You Need To Know The 7 Types Of Power

If You Want To Succeed

Mark MurphySenior Contributor
Careers
I solve the “people pain points” that keep leaders
awake at night.
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Ambitious employees and aspiring leaders often ask

me “How do I develop power?” and “Where does
power come from?”

Back in the late 1950s, psychologists John R. P. French

and Bertram Raven identified five major sources of
power. That number has since evolved to seven power
sources, but the core idea remains; there are many
different ways to get power.

Titular Power
First, there’s legitimate power, also known as titular or
formal power. It’s power that comes from having a
title. It generally comes from a place in a hierarchy, so I
have more power as a VP than I did as a director. I have
more power as a director than I did as a manager, and
so forth. But this power gets overused. If you
constantly have to say “do it because I’m the boss” the
people you’re trying to influence will get turned off
pretty quickly.

Coercive And Reward Power

Two other powers are related to legitimate power;

coercive and reward power. Coercive power is the
power that comes from being able to punish people; ‘If
you don’t do this thing by Friday you will be fired.’
Reward power is the flip side of that; ‘If you do this by
Friday, then you can take Monday off.’
Reward power and coercive power are not always
inexorably linked to titular power, but that’s typically
where they show up. And like titular power, threats
and punishments only go so far. And one of the
limitations of this type of power is that it’s very
extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation does work in the short
term, but it just doesn’t reach deep enough into your
followers’ psyches to inspire them to scale mountains.

Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, is said to have once

remarked, “Do I have to go down to the front office
and get that sign that says I’m the CEO for you to stop
arguing with me?” From time to time you can pull that
off. But somebody like Jeff Bezos does not live and die
by legitimate ‘I’m the CEO’ power. He tends to utilize
other sources of power that are much more powerful.

Referent And Connection Power

Referent power comes from being really well liked (and

can imply lots of charisma). Somewhat related to that
is connection power. Think of a Hollywood agent who
has power because of whom they can get access to.
When you can call up somebody who’s powerful and
say, ‘yeah, I can probably get Brad Pitt to show up for
that video shoot’ you have connection power. You may
not have legitimate, coercive or reward power, but the
fact that you have Brad Pitt’s cell phone number gives
a certain amount of power.

Problems With These Traditional Power Sources

When we traditionally think about power, those five

sources are the ones that typically pop into our minds.
And they can absolutely work, especially for the right
people. The problem is first that they’re tougher to
acquire (not everyone has a corner office from which
to employ titular power). And second is that not
everyone is predisposed to want or handle those types
of power.

More than 5,700 leaders have taken the online test

“Are You Motivated By Power Or Achievement?” And
based on the results of the test, we know that about
41% of leaders have a very strong desire for power,
especially the traditional titular, coercive, reward,
referent and connection powers. So, what if you’re in
the 59% of people who are more motivated by
achievement than power? (You can test yourself to find
out). What if you’re not predisposed to titles and
charisma? Can you still have power? The answer is a
resounding Yes!

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The Best Sources: Informational And Expert Power

Informational power is power that comes from having

insight or information that others don’t have access to.
When you’ve read something that other people
haven’t read, when you’re more in touch with what’s
happening in your industry, you have informational
power. When people say, ‘let’s ask Mark, Mark knows
what’s going on with this new regulation…’ you have
informational power.

Expert power is when you can do things better than

other people, when you have a particular area of
expertise. This power might sound like: “I don’t know
how to work XYZ software. Who’s our expert at that?
Bob’s the expert, Sally’s the expert. Let’s go ask them
because they know how to do it.”

What’s great about informational and expert power is

that they’re the most accessible and useful sources of
power.

Don’t we call our current age “the information age”?

Well, in the information age, information and expertise
tend to be the power. How do we have companies with
billion dollar market valuations that are run by people
in their twenties? Is it because they’re so well loved? Is
it because they have Brad Pitt’s phone number? Is it
because they took some path through an
organizational hierarchy? No way.
It happens because they had informational power and
expert power. Those are the pieces of power that
people have been able to leverage, and it’s shaken our
traditional notions of power.

We have informational sources all around us. They’re

available and they’re free. All we have to do is avail
ourselves of them and we’re going to find a
tremendous source of untapped power. You don’t
need to be the senior vice president of whatever with
the big corner office to have power. Information in this
day and age gives you an amazing source of power.

Mark Murphy is the author of Truth At Work: The

Science Of Delivering Tough Messages, Hiring For
Attitude and Hundred Percenters.