Power and Politics

Why was Carter not effective to acquire power? An in-depth analysis of Carter's behavior leads us to three main points that directly correlate with topics we have learned in the Power and Politics Course which include 1) Carter did not demonstrate confidence when given authority, 2) Carter was not effective in influencing others and acquiring power even though he had formal authority, and 3) Carter's management style was not appropriate given the nature of the audience.

Our first point about how Carter did not demonstrate confidence when given authority is highlighted by Jeffrey Pfeffer in his book, Power: Why Some People Have it and Others Don't, pg: 86, "Authority is 20 percent given and 80 percent taken." This illustrates the concept of that if you are given power, you must have that swagger and be confident. However, a good-counter example would be Carter from the movie as he did not follow project confidence when given this authority which ultimately resulted in undermining his credibility.

A leader who has power should also have a sense of responsibility and demonstrate order. However, in the movie Carter did not have this sense of responsibility as he did not take accountability of firing his employees.

Jeffrey Pfeffer mentions in his book, Power: Why Some People Have it and Others Don't, pg: 128, "Anger is usually much more effective than expressing sadness, guilt, or remorse in being seen as powerful." <This was evident when Carter had a black eye and met with the client, but failed to explain what happened which weakened his power due to the lack of transparency.>

An interesting concept that we've learned within the Top Bottom and Middle game is that control of power comes through people, not through the money as was evident when the Top group lost credibility and ultimately the money as they had alienated the middle and bottom groups. Parallel to this concept, in the movie we see that Carter's passion to achieve his goals to the upper management only in fact ends up alienating most of the middle and bottom employees of Sports America as his approach is somewhat lacking in the people side of the business. Contrary, Dan sees his staff as his family, and Carter barely acknowledges them.

Our second point was that Carter had formal authority but was not effective in influencing others and acquiring power. Carter was not influential in convincing the board because he did not build coalitions like Dan did. In Jay Cogner's HBS Study, The Necessary Art of Persuasion, he states that "A persuader must match his or her emotional fervor to the audience's to the audience's ability to receive the message." This illustrates how Carter too was not able to really connect emotionally his audience. During the board meeting, he made one lame and rushed attempt with the janitor by asking the janitor his name and if he agrees which depicts