Power is ubiquitous—but totally misunderstood. Turning conventional wisdom on its head, celebrated UC Berkeley psychologist Dr. Dacher Keltner presents the idea of power in a whole new light, demonstrating not just how it is a force for good, but how it is attainable for each and every one of us. It is taken for granted that power corrupts. This is reinforced culturally by everything from Machiavelli to contemporary politics. But how do we get power? And how does it change our behavior? So often, in spite of our best intentions, we lose our hard-won power. Enduring power comes from empathy and giving and, above all, is given to us by other people. This is what we often forget, and what Dr. Keltner sets straight. This is the crux of the power paradox: by misunderstanding the behaviors that helped us gain power in the first place, we set ourselves up to fall from power. We abuse and lose our power because we’ve never understood it correctly—until now. Power isn’t the capacity to act in cruel and uncaring ways; it is the ability to do good for others and in and of itself a good thing. Dr. Keltner lays out exactly—in twenty original “Power Principles”—how to retain power; why power can be a demonstrably good thing; when we are likely to abuse power; and the terrible consequences of letting those around us languish in powerlessness. About the Author: Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley and the faculty director of the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center. A renowned expert in the biological and evolutionary origins of human emotion, Dr. Keltner studies the science of compassion, awe, love, and beauty, and how emotions shape our moral intuition. His research interests also span issues of power, status, inequality, and social class. He is the author of the best-selling book Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life and of The Compassionate Instinct.
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