Exclusive Interview with Jennifer Jordan

Anna Cajot, Negotiation Conference Director at the Schranner Negotiation Institute, sits down with Jennifer Jordan, a Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior at IMD, specializing in the dynamics of power, influence, and organizational behavior. With extensive experience working with senior leaders, she helps executives navigate complex environments by identifying and leveraging their power bases. Through her research and practical approach, Jennifer has developed insightful frameworks that empower leaders to recognize, build, and sustain their influence in both formal and informal settings.

Anna Cajot: How do you define power in the context of leadership? Can someone still lead effectively without holding formal authority?

Jennifer Jordan: I like to define power as the capacity to bring about change or to influence and impact a situation. I think it's important to recognize that you can be a leader without having formal power. Take Nelson Mandela, for example. Was he a leader? Absolutely. But he spent over two decades in prison, with very limited formal power. Still, he was able to inspire change by connecting with people, by tapping into their values, their struggles, and resonating with them on an emotional level. That said, having the ability to influence and create change through formal power does make leadership easier. At its core, leadership is about guiding people toward a shared goal or common purpose, and power, formal or informal, can significantly enhance leaders’ ability to do that.

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Anna Cajot: You’ve spoken in one of your interviews with Harvard Business Review about the importance of conducting a power audit, especially when entering a new role or organization. Can you walk us through what that process looks like and how leaders can benefit from it?

Jennifer Jordan: Yes, the power audit is essentially a four-step process. First, you start by asking: in my specific environment, my microenvironment, where does power come from? For instance, I work at IMD, but I wouldn’t ask where power comes from at IMD as a whole. Instead, I look at my role specifically; so, as a professor at IMD, where does power come from? In this context, there are two main sources: your reputation, and what others, like your fellow professors or clients, say about you? And your network, both external, like connections with CEOs or major companies, and internal, like being able to call a colleague and have them agree to co-teach in a program with you. The second step is to evaluate which of these key power bases you currently have, and which ones you lack. For example: Do I have a strong internal and external network? Is my reputation solid, or are there areas where it’s weaker or less visible? Step three is about sustaining the power bases you already have. Let’s say you do have a strong network, how do you maintain that? There’s a well-known idea that if you stop giving to your network, eventually it stops giving back. So, you need to ask: Am I nurturing my relationships? Am I offering value that makes people want to stay connected with me?

And then finally, step four: for the power bases you don’t currently possess, what’s your plan to build them? For instance, if your reputation isn’t strong or sufficiently visible, how do you increase your visibility? What do people need to see or hear more about, your client work, your approach, your impact?

I once worked with a leader whose primary power base was an ally, his boss’s boss, who had been instrumental in hiring him. But he didn’t invest in maintaining that relationship. He stopped updating her, didn’t stay in touch,and when he hit a rough patch and needed her support, she wasn’t there, she simply wasn’t aware of what he was doing anymore. That was a missed opportunity to sustain a key power base. So, in short, a power audit involves four key steps: identifying where power comes from in your specific context, assessing which bases you have and which you don’t, sustaining the ones you do have, and creating a plan to build the ones you’re missing.

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Anna Cajot: From your experience, what are some of the biggest misconceptions people have about power?

Jennifer Jordan: I think the biggest one is the belief that power corrupts. And that’s not necessarily true. A more accurate perspective, as some have said,is: if you really want to understand who someone is, give them power. Because power doesn’t corrupt as much as it reveals. It magnifies the person inside.

So, if your intentions are genuinely benevolent, if you truly want to help others or support an organization, then gaining power will likely make you more benevolent. But if your motivations are selfish or self-serving, power will amplify that too. In that sense, power is like a magnifying glass; it brings out more of who you already are.

Another common misconception is that power is mainly formal, that it’s tied to your title, your place in the hierarchy, or your official role. But we’ve seen that power is so much more than that. It also comes from knowledge, from access to information, from your reputation, all of which are more intangible or "soft" sources of power, but no less important.

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Anna Cajot: From your perspective, how do power and trust interact in organizational dynamics, particularly during high-stakes negotiations, crisis situations, or internal negotiations? In those situations, which is more important: having power or having trust?

Jennifer Jordan: For me, it’s not an either or, because I actually see power and trust as independent. In other words, power and trust are separate. You can absolutely have a lot of power without necessarily having trust. When I think about trust, I break it down into two dimensions. First, there’s competence-based trust; do you know what you’re talking about? And second, there’s intention-based trust; are you here to help me or harm me? What are your motives?

Let me give an example. Imagine someone in a family business who becomes CEO or Chairperson of the Board just because they’re the founder’s child. That person might have significant formal power. But do they have competence-based trust? Maybe not. Do they have intention-based trust? Maybe yes. But maybe no. They could be in it just for the prestige, the money, or the control. So, even though they hold power, they may lack both forms of trust.

