Friend and Foe: When to Cooperate, When to Compete, and How to Succeed at Both by Adam Galinsky, Maurice Schweitzer Read Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Adam Galinsky, Maurice Schweitzer
answer: “I know what I want! I want you to poke out one of my eyes.”
O
We’ve seen how we rely on social comparisons to help us understand where we fit in our social world. But here’s one element we haven’t yet talked about: the fact that often the most important comparisons we make relate to power. Those with the most power lead, those with the least power follow. We next explore how relative differences in power influence our ability to compete and cooperate, and how we can manage power dynamics to be both a better friend
and
a more formidable foe.
2
It’s Good to Be the King…Until It Isn’t
I n the satirical film
History of the World, Part I
, King Louis XVI of France traverses his day without inhibitions, indulging his every whim. He uses his staff for chess pieces, and when skeet shooting he has peasants, instead of clay disks, thrown up into the air as targets. Whenever he needs to urinate, he calls over a “piss boy” (his term, not ours) who carries a bucket for him to relieve himself. Each time he engages in one of these indulgent actions, he turns to the camera and says, “It’s good to be the king.”
But the story didn’t end well for King Louis XVI; the people revolted and he was murdered. It was good to be the king…until it wasn’t.
Mark Hurd, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, understands what it feels like to ascend to power, only to fall from grace. After all, Mark started at the bottom. He began his career at NCR Corporation as a junior sales analyst and steadily moved up the ranks over the next 20 years until he was named the company’s president and chief operating officer in 2001. A few years later, Hewlett-Packard stole Mark away and promoted him to chief executive officer. Under Mark’s watch, HP became the top seller in desktop and laptop computers, its revenues rose, and its stock price doubled.
Mark enjoyed all the luxuries of being a CEO, and then some. In the fiscal year of 2008, Mark earned $25.4 million in cash. He and his wife had access to the company jet, and when he asked for it, HP even gave him extra money to cover the taxes involved in using the jet. For Mark Hurd, it was good to be the CEO…until he met Jodie Fisher.
When Mark first saw Jodie on the reality television show
Age of Love
, he was immediately drawn to her. As a CEO, he was a man who was used to getting what he wanted, and he acted on his desire for Jodie. Mark handpicked Jodie to host various HP events in order to be in close contact with her. Even though Jodie resisted these advances, Mark was undeterred. He insisted on taking Jodie out to fancy dinners that had no business relevance but were charged to HP. In an attempt to woo Jodie, Mark pointed out all the women who were clamoring to be with him, including Sheryl Crow. When celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred detailed Mark’s solicitations in a letter to HP, it became clear to the company that Mark had made a habit of using company money to wine, dine, and fly women around the country. Because Mark failed to properly report these expenses, it cost him his job in 2010. It was good to be the CEO, until it wasn’t.
What caused Mark to behave so recklessly? Why did he risk everything?
We propose that the answer lies in one word:
power
. As the great British philosopher Bertrand Russell once stated, “The fundamental concept in social science is
Power
, in the same sense in which
Energy
is the fundamental concept in physics.” In other words, how much power we have at any moment in time drives how we think and how we behave.
When people hear the word power, they immediately understand what it means. Formally, power is the amount of control that one person has over another. The powerful have greater access to scarce resources, and they can control the behavior of those with less power by offering or withholding resources, or meting out punishments.
The classic example is the difference between a boss and an employee. The boss can offer raises and
O
We’ve seen how we rely on social comparisons to help us understand where we fit in our social world. But here’s one element we haven’t yet talked about: the fact that often the most important comparisons we make relate to power. Those with the most power lead, those with the least power follow. We next explore how relative differences in power influence our ability to compete and cooperate, and how we can manage power dynamics to be both a better friend
and
a more formidable foe.
2
It’s Good to Be the King…Until It Isn’t
I n the satirical film
History of the World, Part I
, King Louis XVI of France traverses his day without inhibitions, indulging his every whim. He uses his staff for chess pieces, and when skeet shooting he has peasants, instead of clay disks, thrown up into the air as targets. Whenever he needs to urinate, he calls over a “piss boy” (his term, not ours) who carries a bucket for him to relieve himself. Each time he engages in one of these indulgent actions, he turns to the camera and says, “It’s good to be the king.”
But the story didn’t end well for King Louis XVI; the people revolted and he was murdered. It was good to be the king…until it wasn’t.
Mark Hurd, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, understands what it feels like to ascend to power, only to fall from grace. After all, Mark started at the bottom. He began his career at NCR Corporation as a junior sales analyst and steadily moved up the ranks over the next 20 years until he was named the company’s president and chief operating officer in 2001. A few years later, Hewlett-Packard stole Mark away and promoted him to chief executive officer. Under Mark’s watch, HP became the top seller in desktop and laptop computers, its revenues rose, and its stock price doubled.
Mark enjoyed all the luxuries of being a CEO, and then some. In the fiscal year of 2008, Mark earned $25.4 million in cash. He and his wife had access to the company jet, and when he asked for it, HP even gave him extra money to cover the taxes involved in using the jet. For Mark Hurd, it was good to be the CEO…until he met Jodie Fisher.
When Mark first saw Jodie on the reality television show
Age of Love
, he was immediately drawn to her. As a CEO, he was a man who was used to getting what he wanted, and he acted on his desire for Jodie. Mark handpicked Jodie to host various HP events in order to be in close contact with her. Even though Jodie resisted these advances, Mark was undeterred. He insisted on taking Jodie out to fancy dinners that had no business relevance but were charged to HP. In an attempt to woo Jodie, Mark pointed out all the women who were clamoring to be with him, including Sheryl Crow. When celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred detailed Mark’s solicitations in a letter to HP, it became clear to the company that Mark had made a habit of using company money to wine, dine, and fly women around the country. Because Mark failed to properly report these expenses, it cost him his job in 2010. It was good to be the CEO, until it wasn’t.
What caused Mark to behave so recklessly? Why did he risk everything?
We propose that the answer lies in one word:
power
. As the great British philosopher Bertrand Russell once stated, “The fundamental concept in social science is
Power
, in the same sense in which
Energy
is the fundamental concept in physics.” In other words, how much power we have at any moment in time drives how we think and how we behave.
When people hear the word power, they immediately understand what it means. Formally, power is the amount of control that one person has over another. The powerful have greater access to scarce resources, and they can control the behavior of those with less power by offering or withholding resources, or meting out punishments.
The classic example is the difference between a boss and an employee. The boss can offer raises and
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