Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 7,000+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
The Power of Choice summary
Michael C. Hyter
Embracing Efficacy to Drive Your Career
20 mins
Table of Contents
The Power of Choice
Summary of 6 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 6
Bypass others’ low expectations of you by focusing on what you can control.
Say you’re a confident graduate who gets hired by a top firm in your field. Then, on your first day at your new job, you notice you’re one of the few people among your peers from a minority background. A week later, you overhear a senior partner invite the only other junior hire out to lunch. Over the next few weeks, that junior benefits from personal mentorship, while you get little if any coaching.
Just as you’re questioning whether you fit in, you miss an important deadline. After your manager rebukes you in front of your peers, you’re left completely dejected. You’re sure that it’s time to throw in the towel.
But is it really? Or could it just be that you are caught in a downward spiral of low expectations?
The key message here is: Bypass others’ low expectations of you by focusing on what you can control.
Despite the progress toward diversity in the workplace, many of us still have to confront lingering stereotypes: People doubting a woman’s ability to make a tough call, or an executive of color’s ability to lead an all-white organization. Although it's certainly demoralizing to confront low expectations from others, the greater harm happens when you internalize their doubts in your own mind.
Sometimes all it takes is detecting suspicion in a colleague's voice, or noticing that you're not being considered for opportunities as regularly as your peers. This can trigger the downward spiral of low expectations mentioned earlier. Say someone’s overt or subtle skepticism about your abilities leads you to seriously question whether you have what it takes. Once confidence is compromised, people tend to exert less effort; as a result, performance is less likely to be satisfactory, which ultimately acts to confirm the original low expectations.
To avoid getting caught in this downward spiral, the author – who heads a leadership development organization for Black CEOs and senior executives – recommends focusing on what you can control. Regardless of what others say or do, he maintains that your power to achieve your desired outcomes rests on how you respond. In his own words, “It's not the stimulus, it's the response.”
The response he recommends focuses on embracing personal responsibility in your career development and expanding your sense of possibility about what you can accomplish. In these blinks, we’ll look at the underlying principles, which involve cultivating the technical, relational, and influential skills required to grow your network and career.
Want to see all full key ideas from The Power of Choice?
Key ideas in The Power of Choice
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
What is The Power of Choice about?
The Power of Choice (2020) is a guide for professionals who are underrepresented in their fields or who are struggling to fit into their workplace cultures. Drawing on a practical set of principles, it shows how anyone can navigate setbacks at work by embracing personal responsibility. It also includes tips on how to improve self-confidence and mobilize professional relationships for long-term career growth.
Who should read The Power of Choice?
- Professionals with underrepresented identities and backgrounds
- Managers and leaders seeking to become more influential
- Career-driven individuals who are interested in self-improvement
Categories with The Power of Choice
Books like The Power of Choice
People ❤️ Blinkist
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
People also liked
Start growing with Blinkist now
28 Million
Downloads on all platforms
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
91%
Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
*Based on survey data from Blinkist customers