Where trust becomes critical is in the transition from power to leadership. I’ve developed a model that shows a progression from power, to status, to leadership. Status is what happens when others recognize your power as legitimate, when they’re open to your influence. People won’t give you status unless they trust you, either your competence, your intentions, or ideally both. And you can’t effectively exercise leadership unless people are open to your influence. That’s where trust plays a key role.

Take another example: let’s say you need brain surgery. You meet the top brain surgeon in Switzerland. Maybe they’re not the nicest person, you don’t really know if you can trust their intentions. But they have such a strong track record and great references that you fully trust their competence. So even though they lack intention-based trust, their competence is enough for you to open yourself up to their influence. If they say, “You need surgery tomorrow,” you’ll probably listen.

 That’s the key: you don’t get to lead - meaning, to influence people toward a common goal -unless you first have status. And status requires trust. Without trust, people aren’t open to your influence, no matter how much power you have.

So for me, the path is: Power → Status → Leadership. And trust is essential in that transition from power to status.

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Anna Cajot: How can leaders transition from simply having power to actually gaining status, ensuring that others recognize and see their power as legitimate?

Jennifer Jordan: In my view, status is shaped by three key factors: First, is your power base valued in the system? Second, is it unique? And third, is it recognized by others?

So first, ask yourself: Is what I bring to the organization something it actually needs? For example, let’s take AI. In 2025, expertise in AI is a powerful power base because many companies recognize that they need it. So, in that sense, it’s valued. But now consider uniqueness. If you're at a place like Google or Amazon and you're one of twenty people with a PhD in machine learning or large language models, your expertise might be valued, but it's not unique; everyone else has it. So, it won’t necessarily give you much status.

On the other hand, if you're in a more traditional organization, say, a bank like UBS, and you’re the only one there with that kind of AI expertise, then your power base is not only valued but also unique, which significantly boosts your status. And the third piece is recognition. Are people even aware of your power base? You might be sitting quietly in a corner office at UBS with a PhD in large language models, but if no one knows about it, then it’s not going to elevate your status. So, visibility matters.

I see the value of recognition, especially, though not exclusively, with women, where someone has a really strong power base, for example, deep expertise or a strong network, but no one knows about it. They’re not comfortable speaking up or making that visible. And if people don’t see it,they can’t assign status to it.

So, the key is: you have to find a way to make your power visible in a way that feels authentic to you. Because power only leads to status if others actually recognize that you have it.

Anna Cajot: How can you recognize your own power bases and understand what truly gives you power?

Jennifer Jordan: That’s about tuning in to the signals you get from your environment. For example, when you speak in meetings, do people actually listen or do they talk over you? Do the decision-makers, the movers and shakers in your organization or industry, seek you out for your expertise? Or do they bypass you?

One of the best signals I’ve seen involved a leader I was working with. They had deep expertise in a particular area, and there was a project in their organization that aligned perfectly with their skill set. It was a clear match. And yet, instead of turning to this person, the company went outside and hired a consultant.

They came to me wondering, “Why didn’t they ask me?” And I asked, “Do people even know you have this expertise? Have you made it visible enough?” And they realized, maybe not. So, to me, that’s a really important signal. If there's a moment where your expertise or network should clearly be tapped, and you're not being called on, that’s often a sign that your power base isn’t being recognized.

Anna Cajot: Could you explain the role of networks in leadership and the ways leaders can effectively nurture and build them?

Jennifer Jordan: When you're a junior leader, the most valuable power bases are expertise and allies. For instance, if you’re 26 and entering a company with deep knowledge in a hot topic like AI, you can gain immediate power because expertise is highly valued, especially when it’s recognized. As you move into more senior leadership roles, reputation and network become critical. A strong network is powerful because it signals to others that what you offer is valued. Influential people stay connected to you because they see something valuable in the relationship. Networks are reciprocal by nature: if you stop contributing, the network won’t sustain you.

Networks aren’t just about who you know; it’s about what you contribute. When building a network, ask yourself: Who would it be valuable to have in my network? And why would they want me in theirs? What value can I offer them?

This connects to your leadership brand understanding your value and how it enhances your power bases. Your ability to contribute meaningfully makes you a desirable connection, and that helps you build and nurture your network.

We’re excited to welcome Jennifer to our Negotiation Conference 2025, where she’ll be leading the keynote “ Harnessing Power and Transforming it into Leadership” and the breakout session on “Understanding, Harnessing, and Sustaining Your Power”. 

Learn more about the Negotiation Conference: https://www.n-conference.com/conference/zurich