Sunday Pick: Unlocking Your Power at Work: Kara Swisher on how to get what you want | from Fixable

Workers at every level have power, Elise Hu argues, even when they do not know how to use it. Ann Morris and Frances Fry describe their series as helping people identify, build and use that power for good. Kara Swisher’s central workplace advice is to stop treating the opportunities already offered as the limits of what is possible: ask for what you want, including when no one has put it on the menu.

Swisher illustrates that advice with a woman who wanted to become a CEO but was considering only jobs she had already been offered. Swisher urged her to pursue the goal directly; the woman later became a CEO. The lesson is not that every request will succeed, but that waiting for others to recognize or offer your preferred path can narrow your choices before you have tested them.

Power itself is not inherently bad, Swisher says, but concentrating it in the hands of a small group repeatedly leads to harmful outcomes. People around powerful figures may tell them what they want to hear, allowing flattery to pass for honest feedback and cutting them off from truthful voices. She points to Mark Cuban as having become more interesting and delightful, and says he treats people politely rather than using his wealth to lord it over them.

Before speaking up, Swisher assesses her leverage, goals, options and worst-case scenario. She compares the actual cost of acting with the cost of doing nothing, then decides whether she is willing to pay the price. In her experience, the perceived cost of speaking up was often negligible, though her approach depends on the circumstances and the consequences a person can afford. She also argues that people are often trained to play too safe, and that confidence can help produce results.

Swisher’s reporting taught her to ask not only what someone might be lying to her about, but what they might be lying to themselves about. She applies that question to work: be honest about whether you like the job and why you are doing it. Dreading work or repeatedly complaining about the workplace can be a signal to leave. Swisher left her New York Times column when she no longer wanted to do it, but stresses that leaving should be strategic. Financial, family, healthcare and other constraints can make departure costly, so frustration alone is not a reason to flounce out without weighing the trade-offs.

For technology leaders, Swisher recommends developing interests beyond technology, including history, ethics, philosophy and public policy. She argues that technology education should require ethics courses because technologists can wield enormous power. She also warns that venture capitalists may recruit young entrepreneurs and discard them when their ideas fail; money and idolatry can amplify the risks of elevating people she describes as half-formed. Her broader point is that power requires both judgment and access to honest perspectives.