And even within democracies, hard-won freedoms are fragile, because the risk of power becoming concentrated in the hands of a few who will fight fiercely to defend their privileges is always present.

The best power mappers we know are master observers of their social environment. Instead of mentally checking out during the long meetings we all must sometimes endure, they gain invaluable insights by carefully noting other attendees’ behavior, verbal and nonverbal, and analyzing their interactions: who defers to whom; what alliances seem to

To be powerful, you need to offer valued resources over which you have unique control (or that are, at the least, hard to get from someone else). Then the strength of your grip on power will depend on your needs, and how much control the other party has over things you value.

How do you know if you’re prominent in the network? In our research, we found that you can answer this question with surprising accuracy by asking yourself another question: Do people come to me for advice? If they do, you are likely in a position to both influence them and learn from them. If it’s not you, then who is influential? Whom do people

Another key question to answer through these observations is: What does the organization reward? Know what gets someone a raise, a promotion, or a plum assignment, and you’ll know what the organization values (whether they admit it or not).

We risk—often without realizing it—letting our common destiny be decided by a small group of people who may have only their own interests at heart. History gives us innumerable examples of tyrants who disregarded others’ lives and liberty.

Power as we’ve defined it is the ability to influence others’ behavior, be it through persuasion or coercion.

The evidence supported their hypothesis that transportation—characterized by emotional reactions, mental imagery, connection with the characters, and focus on the narrative—has a persuasive effect.

In these past few years especially, we have been asked repeatedly, in various ways, why do I feel like the world is blowing up in our faces and I can’t do anything to stop it?