background

Jeffrey Pfeffer Profile

    • JEFFREY PFEFFER is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University where he has taught since 1979.

He is the author or co-author of thirteen books including The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First, Managing with Power: Politics and Influence in Organizations, The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge Into Action, Hidden Value: How Great Companies Achieve Extraordinary Results with Ordinary People, Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management, and What Were They Thinking? Unconventional Wisdom About Management, a collection of 27 essays about management topics, as well as more than 120 articles and book chapters, and Power: Why Some People Have It—And Others Don’t published in September, 2010 by HarperCollins.

Dr. Pfeffer received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University and his Ph.D. from Stanford. He began his career at the business school at the University of Illinois and then taught at the University of California, Berkeley. Pfeffer has been a visiting professor at the Harvard Business School, Singapore Management University, London Business School, and a frequent visitor at IESE in Barcelona.

From 2003-2007, Pfeffer wrote a monthly column, “The Human Factor,” for the 600,000-person circulation business magazine, Business 2.0. Since 2007, he has written a monthly column providing career advice for Capital, a leading business and economics magazine in Turkey and, more recently, a blog for the Corner Office section of BNET (CBS Interactive). Pfeffer has appeared in segments on CBS Sunday Morning, 60 Minutes, and CNBC as well as television programs in Korea, and has been quoted and featured in news articles from countries around the globe.

Pfeffer currently serves on the board of directors of the for-profit company Audible Magic as well as nonprofits Quantum Leap Healthcare and The San Francisco Playhouse. In the past he has served on the boards of Resumix, Unicru, and Workstream, all human capital software companies, and SonoSite, a company designing and manufacturing portable ultrasound machines. Pfeffer has presented seminars in 34 countries throughout the world as well as doing consulting and providing executive education for numerous companies, associations, and universities in the United States.

Jeffrey Pfeffer has won the Richard I. Irwin Award presented by the Academy of Management for scholarly contributions to management and numerous awards for articles and books.

Jeffrey Pfeffer Speaking Videos

Bring Jeffrey Pfeffer to Speak Live at Your Event

Image

Check Speaker Availability

Jeffrey Pfeffer's Speech Descriptions

    Turning Knowledge into Action and Getting Things Done
    Companies have spent millions of dollars building intranets and collaborative tools to capture and share knowledge, under the assumption that in a world in which intellectual capital is increasingly important, the company with the best knowledge management system wins. The underlying assumption is right—intellectual capital and knowledge work are increasingly important. But knowledge that isn’t turned into action is about as bad as action that is not informed by knowledge. Our research has uncovered some important barriers to using and implementing knowledge and building a culture of action instead of just talk and analysis. We have found examples and strategies for overcoming the knowing-doing gap to build a culture of implementation. And there are a set of management practices that can create a company that learns from its experience and turns that learning into actions and results.

    Building High Performance Organizations and Cultures
    The data are clear: success does not come from mergers and consolidations to increase size, from being in high technology, from being in the “right” industry, or even from being first to market with an idea—after all, Xerox invented the first personal computer, Ampex made the first VCR, and Amazon was at least the fourth company to begin selling books on line. Instead, studies of companies in numerous industries ranging from automobile manufacturing to semiconductors, studies of companies in multiple industries, and research in countries including the United Kingdom, Korea, and Germany demonstrate the strong correlation between how companies manage their people and their profits, productivity, and customer and employee retention.

    Our research has identified the essential elements of high performance or high-commitment work arrangements, why these practices are effective, and what this means for building management systems and organizational culture.

    The Paths to Power
    Although power is a word that sometimes has negative connotations in organizations, building power and influence is what effective leaders do and is essential to getting things done. Over decades of research, we have uncovered what are effective ways of building and exercising influence, and some of the dilemmas and choices people face as they move through their careers in organizations.

    It is possible to answer questions such as:

    • when is power and influence more important for getting things done (it turns out that team-oriented, more collegial environments actually make influence skills more, rather than less important);
    • what are the individual attributes associated with being influential, and how can these be developed;
    • what are some effective strategies and tactics for obtaining and using power;
    • how can you develop allies and supporters;
    • how can you deal effectively with opposition and with difficult opponents; and
    • what are some pitfalls to those in positions of power, and how can these be avoided.

    Our educational work helps people develop their clinical, observational skills, their ability to analyze and exercise influence effectively, and to think constructively about power and its use in getting things done in organizations of all sizes and types.

    Managing in Tough Times
    What companies have done right, and mostly wrong. The most typical response to the difficult economic environment of the past few years has been to cut costs and retrench. There have been layoffs, cutbacks in new product and new expansion initiatives, and attempts to outsource more and more activities. But these moves have seldom considered what their feedback effects will be. A few companies have recognized that tough times present the best opportunity to gain ground on the competition, and have behaved accordingly. What lessons can we draw from their actions?

    Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense
    Profiting from evidence-based management. Many organizations decide what to do based on the past experience of senior leaders, ideology and belief, and through the casual benchmarking of observing what other companies are doing. None of these represent effective ways of making decisions. Meanwhile, companies have ignored massive amounts of evidence that speak to questions such as the effectiveness of stock options and incentive compensation, whether “winning the war for talent” is possible or even desirable, the effects of setting up internal competitive dynamics, and many other questions that are relevant to understanding management strategies and their effects.

    The fact that knowledge about “what works” and why is so infrequently used provides an opportunity for information arbitrage in the management of companies that is similar to arbitrage opportunities in the financial markets, except the returns are both larger and less likely to be immediately imitated away. Companies need to use more “evidence-based management” and employ a decision process that uncovers hidden assumptions and confronts them with what leaders know to be true.

Have You Seen this Speaker? Leave a Star Rating.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Books by Jeffrey Pfeffer:

    Power: Why Some People Have It

    In this crowning achievement, one of the greatest minds in management theory reveals how to succeed and wield power in the real world.

    Over decades of consulting with corporations and teaching MBA students the nuances of organizational power, Jeffrey Pfeffer has watched numerous people suffer career reversals even as others prevail despite the odds.

    Our most common mistake is not having a realistic understanding of what makes some people more successful than others. By believing that life is fair, we tend to subscribe to the “just-world phenomenon,” which leaves us unprepared for the challenges and competition of the real world.

    Now Pfeffer brings decades of his incredible insights to a wider audience. Brimming with counterintuitive advice, numerous examples from various countries, and surprising findings based on his research, this groundbreaking guide reveals the strategies and tactics that separate the winners from the losers. Power, he argues, is a force that can be used and harnessed not only for individual gain but also for the benefit of organizations and society.

    Power, however, is not something that can be learned from those in charge—their advice often puts a rosy spin on their ascent and focuses on what should have worked, rather than what actually did. Instead, Pfeffer reveals the true paths to power and career success. Iconoclastic and grounded in the realpolitik of human interaction, Power is an essential organizational survival manual and a new standard in the field of leadership and management.

    Order Here




    What Were They Thinking?: Unconventional Wisdom about Management

    Why do so many companies make so many mistakes—even while led by hardworking, smart, serious people who expend time and effort trying to do the right thing? One answer is that people frequently fail to consider the unintended consequences or feedback effects of their actions—for instance, cutting wages and benefits can result in a loss of talent and employee engagement or even outright sabotage that leaves companies worse off as they lose customers and revenues. A second answer is that many management interventions are based on naïve and simplistic ideas about human behavior. So companies try to solve every problem through financial rewards and incentives, but often don’t get the behavior that will really make them successful. And third, companies tend to overly complicate things and overlook simple but powerful guides to understanding human behavior, such as the norm of reciprocity—people will repay favors and gifts so that generosity often returns more than it costs.

    What Were They Thinking contains 28 essays organized into the following topics: People-Centered Strategies, Creating Effective Workplaces, Power Play: Rethinking Leadership and Influence, Measures of Success: Rethinking Organizational Strategy, and Facing the Nation: Organizations and Public Policy.

    Order Here




    Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management

    A Better Way to Separate Sound Management Ideas from Seductive Hype

    The best organizations have the best talent. . . Financial incentives drive company performance. . . Firms must change or die. Popular axioms like these drive business decisions every day. Yet too much common management “wisdom” isn t wise at all-but, instead, flawed knowledge based on “best practices” that are actually poor, incomplete, or outright obsolete. Worse, legions of managers use this dubious knowledge to make decisions that are hazardous to organizational health.

    Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton show how companies can bolster performance and trump the competition through evidence-based management, an approach to decision-making and action that is driven by hard facts rather than half-truths or hype. This book guides managers in using this approach to dismantle six widely held-but ultimately flawed-management beliefs in core areas including leadership, strategy, change, talent, financial incentives, and work-life balance. The authors show managers how to find and apply the best practices for their companies, rather than blindly copy what seems to have worked elsewhere.

    This practical and candid book challenges leaders to commit to evidence-based management as a way of organizational life – and shows how to finally turn this common sense into common practice.

    Order Here




Related Speakers

background

Need help filling the seats at your next meeting / event?

Call us / email us / check availability and fee for your favorite speaker.

Get in touch
Call us: (760) 656-8770
Toll free in the US: (877) 717-5327
speakers@speaking.com
topqualityessays.com