What do a person’s character type, knowledge, reputation, expressiveness, attractiveness, and history of relationships with other people have in common? Or his role, available resources, information and connections? All are sources of power. Their combination is the key to leadership and influence. The book provides a comprehensive examination of the sources of power at the personal and organizational levels. After reading it, you will not only learn about how people gain or lose power, but you will also be able to assess the strength of your own sources of power and understand how to become an influential leader.

Published in Russian for the first time.

The ability to lead and effectively influence others begins with yourself - with your knowledge and skills, the ability to communicate with people, maintain good relationships, with your appearance, personality and character. These five personal sources of power (knowledge, expressiveness, relationships, attractiveness, and character) are the price of entry into the world of work. They are the ones who make you an attractive applicant when applying for a job and serve as the basis for success in career advancement. No matter what role you play in an organization, personal sources of power are critical to how people feel about you and their willingness to be influenced and follow you. The chapters in the first part of the book explore these sources and discuss the results of scientific research.

The power of a leader and influencer depends on the strength of personal sources of power. However, by entering an organization, a person thereby gains additional sources of power, determined by the role he plays, the resources he controls, access to and use of information, the scale and strength of networks, and the attitudes of employees and colleagues. These five sources (role, resources, information, connections, and reputation) are critical to business leaders and organizations of all types. The strength of the listed sources of power determines the leader’s ability to exert exceptional or minimal influence on people. Part II is devoted to an analysis of five organizational sources of power and the results of their global research.

Andrew Carnegie said: “You will gain enormous power if you believe in the secret dreams that you were born to control your life.” Ultimately, your leadership abilities and ability to influence people and events depend on the desire to have power, the determination to influence others, to create new things and to change situations for the better. They depend on your will. The ability to put plans into action and realize dreams, decisively overcoming obstacles, is your most important source of power. The third part of the book is devoted to the study of the will to power and the various ways of developing all the sources of power described here.