Real Power: Stages of Personal Power in Organizations, Third Edition
Real Power: Stages of Personal Power in Organizations, Third Edition
Janet O. Hagberg has written a dynamic book about power—real, personal power—for forward-looking people in organizations who want to harness their own power for the common good. “I wrote this book,” says Hagberg, “to transform the way we think about power and leadership. It takes people on a journey beyond achievement and success to a stance in which power comes from their inner core and they lead from their souls.” There is no doubt that the world is ready for a new model of leadership.
Rating: 
(out of 4 reviews)
List Price: $ 25.95
Price: $ 20.00
Nobody’s Perfect, But You Have To Be: The Power Of Personal Integrity In Effective Preaching
Rating: (out of 1 reviews)
List Price: $ 12.99
Price: $ 3.84
5 Comments
Other Links to this Post
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
By Don Blohowiak, Friday @ 12:40 pm
Review by Don Blohowiak for Real Power: Stages of Personal Power in Organizations, Third Edition
Rating:
Power affects all relationships in a way that is, arguably, either underestimated or misunderstood. Or both. So a book that takes a fresh-eyed view of personal power is a welcome addition to understanding the complexities that underlie all human relationships. In “Real Power,” Janet Olson Hagberg has delivered a book of profound insights. It is one of those rare works that forever alters how you view yourself and the world around you. It is replete with wisdom you can leverage to shape your personal destiny in ways you could not before encountering its ideas.REAL POWER IS PERSONAL POWER
Personal power, Hagberg instructs, results from combining external power — the capacity for action — with internal power — the capacity for reflection.The crux of her thesis is a simple, but richly developed, model. It describes six stages of power that individuals can experience, “which we layer one upon another as we develop.” The six stages are:
1. Powerlessness (feeling that you have little to no power)2. Power by Association (a sense of power derived from others who have power, or from learning)3. Power by Achievement (power that originates from having accomplished feats or acquired the culturally accepted signs of achievement; the stage within which most professionals and managers and their employing organizations function)4. Power by Reflection (the power of thoughtful competence and integrity, marked by a search for and transition to deeper meaning)5. Power by Purpose (the power that transcends ego, intellect, and will — difficult hurdles that Hagberg collectively labels “The Wall” — to serve a larger cause by empowering others)6. Power by Wisdom (the power that flows to one who is exceptionally capable and mature and, paradoxically, neither seeks nor desires power)According to Hagberg, individuals operating mainly in the first three stages perceive that their power comes from outside themselves, while those in Stages 4 thru 6 view their power as emanating from within themselves.THE REAL FOCUS OF “REAL POWER”
While the subtitle of the book suggests that it emphasizes the role of “power in organizations,” it quickly becomes obvious that organizational dynamics is *not* the main focus of the book. “Real Power” (fortunately for its readers) really unveils the potent role that power plays in fueling everyone’s actions and shaping everyone’s relationships. On the job, at home, in houses of worship, everywhere. In fact, Hagberg routinely includes comments aimed at helping women, minorities, and the economically or politically disadvantaged to see (and re-think) their limiting views of power. (Throughout the book and in a special chapter, Hagberg even gives attention to how traditional roles and power expectations for men can limit or trap *them* as well.) Moreover, she includes thoughts about how each stage of power relates to one’s spirituality (a theme she has more fully developed in a separate book devoted to her view of spiritual development).POWER AT WORK
Since most of us work in organizations to pay the bills, “Real Power” is useful in decoding the sometimes cryptic forces that drive organizational dynamics. And the book does specifically and thoroughly address how *personal* power issues affect organizational leadership (with helpful chapters devoted to the topic). So the book certainly is useful for understanding how power issues shape organizational behavior. But to cast “Real Power” only onto the burgeoning mountain of business tomes purporting to explain organizational life is to do this book (and thereby alienated potential readers) a great disservice.”Real Power” deftly blends personal psychology and organizational sociology. It renders a great service to anyone fortunate enough to learn the Hagberg model and heed her actionable advice for consciously moving through the personal power stages.THE SPIRIT OF THE AUTHOR
Hagberg, an organizational consultant and activist, writes with refreshing humility and candor. And unvarnished self-disclosure. “The seduction of success and recognition are almost irresistible for me…. I have a hard time knowing when to draw the line, when I’ve had enough.” And (surprisingly): “I have also experienced two divorces, both after many years of marriage….It astounds me to realize how far we grew apart over the years, despite our best efforts to work at the spiritual and psychological aspects of our marriage. It is a mystery to me…”In an extraordinarily generous gesture of service, Hagberg gives blanket permission to others to produce seminars on her work and even to reproduce her graphics. All she asks in return is a donation to an organization, with which she is involved, dedicated to eradicating domestic violence.THIRD SWING
This is the third, and quite expanded, edition of “Real Power.” And while it bursts with provocative thinking, the book quietly moans for an editor who’d inject more organizational discipline into its many insightful pages. (Notably to maintain a consistent voice and to segregate asides and supporting examples into approachable sidebars.)Perhaps that will be the case with a fourth edition of this profound work that richly deserves both A) a bit of re-working to be most useful to readers fortunate enough to learn from Hagberg’s illuminating model, and B) blockbuster best-seller status.But don’t wait for the perfect iteration. No matter your station in life, get and read a copy of “Real Power” just as fast as you can. All hyperbole aside, you’ll forever see yourself and the world with greater clarity. And you’ll possess far more power to choose and shape the kind of life you are capable of living — especially if that doesn’t seem to be in your power right now.– Don Blohowiak, Lead Well® Institute
By Anonymous, Friday @ 1:29 pm
Review by for Real Power: Stages of Personal Power in Organizations, Third Edition
Rating:
I have read this book years ago and find its wisdom still relevant. It shows personal power in progressive stages with the ultimate stage being the most healing and metaphysical.It has helped me understand the power dynamic in the organizations I have worked in and has given me a way to help chart my course in becoming a better employee/manager/employer.Even though it is easy to read, one shouldn’t pigeonhole others into the various categories of personal power, but should use this book to help understand and spur spiritual growth in the organizational life of yourself and others.
