How do you acquire power at work?

Well, understanding people and politics, having good career strategies, a great relationship with your boss, as well as being good at your work, all help.

But with this article, we list all the main tools you need to increase your power, leverage, and influence.

1. Results

Results give you leverage and boost your self-confidence.

Tactics

• Track your work in terms of $$$ (done/saved)
• Track your achievements
• Save and print congratulatory emails

Being able to share this with your boss increases your persuasiveness.

2. Politics: The Power of People-Tested Strategies

Politics is the human element of work.

It includes alliances, feuds, coalitions, favors, favoritism, backstabbing, etc.
Key skills include power awareness, emotional intelligence, self-promotion, and Machiavellianism.

Read more here:

• Machiavellis at the top

3. Skills: The Power of Mastery

Skills may be priority #1 because unlike output or politics, they’re transferrable.

We can divide skills into:

1. Technical skills: Hands-on work like coding, software, accounting, and legal knowledge.
2. Soft skills: Persuasion, self-promotion, strategic thinking, public speaking, and confidence.

Technical skills provide job security, while soft skills enable upward mobility.

⛏️ When I realized that soft skills propel you upward

3.2. Technical Skills: The Power of Expertise

Technical skills are crucial early in your career as they impact both output and progression.

When to Prioritize Tech Skills

• You like your work
• You prefer an easier life
• Good income is enough (instead of maximizing income)

Maximizing Tech Skills

• Get really good -the “go to guy” for the most challenging issues
• Solve the CEO’s problems
• Join companies where tech specialists advance without managing people
• Ally with soft-skills superstars as the CTO -ideally- or “guy in the backend”

🔎 Example of “backend-guy” (with Hollywood over-dramatization):

3.3. Soft Skills: The Power of Confidence

4. Internal Network: Intel & Streamlined Work

Knowing people makes work easier, especially early on when you don’t have formal authority.

Tactics

• Hang around the water cooler
• Ask people to lunch
• Ask for intros
• Show interest in them/their work

🎓 Advanced level: be the connecting link

Research shows that the biggest networking benefits go to those who bridge different groups

My high-power neighbor uses this technique.
Though it costs her more effort, she contacts us 1:1 instead of creating a group, giving her more control:

Author’s examples reserved for Power University

🐍 Machiavellian move: intro lower-value connections, keep the highest-value people for yourself
The Machiavellian makes introductions to showcase his network and gain a good reputation, but he keeps the best people for himself

5. Alliances: ‘You, Inc’ Within The Organization

Close friends who support each other for mutual gain and career advancement.

The alliance can be:

1. Transactional: You both gain from it
2. Affectionate: Based on friendship, mutual respect, and similarity

Alliances are a ‘grey area’ because they further your interests, but not necessarily those of the company.
The company prefers to deal with you as a weaker individual.

A good alliance:

1. Increases your negotiation leverage because you negotiate joining -or leaving– as a proven duo
2. Protects you from bad bosses: it’s harder to undermine a pair, and two carry more weight than one
3. Better cover against attacks: because a counter-attack from two is twice stronger
4. Report rumors and backstabbers: with an extra set of ears and eyes
5. Better PR & promotion, done through your ally, more effective than self-promotion

• ⛏️ How I leveraged my brother-in-arms to propel my career (resource for Power University alumni)

6. External Network: The Walk-Away Power

The network outside your current employer

An external network facilitates lateral and upward moves.

Principle:

⚖️ The larger and stronger your external network, the greater your walk-away power, and the less dependent you are on your employer.

7. Mentors & Sponsors: The Made-Man Power

Mentors provide guidance and advice, while sponsors actively advocate for your career growth.

More on getting and keeping mentors 🔜

🛠️ 🎓 PRO Tip: Let others know you’ve got mentors

A senior manager’s influence rubs off on you.

It says you’re connected and can get information and favors that others can’t.
Like the young movie kid befriending the local gangster—he always has the “big brother” to call on.

Carl Jung referenced Freud as his mentor and greatly benefitted from his endorsement. Before eventually ‘breaking off’

8. Money Talks: The Power of Bottom-Line Impact

Principle:

⚖️ The more you affect the company’s bottom line, the more power you wield.

🐍Machiavellian move: ensure nobody else can deliver to your level
Account management: keep your relationship for yourself, don’t CC or introduce teammates.
Sales: guard your best techniques and approaches.. Join companies that share recorded calls when you’re learning, not when you’re good.

Example in Power University.

8.2. Get In Line

Line workers deliver the core product that generates revenue, giving them more visibility and leverage.

For instance, if you’re in IT, join an IT-focused company that bills for IT, rather than being IT internal support for a non-IT company.

9. Visibility: The Power of Being Seen

Principle:

⚖️ The more visible you are, the more opportunities your good work provides

🔁 And invisible good work goes unnoticed.

Tactics

• Speak in meetings
• Present results
• Network internally
• Join high-visibility projects
• Align your schedule with key seniors you want to impress

10. ‘Cultural Fit’: The Power of Aligning With The Powers That Be

Your personal fit with decision-makers matters more than ‘cultural fit’ with company values.

Company values only hold weight if the founders are still present and enforce them. Otherwise, they’re vestigial sloganeering, with most people prioritizing money and self-interest.

Bonus: Positive Attitude

Positive attitude means optimism and a personality that brightens the team.

Basically, the kind of person people want to work with and include in important and visible projects.

We probably know some of these guys and we probably know their opposites too: those who complain, lament and bring others down.
The former stay and get promoted, the latter are the first to get the chop.

This factor is less important than the previous ones, since one can also be promoted while not being particularly loved by his colleagues. But still, it helps. Plus, it will make your life at work much easier if you can get along well with others, and if others like you.

❗ This is a preview from Power University where we share proven strategies and techniques to advance at work and in life ❗