In majority of business firms, the people who occupy the most powerful positions are those who are identified as having the solutions to pressing organizational problems. Similarly, people associated with breakthrough developments in the company tend to become the most powerful executives. The breakthrough development does not necessarily need the glamour of a flat-screen television receiver or a sports car. For example, if top management in your company projects that most of its profits will soon come from overseas operations, see if you get assigned to the international group.

Closely related to grabbing on to hot problems is that a unit within the organization acquires power because of its centrality. A unit has high centrality when it is an important and integral part of the work done by another unit. The second unit is, therefore, dependent on the first unit. A sales department has high centrality, whereas an employee credit unit has low centrality. In short, if you want to increase your power as a leader, you are better off moving to the hub of activities.

A simple, yet powerful, approach to resolving conflict involving a compliant is to ask the complainer, “So what do you want me to do?” The technique has a disarming effect: You adversary is stopped in his or her tracks and must now clearly articulate the problem. This technique is particularly effective for minor complaints, such as a customer who is dissatisfied with a service or someone who dislikes a report you prepared.

After the complainer articulates what the real issue seems to be, the demand often diminishes. A customer might be ranting and raving about a 10 – day delay in shipment of valuable merchandise. When you ask the customer what he really what you to do, the customer say simply. Well, how about a small discount on my invoice?”

A larger conflict, such as a labor union demanding a greater share of a company’s profits from investing pension money, might not be as easy to resolve with the magic question. The union leader might reply, “We want 20 percent of those profits distributed to our retired workers.” Your generosity just reduced company profits by about $10 million for this year alone.