The Empowered Manager: Positive Political Skills at Work

PRAISE FOR THE EMPOWERED MANAGER

"Peter Block is an original and a wise and experienced observer of organizational life. He shares his unique and thoughtful perspective in this enlightening and provocative new edition of his classic, The Empowered Manager. Peter asks us to consider what could be possible if only we rekindled the entrepreneurial spirit and felt safe enough to speak out and take action. In this sense, empowerment becomes the foundation for leadership, and the brightest path to the future is when leadership becomes everyone′s business. The Empowered Manager is at once a deeply philosophical and a highly practical book one that needs to be read and applied by every thinking leader."
Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, Co–authors, The Leadership Challenge:
How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations

"I write books on business and I′ve read hundreds of them. Peter Block′s The Empowered Manager blows me away. This is a disruptive, radical, challenging book that, ultimately, is eminently practical, actionable, and useful to anyone seeking to change an organization for the better."
Joe Calloway, author of Be the Best at What Matters Most

"Peter Block reminds us anew that people define and shape organizations and that our success is in the hands of all our people. This is a book not only for managers ′at the top′ but for all employees."
James Keene, City Manager, Palo Alto, California

"What we learned from Peter Block′s book thirty years ago changed our lives. Three decades later those changes are deeply embedded in the they way we all 700 of us at Zingerman′s work today. We would not be who we are, our organization would not be what it is, today had Peter not been generous enough to share his insights."
Ari Weinzweig, Co–founding partner, Zingerman′s Community of Businesses;
Author, Zingerman′s Guides to Good Leading

Prologue: To Read or Not to Read ix

Introduction: Why Empowerment Now and Again xv

1 Managers in the Middle 1

PART ONE Politics in the Workplace Rekindling the Entrepreneurial Spirit 7

2 Personal Choices That Shape the Work Environment 9

The Road Most Traveled 9

Now You See It, Now You Don t 11

Choosing an Entrepreneurial Path 12

When to Play It Safe 19

3 A Culture of Empowerment 21

The Bureaucratic Cycle 22

The Entrepreneurial Cycle 24

The Patriarchal Contract 26

Myopic Self–Interest: The Myth That Advancement and Self–Esteem Are Related 35

Manipulative Tactics 50

4 The Empowerment Choice 59

The Entrepreneurial Contract 66

Enlightened Self–Interest 78

Authentic Tactics 87

PART TWO Positive Political Skills at Work 97

5 Creating a Vision of Greatness 99

Claiming Our Autonomy by Creating a Vision 99

What Is a Vision and Why Is It Important? 100

Creating the Vision 106

Communicating Our Vision 117

Coaching Others in Creating Their Vision 119

6 Negotiating with Allies and Adversaries 127

The Critical Skills: Negotiating Agreement and Negotiating Trust 128

7 Balancing Autonomy and Interdependence 151

Political Scripts 153

The Right Use of Scripts 167

Interdependence 169

Autonomy and Interdependence 171

Finding Peace with the Boss 172

8 Facing Organizational Realities 177

Nonsuicidal Courageous Acts 179

9 Enacting the Vision 187

Moving Toward Tension 188

Final Thoughts 189

Annotated Bibliography 195

About the Author 197

Acknowledgments 199

Index 201

PETER BLOCK is a leading organization development consultant specializing in empowerment, stewardship, chosen accountability, and the reconciliation of community. He is founder of Designed Learning, a provider of consulting skills training services that enable organizations to create sustainable change through engagement. He is the bestselling author of Flawless Consulting, now in its third edition.