Kinds of Power

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Summary: The Power of Ideas
Review: Hillman contends that power is not a single entity. There are many forms of power. Hillman describes a wide variety of powers, such as control, ambition, leadership, charisma, tyranny and many more. Hillman gives the reader a different perspective on each form of power. He does not judge certain types of power as being good or bad. He helps us see each kind in a new light. It is Hillman's premise that power resides in our ideas about power. We are ruled by the power of ideas. If we are to become more effective as leaders and managers, we must become aware of how we think about power. No one definition of power is adequate. We must recognize that power is multifaceted and we must be prepared to exercise power in its many forms if we are to succeed.

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Summary: Power corrupts, or does it?
Review: James Hillman is often thought of as a demanding and difficult writer -- in need of being "popularized" by someone like Thomas Moore ("Care of the Soul") to reach a wider audience. And there may be some truth to this, but Hillman can also be remarkably accessible, as in this thought-provoking book on the "intelligent uses" of power.

We may think that power needs no explanation. It is what it is. But, as Hillman points out, that belief gives it unconscoius power over us. Never examining power, we do not see the many ways it permeates our daily lives, influencing our behavior and our choices. If we think of power as "force," we do not appreciate its subtler uses, e.g., influence, authority, or energy, and we do not see that problems about power may have a wide array of solutions.

Hillman is fascinated by words, because words represent ideas; embedded in words are the entire histories of ideas. He is also fascinated by the process of "entertaining" ideas, and this book is a record of one brilliant and mercurial mind entertaining the idea of power, examining the many ways we can look at it (he devotes a chapter to each of 24 "kinds of power"), as well as the way its various meanings govern how we see the world around us. For instance, ideas about power lead individuals or groups of people to regard themselves as disempowered (victims); ideas about power may underlie the desire to own guns.

Because economic power rules the lives of almost everyone (yet another idea about power), Hillman directs his book to anyone involved with businesss. And he means business in the broadest sense of that word -- anyone whose life is structured by the getting and spending of money. Looking into mythology for insights into the psychology of power, he opens up this subject as therapist and patient might do in a series of 50-minute sessions. It's not a how-to book, but rather a journey, taking the reader across a landscape (both personal and collective) that offers many new and freeing perspectives.

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Summary: Hillman is authoritative, erudite and comprehensive.
Review: James Hillman's book Kinds of Power, srikes a chord of resonance at every root "chakra" in the human body. Two dozen associates under the rubric of "power" are brought to bear upon the reader. Hillman appears to "make up" his analysis as he goes along, but, with his intellect and breadth of pedantic knowledge, he stays a steady course from start to finish. Hillman is convincing, forever analytical and sufficiently critical. He does have a way of getting off the path at times and entertains his way through some tough issues by employing a bit of sophism. Nonetheless, overall, a book well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: thought-provoking for leadership wonks
Review: One my most-recommended books whenever discussions about "leadership" or "control" go sideways. Flawed, but discerning readers can extract real-life applications of the models and metaphors herein. Worthy of updating and reissuing with a new market positioning that will expand its audience beyond psychoanalytical circles.

Rating:
Summary: a clever study
Review: Other reviewers have touched on the positive aspects of Hillman's book. It is a nice study of power and its intricacies from a depth-psychological, multidisciplinary, poetic perspective. A reader new to Hillman won't find this work as technical as others (e.g., Re-Visioning Psychology).

As someone who worked in Corporate America for 15 years, I feel uncomfortable with psychologizing repetition, control, leadership, etc. without giving due emphasis to the enormously widespread pain and suffering these cause to those of us subjected to them by bosses who belong in daily therapy but are too narcissistic to ever go there. It's very nice to link up repetition with a deep need to polish, or to give a nod to the "born" leader--but unless we also emphasize the shadow side of these states and qualities, they all get taken right to the bank. I must say I'm glad that some of the people I've had to report to never came across this book; they'd have used it as an excuse to be MORE controlling, intrusive, demanding, and downright tyrannical.

I can't quite figure out why Hillman wrote this book. His nod to people in business, maybe? An attempt to explain a bit of psychology to them? Surprising to see the Nietzsche of depth psychology offering so many of what look like justifications for precisely the kind of corporate behavior that drives people into stress disabilities and two of my own colleagues into suicide.

Rating:
Summary: a clever study
Review: Other reviewers have touched on the positive aspects of Hillman's book. It is a nice study of power and its intricacies from a depth-psychological, multidisciplinary, poetic perspective. A reader new to Hillman won't find this work as technical as others (e.g., Re-Visioning Psychology).

As someone who worked in Corporate America for 15 years, I feel uncomfortable with psychologizing repetition, control, leadership, etc. without giving due emphasis to the enormously widespread pain and suffering these cause to those of us subjected to them by bosses who belong in daily therapy but are too narcissistic to ever go there. It's very nice to link up repetition with a deep need to polish, or to give a nod to the "born" leader--but unless we also emphasize the shadow side of these states and qualities, they all get taken right to the bank. I must say I'm glad that some of the people I've had to report to never came across this book; they'd have used it as an excuse to be MORE controlling, intrusive, demanding, and downright tyrannical.

I can't quite figure out why Hillman wrote this book. His nod to people in business, maybe? An attempt to explain a bit of psychology to them? Surprising to see the Nietzsche of depth psychology offering so many of what look like justifications for precisely the kind of corporate behavior that drives people into stress disabilities and two of my own colleagues into suicide.