By Anonymous, Friday @ 2:12 pm
Review by for Real Power: Stages of Personal Power in Organizations, Third Edition
Rating:
This book is excellent at helping to identify your personal leadership style and the style of those around you. It also provides concrete suggestions on how to work with others at different phases of leadership development and also how to further develop your own leadership style
By Karen-Project Mgmt Prof, Friday @ 2:40 pm
Review by Karen-Project Mgmt Prof for Real Power: Stages of Personal Power in Organizations, Third Edition
Rating:
We read this book for a doctoral class and of the dozens of book we read, this was the weakest in terms of support for the author’s conclusions. The content was interesting although somewhat naive and simplistic. I wish there were a world such as the one Hagberg describes.
By Chad Oberholtzer, Friday @ 3:30 pm
Review by Chad Oberholtzer for Nobody’s Perfect, But You Have To Be: The Power Of Personal Integrity In Effective Preaching
Rating:
Based strictly on its rather provocative title, I wanted to dislike Dean Shriver’s “Nobody’s Perfect But You Have to Be.” I am aware of a rather unhealthy and usually unspoken expectation within the church that church leaders, especially pastors, are supposed to be perfect and sinless. I find this dehumanization of the pastorate to be seriously problematic, and I wondered if this book would further perpetuate that unattainable and destructive myth. Thankfully, for the most part, it does not. Instead, Shriver thoroughly explains the biblical call for church leaders, teachers, and preachers to be people of good character and practitioners of personal holiness, a timely and relevant message in an age when the public downfalls of prominent Christians have not only compromised their personal ministries but marked the church as a center of hypocrisy for a watching and skeptical world.
There are several strengths of the book worth noting. First, Shriver’s work is nothing if not biblical. Each page is plastered with passages and references from the Old and New Testaments. Shriver is careful to support his points from the Bible, providing a consistent and solid foundation. He also quotes countless saints throughout church history, verifying the fact that the premise for the book is not something new but a timeless message that can be traced straight back to the Word of God.
Another helpful characteristic of this book is its brevity. It only took a few hours to read and was much more digestible than many books, without being intellectully or spiritually thin. Finally, I thought the chapter called “Growing by Staying” was possibly the most powerful and important chapter in the book. In an era of career-minded, ladder-climbing, transient pastors, Shriver’s call for pastors to pursue longevity and even lifelong commitment to one church is worth hearing.
Despite its many strengths, there were several disappointments. For instance, there were moments when the encyclopedic referencing of Bible passages and church fathers actually became a distraction. When the point had been made, the tendency towards incessant quotation simply interrupted the prose and made some sections rather choppy to read. I thought the chapter on expository preaching was unconvincing, at least with the way that he casually dismissed topical preaching as virtually valueless. I am continually amazed at those who wave the flag of expository preaching who refuse to consider that topical sermons can actually be expository, in the sense of digging deeply into biblical texts to unwrap godly teaching and timeless truths. As is so often the case, Shriver rather carelessly threw out the baby (topical sermons) with the bathwater (lazily prepared, fluffy, man-inspired sermons). Finally, there were moments when this book edged towards that unhelpful place of expectating perfection from preachers, and I was occasionally wondering if Shriver has ever actually met a non-Jesus human being as holy as the ones that he was describing!!
In spite of a few flaws, what this book does best is make the point dramatically clear that character and integrity matter for preachers. That is a message that bears repeating and rearticulating. As a pastor-in-training and occasional preacher, I am quite aware of my own sinful nature, so this book challenged me on many levels. Even though I often wanted to rationalize away his points, I am convicted and painfully aware of the “power of personal integrity in effective preaching.” I am happy to recommend this book to anyone with the call, the gift, and the responsibility to preach.