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The Steps Needed To Empower the Powerless | Julie Battilana PhD

Personality or wealth are often assumed to be prerequisites to gaining power, something that is only garnered by having control over others. An organization chart in a company, however, does not illustrate who has power within the workplace, it only tells you who has authority. And as we learn in this episode, authority and power are not the same.

Power is the ability to influence other people's behavior. And what is authority? Authority is the formal right to give orders and command. ~ Julie Battilana Share on X

By using workplace illustrations from the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom to a cigarette factory in France, Julie Battilana walks us through the precise definitions of power and authority. By understanding exactly what power is and how it really works, Julie breaks down the critical steps to successfully acquiring power and using it to disrupt hierarchies; by innovating, agitating and orchestrating.

If you want to understand who has power, then you have to ask the critical question; what is it that people value, and who controls access to these valued resources? ~ Julie Battilana Share on X

Julie Battilana is the Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration in the Organizational Behavior unit at Harvard Business School and the Alan L. Gleitsman Professor of Social Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School, where she is also the founder and faculty chair of the Social Innovation and Change Initiative.

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Topics

(3:32) Welcome and speed round questions.

(7:29) Power and authority are NOT the same.

(11:59) Who are the most effective change makers?

(14:37) Power is having an influence over others but is also a freedom from the influence of others.

(16:15) How can we choose the right leaders?

(20:18) Empowering the powerless.

(25:57) The power of collectivism.

(30:17) Abuse of power by Putin.

(36:02) How technology plays a part in abuse of power.

(41:38) What checks on power are needed?

(45:29) Is there hope for the future?

(52:20) What music does Julie listen to.

(54:55) Grooving Session discussing what we learnt from Julie.

Episodes You’ll Enjoy Next

Vanessa Bohns, Episode 253. Why You Don‘t Need to be Powerful to be Influential

John Bargh, Episode 248: Do We Control Situations or Do Situations Control Us? With John Bargh

AIRDATE: April 10, 2022 EPISODE 288

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The Steps Needed To Empower the Powerless | Julie Battilana PhD

Featured Guest

Julie Battilana PhD

Featured Artists

Stromae “Sante”