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Power and Influence: The Rules Have Changed

Author: Robert L. Dilenschneider

Reviewed by Andrew Clancy, Senior Editor
Soundview Executive Book Summaries

Who hasn't flirted with the daydream about the wonders of traveling through time? Whether one's conveyance is a spaceship, a Delorean or (for those readers in the United Kingdom) a police public call box, there is something that has long fascinated humans about visiting the future. Author and CEO Robert L. Dilenschneider wants readers to do more than visit the future in his new book Power and Influence: The Rules Have Changed. He wants executives to let their minds live in tomorrow, anticipating changes and developing the ways to capitalize on them. The only problem for Dilenschneider is that one quickly wonders whether his time machine got stuck on the year 2003.

It would be irresponsible to write that Dilenschneider's book is devoid of valuable information. A more accurate assessment is that he proves his own point about the speed with which things change and the potential pitfalls that occur to those who are unable to keep up. The more time-honored arguments made by Dilenschneider are business principles that every executive should read and understand. During these moments, the author is very natural in his role as the wizened boardroom graybeard. It is not difficult to picture him relaying many of the anecdotes from Power and Influence over cocktails. Where Dilenschneider goes slightly askew are the moments when he attempts to relay the finer points of technology.

A perfect example of the book's duality is Dilenschneider's references to the Four Seasons hotel in New York. The author mentions his first visit to the celebrated dining establishment occurred in 1967. It was a time when the blue haze of cigarette smoke hung in the air while men (and only men) talked business over filet mignon. Although he avoids out-and-out namedropping, the author is not shy about letting readers know that he's clinked glasses with more than his share of power players, before and after he became one himself. Dilenschneider sets a great scene at the Four Seasons and tells an amazing story about publishing icon Norman Cousins. Readers should contrast this with a later chapter where Dilenschneider describes the importance of blogs as a method of gathering information. Unfortunately, this section of Power and Influence may remind many of hearing a grandparent describe using a DVD player for the first time. Perhaps it's too much of a leap, but one would assume that by 2007, every CEO has either read, written or at least heard of a blog.

All is not lost despite Dilenschneider's occasional forays into tech talk. In fact, he follows the blog commentary with an essential reminder to today's executives to be alert to their own image. One of the most thought-provoking passages in Power and Influence is the author's comparison of CEOs of today with those that made their names 20 or 30 years ago. Perhaps it's more indicative of America's obsession with celebrity, but CEOs today have a great deal more prominence in mass media. Dilenschneider reminds today's executives of a time when a CEO's measure was judged by the impact he made on his community. He encourages young leaders to not be swept up in the self-centered cult of the wealth and fame game. Considering that he generated more than $30 million in profit while president of Hill and Knowlton, Inc., Dilenschneider isn't simply throwing stones at others' success.

Perhaps Power and Influence falls prey to a misguided marketing position. The book's subtitle "The Rules Have Changed" is at times contradicted by the author's own words. This is what may lead readers to feel as though Dilenschneider's time machine somehow came unstuck at an inopportune moment. Maybe he is business writing's own version of Billy Pilgrim, the main character of Kurt Vonnegut's legendary work Slaughterhouse Five, who suffered from a similar malady. Dilenschneider bounces between the past and the future, but leaders reading his work may find Dilenschneider at his strongest when he writes about what he knows. Of the many positive reviews Power and Influence received, one reviewer noted that more of the book's 200 pages should have been devoted to Dilenschneider's tales from his career. While this would change the book from a business title to a memoir, it proves that readers place more value in what the author has seen, rather than where he believes we will go next. He should be lauded for reminding many of the values and ethics that were once commonplace in business. Does Dilenschneider have a place in the future? Without question. Should he write about the future? Probably not. If you'd like to subscribe to Soundview Executive Book Summaries, please click here.