At startups we often eschew the notion of politics and power. However, it is an inescapable reality of living as the social creatures we are. As I set on a class on exactly this topic: Power and Influence the professor highlighted the best yardstick for power I’ve heard to date:
Who comes to me for advice?
This metric is particularly effective because it neatly captures both dimensions of trust – Competence and Character. In order to trust someone’s advice you need to believe in their competence (they will provide you with good data) and their character (they have your best interests at heard. One without the other (ill intentioned intelligence or well intentioned ignorance) is misleading at best.
Take a couple minutes to map our who trusts you. By these metrics what does your network look like? How powerful are you? And, most importantly, how do the people in your circle of trust map to your needs in the relationship (top) row of the Framework for Happiness?
No comments:
Post a Comment