The paths to power: How to grow your influence and advance your career | Jeffrey Pfeffer (Stanford)

Lenny's Podcast episode, sponsored by Heap, Uizard and Webflow, in which Lenny Rachitsky talks with Jeffrey Pfeffer, Stanford GSB professor whose Paths to Power course is one of the most oversubscribed in the MBA program, about The Seven Rules of Power. Pfeffer's case starts with evidence: political skill measurably correlates with salary, promotions, career happiness and less stress - and he describes how the world is, not how it should be. The seven rules: get out of your own way, break the rules, show up powerfully, build a powerful brand, network relentlessly, use your power, and know that once you have it, what you did to get there will be forgiven, forgotten or both. To listeners who recoil, he answers that this is not about personality - these are learnable skills - and that the discomfort itself is rule one in action; his book opens with the line that if you want power used for good, more good people need to have it. PARTIAL COVERAGE: this summary highlights the frame and rules; the examples are not covered. These are Pfeffer's own views and research, not independently verified.