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.

 

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. 

 

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.

 

Links

Leading Human Workbook and Playbook: https://www.behavioralgrooves-store.com/products/copy-of-the-leading-human-playbook-workbook-package 

Groovy Snacks Newsletter: https://behavioralgrooves.com/newsletter-signup/ 

“Power, for All: How It Really Works and Why It's Everyone's Business” by Julie Battilana and Tiziana Casciaro: https://amzn.to/3tRykRM

Julie Battilana, PhD: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=382192 

Fragrance De Soie tea: https://www.mariagefreres.com/FR/2-rose-de-soie-T8669.html?fbclid=IwAR2Zl2GOegLbbuXY5HRgPOICdbkcfAAgcWRamd9mt4plFsgSL_pARoD__UM 

Vanessa Bohns, Episode 253. Why You Don‘t Need to be Powerful to be Influential: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/influence-vanessa-bohns/

LaTosha Brown: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTosha_Brown 

Jean Rogers, founder of Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB): https://rogersassociatesllc.com/index.php/about-me/ 

Social Innovation Change Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School: https://sici.hks.harvard.edu/ 

Barefoot College: https://www.barefootcollege.org/  

 

Musical Links

Stromae “Sante”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3QS83ubhHE