Power: Why Some People Have it and Others Don't

by Jeffrey Pfeffer

MISPLACED OR TOO MUCH TRUST When you are powerful and successful, you are overconfident and less observant—and one specific manifestation of such tendencies is to trust what others tell you and rely on their assurances. As you become less vigilant and paranoid about others’ intentions, they have the opportunity to take you out of your position of power. When NationsBank, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the Bank of America, headquartered in San Francisco, merged in 1998, it was to be a merger of equals with shared governance between the managements of the two institutions. David Coulter, the Carnegie-Mellon business school–trained Bank of America CEO, had entered the merger thinking it was great for both companies. Approaching the transaction as an intellectual challenge to increase shareholder value and improve the organization, Coulter believed the assurances about shared power and did not see the power play unfolding. He trusted the promises provided by Hugh McColl, the CEO of NationsBank, about Coulter’s significant