Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and the faculty director of the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center. A renowned expert in the biological and evolutionary origins of human emotion, Dr. Keltner studies the science of compassion, awe, love, and beauty, and how emotions shape our moral intuition. His research interests also span issues of power, status, inequality, and social class. He is the author of the best-selling book Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life and of The Compassionate Instinct.
“An innovative look at the idea of power.... [This]
paradigm-shifting book challenges readers to find a new level of
awareness about themselves and the leaders they choose to
follow.”—Publishers Weekly
“The Power Paradox, compelling and eye-opening from start to
finish, will change your view of what power is. Power turns out to
be a subtler force than it seems, influencing us for better and
worse more than we realize. This book explains how people get
power, keep it, and keep from being corrupted by it. The good news
is the radical claim at the heart of the book: that the best way to
get and keep power is to use it for the greater good. This
pathbreaking book is full of fascinating and little-known findings,
and Dacher Keltner’s many years of creative work on the psychology
of status and influence make him uniquely qualified to write it.”
—Robert Wright, author of The Evolution of God and The Moral
Animal
“Dacher Keltner shares insights into many aspects of power,
including afternoon tea in Britain and how Lincoln won the
presidency. His combination of academic sophistication and
clear style delivers a new concept of power in our society today
that is provocative and intriguing.” —Sheryl WuDunn, coauthor of
Half the Sky and A Path Appears
“Dacher Keltner is the most interesting psychologist in America.
He's busy changing the minds of Americans about how power works,
how inequality works. It's only a matter of time before his ideas
spread everywhere. And unlike most psychologists I know, he’s not a
weirdo.”—Michael Lewis, author of The Big Short and Moneyball
“With personal insight and the latest science, Dacher Keltner is
both realistic and idealistic: The Power Paradox sheds light on
human power’s dark side, as well as its redeeming qualities.
Everyone can learn from this wise book.” —Susan T. Fiske, Eugene
Higgins Professor of Psychology and Professor of Public Affairs at
Princeton University
“That power is not taken but given is true for most human relations
today. It has ancient roots in primate behavior. Dacher Keltner
applies a lifetime of research to this topic, offering a lively
description of how true power is like a return on a social
investment in others.”—Frans de Waal, author of Are We Smart Enough
to Know How Smart Animals Are?
“The Power Paradox brings clarity to our confusion, brimming with
evidence-based insights into powerlessness, the selfish uses of
power, and the best kind: power that furthers the greater good.
Dacher Keltner’s brilliant research gives us a lens that lets us
see afresh hidden patterns in society, politics, and our own lives.
No doubt this will be one of the most significant science books of
the decades.”—Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence and
A Force for Good: The Dalai Lama’s Vision for Our World
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