Power.

It corrupts the best and attracts the worst. Its allure is loved and despised. It brings more pain and less happiness. And yet, men chase it like wild animals. We cannot help ourselves. But not only can we not help ourselves, but we are also nothing without it.

Welcome to Earth, where women are born with value and men are born without it. Us men need to find our value. Women must preserve their deteriorating value, and men must accumulate it. We find it by earning, then providing. Our output is what defines us. And our level of output originates from the personal power we hold. From all the literature I have come across on power, I find Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power to be the most effective and useful. This audiobook will seek to deliver a different angle on power. It will focus on the accumulation of power through five facets relevant to any organizational hierarchy.

Here’s a web definition of power: The ability or capacity to do something or act in a particular way. The capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events.

The power in this context fits the second definition, where an individual has the capacity to influence others to gain an objective. But power is much more than just that. There’s a pattern across history on how individuals have wielded power. It goes along the lines of power is taken with brute force through a set of cunning, conniving tactical steps. It is then guarded, and only accessible to the bearer who uses it either for the prosperity of a nation or himself. But this is changing rapidly. Power now is like an open source where everyone can participate. One meme that goes viral can direct a whole audience towards a new way of thinking. It no longer acts like a currency that needs to be hoarded in order to be utilized. Just google “how social media toppled an Egyptian dictator” and you will see what I mean. This change will continue to happen as more people adopt the internet in their lives.