The Power of Giving Away Power

How the Best Leaders Learn to Let Go

By: Matthew Barzun

Narrated by: Matthew Barzun

“This book is a breakthrough. It’s beautifully written, perfectly timed and heralds a new way forward. I’m buying a dozen copies to share with friends and colleagues.”

-Seth Godin, Founder of altMBA and author of The Practice

If you let go of hierarchy, chaos will reign...or so many leaders believe.

But when leaders find the courage to distribute rather than hoard power, creativity multiplies, trust deepens, and inclusivity expands... and a new kind of order emerges.

A few rare leaders have learned to embrace a new organizational shape and mindset: Constellations. Organizations designed as constellations are dynamic and flexible networks of distinct yet interwoven individuals. Each member of the team feels like a singular star and is also connected to others to form something greater. That is how Visa reimagined how we pay for things, how Wikipedia beat the richest company in the world and how Barack Obama and his grassroots team revolutionized political campaigning. These leaders did what most leaders dread – they gave away power.

Barzun brilliantly layers lessons across history and industries with his own experiences as an internet entrepreneur, political organizer, and US ambassador to the United Kingdom and Sweden. The Power of Giving Away Power shows how the Constellation mindset shines in some of the most impactful organizations and innovations the world has ever known. And it encourages us all to recognize, as Barzun writes, "the power we can create by seeing the power in others" — and making the leap to lead. Together.

Big ideas in a compact package

Barzun didn’t set out to write a bestseller about leadership here, his ambition is to change the world. And I think he may have succeeded.

Having read a lot of books in the same general space as this one—leadership, public policy, history—and especially with the books that are advocating a new way of doing or looking at things, I usually end up thinking they were about twice as long as they needed to be. They’re basically a TED Talk with a bunch of anecdotes to turn them into a book. With this book, I was left wishing there was more.

Barzun seems to have wanted to be careful not to obscure his broader thesis by making it too much about himself. But, I found the parts about his own story super-compelling and would have loved to hear more. Author: please write a memoir!

Great Quick Listen

I really enjoyed this. I often soldier through books that have information I want to hear and still consider them to be great due to the ideas within. I’m happy to say that the ideas AND the stories were compelling in this case.

Brilliant

Enjoyed every chapter. Great mix of insight and ideas. I know I’ll be reading this one again.

Not what I was expecting

From the title you think you’re going to learn the how of giving away power. What you really end up getting is many examples from the author in his own life in politics fundraising and diplomacy. The points were drawn out and I didn’t always get much from them. A small amount of small “Aha” moments made the book worth it enough but overall I missed the how. How do I implement this at work? How do I deal with those that won’t give away power? How to handle power situations by giving away power? References to being a diplomat makes the examples not relatable to 99% of America who works in an office environment and wants to learn how to give away power to make power. The title should be renamed perhaps the importance of giving away power in politics and diplomacy. To the authors credit there aren’t any or enough books that speak to this subject. I hope this sparks the said constellation, of research, studies and better how to guides of giving away power. May the branches of this idea grow to others, I’ll follow along as it does. Overall great start to a difficult topic.

An Extraordinary and Important Book

Leadership is the willingness to lean into and through uncertainty with and for others. Matthew reminds us that it is also a choice available to inter-dependent individuals. This book is powerful, timely, and highly recommend it for anyone that wants to make a difference and make things better.