David Pennington

How can one stick out from a crowded field of engineers looking to move away from coding every day and into a highly competitive environment of engineering management? Why would an engineer want to do something like that? What is the best way to protect status at a company that could hire 5 new grads willing to grind to do your job? How do I move up the chain and build a concrete foundation for a new career in managing people?

These are all reasons that I've picked up the book "Power: why some people have it and others don't" by Jeffery Pfeffer. I won't be an engineer forever, and that timeline always feels shorter every quarter. Moving between companies has taught me that you need to hit the ground running when it comes to building relationships with people around you.

What I am hoping to get out of this book is knowledge about how to grow the scope of my work outside of general software development efficiently and in a way that sets me up for future growth.

I've believed that career growth comes from building influence on others and using it to broaden the vision of work beyond what you currently work on. This is something I have struggled with so far in my career.

What follows is loose notes on the book and my own thoughts. They do not necessarily represent how I feel about what the author recommends, especially because I don't agree morally with some of it. As I write this I have only finished 1/3 of the book.

Notes

Chapter 1

• The world is not just. Once you see that, you stop expecting the right things to happen to the right people by default.
• Self image is the worst enemy of power. Preserving self image can cause inflexibility.
• People who are powerful often became that way because they strived to be powerful.
• Don't take leadership advice without skepticism. Self-presentation bias is real.
• Performance alone does not lead to promotions.
• The path to getting power requires enhancing the egos of those around you.
• Be memorable. Define what gives you an advantage over peers.
• Care about what your boss cares about. Ask directly, then act on it.
• Flattery works, even when it may seem insincere.
• Attacking character often backfires.
• You need to believe you can change before you can actually change.

Chapter 2

• Seven of the most important personal qualities that build power.
• Will and skill are the two most important factors in doing big things.
• Ambition: directly focus on building influence.
• Energy: powerful people often have unusually high energy.
• Confidence, self-reflection, focus, empathy, and conflict tolerance also matter.
• Intelligence is not presented as a precursor to power in this framing.
• Intelligence may introduce drawbacks (pride, overconfidence, isolation) if unmanaged.

Chapter 3

• Where should you start? Not all career paths are efficient paths to power.
• Some strong paths are under-exploited niches that will matter more in the future.
• Examine which functions in the business currently hold power.
• Consider relative pay, proximity to current power centers, and leadership pipelines.
• Sometimes less competitive channels can be faster routes to influence than crowded prestige tracks.

Chapter 4

• Standing out and breaking some rules is important, especially early career.
• Asking publicly for help/favors can be effective and memorable.
• Many people think standing out should happen after success, but success often follows standing out.
• Breaking corporate norms can work when interpreted as courageous rather than rebellious.
• Likeability may be overrated in some power models.
• People often align with demonstrated power.
• Conflicts are remembered less over time than influence outcomes.

Chapter 5

• Notes in progress.