competition there and find it harder to shine and get noticed. And the “current core activity” may fall out of corporate favor in the future. Take the example of Ford Motor Company at the end of World War II: The generation of employees that soared to power there, many of whom moved outside the firm in later years, consisted of the “Whiz Kids,” a group of highly educated, analytical types who joined a company heavy on auto specialists but dangerously light on control and financial skills. The Whiz Kids brought a needed analytical skill set to Ford and rose to power quickly.

“Watch those around you who are succeeding, those who are failing and those who are just treading water.”

In gathering power and influence, don’t let shyness or fear of rejection keep you from asking those in more senior positions for help, favors or information. While you might feel uncomfortable requesting anything – you may think it reveals your weaknesses – the reality is that those you ask are more likely to feel flattered and powerful. They will be inclined not only to grant your wish but also to keep you on their radar. At a luncheon with a firm’s CEO, a prospective candidate undergoing the final interview in the recruitment process asked the CEO for an annual lunch appointment if he won the job. Impressed, the CEO agreed and kept his promise, ensuring the new hire privileged access to the top of the company on a regular basis.

Powerful

Be creative in finding ways to amass power and influence. It may seem counterintuitive, but the road to power begins with doing the smallest activities in the most humble settings. For example, provide others with support and attention by listening to them and being nice. Perform minor but critical assignments that others may avoid, but that the right people will remember. To add to your power base, take an active role in professional groups.

“Getting to higher-level positions is easier and more likely if you build a power base, and it is never impossible or too soon or too late to begin.”

Make “something out of nothing” as Klaus Schwab did. Recently graduated with a PhD in 1971, Schwab took responsibility for setting up a meeting of European business leaders. That meeting evolved into the World Economic Forum, a $100-million foundation that Schwab oversees and that sponsors the world-famous, prestigious annual Davos conference.

“Get over yourself and get beyond your concerns with self-image or, for that matter, the perception others have of you.”

Approach networking as an integral part of your job: Network with the right people, both within your firm and outside, and develop social capital. Take on the guise of authority by behaving and speaking with power in these ways:

  • “Project confidence” – Act with assurance, especially when you’re uncertain. Others will perceive you as powerful.
  • “Be aware of your audience” – The powerful know they are on stage all the time. Make a point of putting away your cellphone and personal devices when you’re engaging with others – they will notice your attention and remember you for it.
  • “Display anger instead of sadness or remorse” – Research indicates that people consider those who express anger as higher in status and power than those who convey regret or guilt; others will also see you as more able and may hesitate to challenge you.
  • “Watch your posture and gestures” – Dress professionally, stand up straight and walk toward others with confidence. Use small but strong gestures and look people in the eye.
  • “Use memory to access the desired emotion” – If you need to project an emotion you’re not experiencing, recall a past incidence of that feeling and use it to act your part.
  • “Set the stage and manage the context” – Make sure the state of your office or work space conveys your power.
  • “Take your time in responding” – Breathe deeply and pause before speaking; you’ll appear more thoughtful and in charge than if you rush to answer a question.
  • Employ “interruption” – Don’t let others cut you off. “Those with power interrupt, those with less power get interrupted.”
  • “Contest the premises of the discussion” – The powerful challenge widely held truths. And when they do, people recognize their power.
  • Apply “persuasive language” – Use oratorical tricks such as “us-versus-them” language to create unity. Delay your next sentence to allow others time to signal their approval, use “three-part lists” to appear knowledgeable, make comparisons to convey your point, and speak without notes to demonstrate your command of the material and to maintain eye contact with your listeners.

Staying Power

How you handle conflicts and impediments says a lot about your power. Treat adversaries gracefully and allow them to save face. If you tear down your opponents, they will retaliate. Choose your battles so you can remain focused on your ultimate goals. Rise above your emotions; powerful people put aside their feelings to maintain beneficial relationships. Don’t quit in the face of opposition: “Not giving up is a precursor to winning.” Seize the first-mover advantage by heading off opponents before they can muster the support to unseat you. If you suffer a setback, don’t retreat to lick your wounds; talk openly about your defeat to remove its sting. Stay focused on your work, and continue to behave with savvy and power.

“Obtaining and holding on to power can be hard work.”

Power has its costs, so be prepared. You’ll sacrifice your anonymity, and every move you make will be the subject of comment and scrutiny. You’ll give up control over your schedule; you’ll do less of what you want when you want to do it. You’ll trade personal and family time for power. Your exalted position will create pretenders to your throne and threats to your livelihood. You’ll also have to distinguish between who around you is sincere and who just wants your job. You’ll fall victim to the addictive nature of power, so be ready for the crash when you must, inevitably, step out of the limelight.

“You can compete and even triumph in organizations of all types, large and small, public or private sector, if you understand the principles of power and are willing to use them.”

Once you reach the pinnacle of power, staying on top is even harder than getting there. Turnover among CEOs rose almost 60% from 1995 to 2006. But relinquishing power – through retirement or voluntary job moves – is always better than losing power. “Overconfidence, disinhibition and ignoring the interests of others” usually results in a leader’s downfall, as does taking risks lightly and treating others as pawns in your power game. So keep your perspective. Remove yourself from your power-centric environment from time to time, and associate with people who knew you before you were a power titan. And when it’s time to go, “leave gracefully.”

About the Author

Jeffrey Pfeffer is a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University.

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