Book Summary Preview : Power Plays

The Big Idea
Having written one hundred fifty-four sonnets, several long poems and thirty-nine plays (all still read, performed and studied today) it can perhaps be said that no other writer in the history of literature has shown much knowledge about the nature of people and the human condition than Shakespeare. This book shows that wherever we are in our career or private life, Shakespeare has been there already, and he has much to teach us. Shakespeare can be especially helpful to modern business leaders at every level of the business game. Throughout the book, John Whitney and Tina Packer gives us vignettes on Shakespeare’s plays and their insights on business leadership, showing us various lessons on managing ourselves and the people in our companies.

Part I
POWER
For Good and For Evil

Chapter 1: Power is a Freighted Idea
Few place the words “Power” and “Shakespeare” side by side, but if you want to understand power, then the works of Shakespeare is a veritable source of information and guidance.

The proper exercise of power is one of the most persistent challenges facing us in our work. Some of us, like Richard II, the man Bolingbroke pushed off the throne, do not understand it at all. And like him we lose it. Others might understand it but then fail to use it. And like Hamlet we lose it. Understanding power – its strengths and limitations – and knowing when and how to use it, are critical to success in the business world, as well as in our personal lives. Power is a freighted idea, filled with shifting cargo: power to build, power to tear down, power to hasten, power to delay, power to inspire, power to frighten, power to give, power to withhold, power to love, power to hurt, power to do good, power to do evil.

Power for Power’s sake is Power lost
If we believe or act as if power is for power’s sake alone, we are sure to lose it. Like Richard III who had his brother stabbed, his nephews smothered to death and his wife poisoned to achieve kingship, managers who have no other goal but to gain power is doomed to lose it.

Power from the People: A Conundrum
The leader must understand the source of his power; and he must also understand that pandering to that source will ultimately defeat him. On the one hand, we all know that the authority to lead is derived from those who are led. A good leader hears the people he is leading and lets them know they are being heard.

Power is a Tool
Tina Packer began her career in theater with a prejudice against power. Raised in a family with deep attachments to the working class, she believed that the rich and powerful were out to exploit the poor and the weak. After entering the workforce as an actress for the Royal Shakespeare Company, she conceded to herself that she wanted power. “Because I had none,” she recalls. But unlike Macbeth or Richard, Tina did not want power only for the sake of having it. She says:

“I wanted power because I couldn’t bear not having a voice. As a mere actor in the theater world, you have no voice. You’re cast based only on what you look like, and you begin to lose all sense of what you really are. I knew if I wasn’t to lose myself, I had to start doing the kind of theater I thought was important.”

Chapter 2: Uneasy Lies The Head That Wears A Crown

When John Whitney arrived as the new COO in Pathmark, he found a company beset by many problems. He was hired to turn things around. And he did. He initiated a grand turnaround scheme that made the supermarket chain the first 24–hour store in the US. After the scheme’s success, he thought he was in line for CEO. Little did he know he was under the gun and that he caught the ire of many executives who had a different perception of him. For many of his colleagues, he was an outsider, a consultant hired to breathe new life into the company, a usurper of their birthright to the top positions. In his innocent enthusiasm, John failed to understand that anyone who has been promoted, transferred, or brought aboard to do a job may be seen as an usurper by those who think the job ought to be theirs.

Create Your Own Team of Loyalists

When you take over a new position, everyone in the organization — or kingdom — will be watching and waiting. Some will actually want you to succeed. Treat these people as your friends. An important way to keep everyone’s eyes off you is to create your own team of loyalists.

A Duke Never Upstages The King

Part of the success of Pathmark was John’s media campaign, which gave the company more media attention than it has received in its life. Unfortunately, he failed to see that all that publicity made him look like the top guy. He should have devised a way to focus the blitz on the CEO, and not on himself.

Chapter 3: The Trusted Lieutenant

On every level of business, success hinges in no small part on relationships between managers and the people reporting directly to them. The tension between those who lead and those who are being led can be constructive or destructive. But even constructive tensions need to be managed. A good personal assistant — a trusted lieutenant — can keep the relationship between leader and followers healthy, harmonious and efficient.

The Trusted Lieutenant Is Your Lieutenant — So Trust Him

In the breaking of the relationship between King Lear and his loyal assistant, the Earl of Kent, Shakespeare offers a powerful example of the risk a leader takes when he ignores the wisdom of a trusted lieutenant.

When Kent hears the folly of Lear disinheriting Cordelia from his will, he speaks up in public and catches the ire of the King. Kent points out that he has always performed his duties for the king and opposed his enemies; he argues that he must continue to do so even “when majesty falls to folly.” In return, King Lear fires him, giving him five days to vacate his office.

The tragedy of Lear’s inability to listen to Kent brings up all the debating points about how leaders and their top subordinates must work together. It is the trusted lieutenant’s job to challenge the leader. If the leader is smart, he will find an aide who complements his skills or compensates for his weakness.

Tina Packer says that it is impossible for anyone to be in a leadership position without a good lieutenant. All leaders, in whatever field they are in, have an ace second in command, guiding, filling in the gaps, giving feedback, making sure the detail work gets done, making the boss look like the most competent boss on earth. A good boss knows that he’s where he is because she has an excellent lieutenant.

Chapter 4: The Skipping King

Shakespeare had an apt and acerbic phrase for the leader who focuses more on the trappings of power than his job. He called him a “skipping king.” These are CEOs for example who would be willing to cut down on production costs but would insist on keeping his corporate jet, or senior executives who would insist in keeping their private elevator.

“All Hoods Make Not Monks”

Symbols of power work the same way today as during the time of powerful monarchies. The modern corporate empire’s limos and jets suggest that companies are great and on top of their league. Executives’ salaries allow them to buy appropriate wardrobe to show that they are successful agents of a strong company. Other privileges, such as access to the corporate aircraft, comfortable and well-equipped hotels, among others, are useful not only in order to do a good job, but also to recruit the best people and make sure effective executives stay at the firm. Enjoy them. But don’t be seduced by them.

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