Do you want a successful career? How do you go from choosing a company to building a community out of networking?
In Power, Jeffrey Pfeffer discusses how people build up their power by choosing the right career path and then excelling in it. There are three major steps you can take to get your career on track: finding the right starting point, standing out from your peers, and taking part in networking.
Continue reading to learn how to build a successful career with these three tips.
Finding Your Starting Point
When it comes to building a successful career in which you can gain power quickly and consistently, making an informed decision on where to begin is vital.
First of all, whether you’re just beginning your career or moving to a different company, Pfeffer says you should try to join the most powerful department within that organization. He also recommends looking at a few factors to determine which department holds the most sway in any given company:
Starting salary: Companies pay proportionately to how important they consider positions to be. So, if the salary for an entry-level job is higher for one department over another, the company is showing you which department it values more.
Location: The closer a department is to the people at the top of the company, the better. For instance, this might mean that a department’s floor is closer to the top of the building where the executive offices are, or that the building housing a department is closer to the company’s main headquarters.
The department head: The last clue Pfeffer discusses is the power of the department’s leader—the most powerful person within that department. If the head of the HR department also has a spot on the company’s executive board, for example, then you know that HR is a powerful department in that company. On the other hand, if a department head is still subordinate to the heads of many other departments, that will not be a valuable starting point for someone who’s looking to build as much power as possible.
With all of this said, note that there will probably be more competition in more powerful departments, which could limit your ability to move up in the company. For example, if a company puts a high value on its finance department (and hires and pays accordingly), you’ll have to compete with a lot of people both to get the job and to advance within that department. Therefore, Pfeffer adds that in some cases it’s actually better to look for a job that has less power initially, but offers an easier climb up the corporate ladder.
How to Stand Out
Once you’ve decided where to start your career, it’s time to start building power within your organization. To do this, Pfeffer says you need to find a way to stand out from your competition, which requires you to be unafraid to do two things: Ask for help from your superiors, and break the rules.
Requirement #1: Asking for Help
The more you interact with powerful people like your boss and company executives, the more you’ll stand out in their minds. One very easy way to interact with such people is to ask them for help and advice.
Pfeffer adds that many people don’t like to ask for help for several reasons, all of which are wrong more often than not. Let’s review two of the most common reasons:
1) People want to be independent, or to be seen as independent. Admitting that you need help can be a blow to your ego, but trying to protect your pride often does more harm than good—for instance, doing your job badly will be much more embarrassing than simply asking someone to check your work. You might also be worried that others will start thinking you can’t handle situations on your own. However, asking your superiors questions will often have the opposite effect: They’ll see you as humble and eager to learn, which will improve their opinion of you rather than worsening it.
2) People are afraid of rejection. You might hesitate to ask for help because you’re afraid of being told “no.” Rejection can hurt your self-esteem, so many people try to avoid it. This is especially common when asking for help from very powerful people, like a company CEO—you might think they’re much too busy to help you or that you’re simply beneath their notice, but Pfeffer urges you to ask anyway. Even if they really are unwilling or unable to help, the mere act of asking suggests that you look up to the other person. That will give them a small ego boost and create a positive association with you in their mind. Therefore, even if you don’t get the immediate guidance you’re hoping for, taking that chance can pay off in the long run.
Requirement #2: Breaking the Rules
Pfeffer says that on top of asking for help, you have to be willing to stand out in other ways, and this often means breaking rules or social norms to do so. After all, you can’t expect to stand out by doing the same things everyone else does.
He explains that rules tend to benefit the people who make them at everyone else’s expense—and, by definition, the people who are already in power are the ones who make the rules. Therefore, it stands to reason that to gain power of your own you’ll have to bend or break those rules. For instance, breaking rules to stand out might mean personally asking the CEO of your company for a favor, or it could mean performing duties outside of your job description.
How to Network
It’s common knowledge that networking skills are an important part of building a successful career. Networking, according to Pfeffer, involves building, maintaining, and using informal relationships to gain power. Some jobs, like project management, are what Pfeffer calls “networking jobs,” as they involve connecting people from different parts of the company and facilitating relationships. But whether your job directly involves networking or not, the ability to network will help in almost any career path you choose. Furthermore, though some people are naturally gifted at networking and social engagements, anyone can learn how to network.
To help you build a large and powerful network, Pfeffer provides some helpful tips:
Tip #1: Make Networking a Priority
Pfeffer claims that, for various reasons, many people just don’t put in the necessary time and effort to network and gain social capital. Some people think it’s more advantageous to spend their time on the job itself rather than networking, while others feel it’s unethical to build relationships for such selfish reasons.
However, numerous studies show that networking is a crucial part of progressing your career. The author therefore argues that you need to get over your qualms and put in the effort to build social ties.
With that said, networking doesn’t always mean going out of your way to attend events and conventions, or to ingratiate yourself with prominent people in your field. In fact, Pfeffer says that the easiest way to forge new connections is simply to be kind and generous in your day-to-day life.
So, when someone is talking to you, listen actively and ask questions to show you’re interested. Invite a coworker to have lunch with you, accept invitations to social events, or offer to buy your colleagues a round of drinks after work. Small acts like these will go a long way toward building a relationship, and thus expanding your network.
Tip #2: Focus on Quantity Over Quality
Finally, Pfeffer argues that your networking should prioritize building “weak ties”—meaning casual relationships that don’t involve too much interaction—with as many people as possible.
The author says that weak ties are more valuable to your career for two key reasons. Firstly, weak ties are likely to introduce you to new people and organizations that will increase your social capital. Secondly, it takes minimal time and effort to create a weak tie with someone, meaning you can gather a large number of weak ties that connect you to a vast and diverse network.
As an additional tip, don’t restrict yourself to forming ties only within your own industry because you never know which ties could prove useful later. For example, say you volunteer for a local charity and get to know a few of the board members. Then, if your boss mentions that she’d like to host a charity event, you can offer to connect her with the executives of that charity. Now the power you built outside of your company is helping you build power inside of it as well.
Conversely, “strong ties” refers to your relationships with your family and closest friends. Such relationships are certainly rewarding in their own ways, but they aren’t a good way to build power.
Pfeffer explains that this is largely because your closest friends and family probably have similar social circles to you, meaning they won’t help your influence spread as far. Therefore, trying to build power by forging strong connections is very inefficient—you’ll spend a great deal of time and effort maintaining those close friendships, yet end up with a relatively small network.
