1장
The Power Game: How Winning Transforms Our Brains and Behaviors
Ever wondered why some people seem born to win while others struggle despite advantages? Why do successful people sometimes make catastrophic decisions, like auto executives flying private jets to beg for government bailouts? Or why Oscar winners live four years longer than nominees? Ian Robertson's fascinating exploration reveals that winning isn't just psychological-it physically reshapes our brains. The book has influenced leaders from Wall Street to Silicon Valley, with Elon Musk reportedly keeping a copy on his nightstand. Celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Emma Stone have cited its insights on handling success. This groundbreaking work bridges neuroscience and psychology to explain how power and success transform us at the cellular level, offering a roadmap for achieving success without becoming corrupted by it.
2장
The Genetic Myth: Why Winners Aren't Born That Way
Pablo Picasso's son Paulo lived a life of dependency and failure, serving as his father's chauffeur while enduring constant belittlement. He died at 54, just two years after his famous father, having never escaped Picasso's shadow. This pattern repeats across generations of successful people-when family businesses are handed to children rather than outside CEOs, profitability drops by at least 4%. Children of wealthy, successful parents often experience more anxiety, depression, and substance abuse than their less privileged peers.
The Getty family provides another stark example. When kidnappers sent John Paul Getty III's severed ear to a newspaper after his billionaire grandfather initially refused ransom, it marked another chapter in a tragic legacy. Three generations of Getty men battled heroin addiction, with John Paul eventually dying partially paralyzed and nearly blind from drug-related health issues.
This challenges the notion that success is genetically predetermined. If winning were simply inherited, why do the children of extraordinarily successful people often fail to thrive?
The answer lies partly in how achievement motivation works. Harvard psychologist David McClelland found that the most successful people set moderately challenging targets-demanding but attainable. Children of very successful parents struggle to find this "Goldilocks zone," as their achievements inevitably seem modest compared to their parents'.
But there's a deeper factor: mindset. Carol Dweck's research identified two fundamental approaches to challenges. "Mastery-oriented" children believe effort determines outcomes and respond to difficulty by trying harder. "Helpless" children attribute results to fixed abilities and give up when facing obstacles. When children believe intelligence is something they can improve through effort, their academic performance steadily increases. Those who view intelligence as fixed show no improvement regardless of initial ability.
This explains why some highly intelligent people struggle with motivation-they fear failure would disprove their "smart" identity. Brain imaging studies confirm that people with fixed mindsets have stronger threat responses to failure and absorb less helpful feedback than those with growth mindsets.
The human genome project has fueled biological predestination beliefs, yet most geneticists remain cautious about deterministic claims. With only 20-30,000 genes, it's impossible for genetics alone to control human behavior complexity. Children should be praised for "grit"-consistency and perseverance-rather than being "bright," as this quality significantly impacts achievement.
Many successful parents "hide the ladder" of their hard work either because they attribute success to innate genius or because their egos can't bear acknowledging the role of effort and luck. For an ego that believes in innate genius, preserving that self-image means denying the mundane path of effort and attributing success to genes or divine gifts. Having a "god" for a father becomes a curse, as children struggle to forge their own identities in the shadow of seemingly supernatural achievement.
3장
Environmental Triggers: How Circumstances Transform Winners
In Lake Tanganyika, the African male cichlid fish comes in two types: the colorful, aggressive, fertile T fish and the dull, submissive, infertile NT fish. This appears to demonstrate evolutionary hierarchy until something remarkable happens-an NT fish can transform within hours, developing vibrant colors, enlarged testes, and aggressive behavior when it claims vacant territory. Certain brain cells swell to eight times their size, releasing hormones that trigger physical transformation.
This phenomenon raises profound questions about human potential. A study of London traders found that testosterone levels predicted their daily profits-higher morning testosterone correlated with greater risk-taking and higher earnings. Similarly, Brazilian soccer fans showed a 28% increase in testosterone after their team won the 1994 World Cup final, while Italian fans experienced a 27% decrease after their loss.
The "winner effect" explains how success breeds more success. When Mike Tyson returned to boxing after prison, promoter Don King arranged easy victories against "tomato cans" before facing champion Frank Bruno. This strategy leveraged what mathematician H.G. Landau had discovered-winning triggers testosterone surges that reduce anxiety, increase aggression, and raise pain thresholds.
Research with California mice reveals that winning physically changes the brain. After multiple victories, these creatures develop more androgen receptors in brain regions controlling social aggression and in reward/motivation networks. Fascinatingly, this winner effect only occurs when victories happen on home territory.
The home field advantage extends beyond sports into business and politics. In soccer, players show higher testosterone levels before home games than away games. In business negotiations, students on "home ground" struck better deals regardless of their role. Historically, neutral venues have been crucial in avoiding home advantage, as seen when Napoleon and Tsar Alexander signed the Treaty of Tilsit on a raft between their empires.
Our body posture significantly affects our mental state and hormones. Research shows that people who adopt "high power" poses for just one minute experience increased testosterone and decreased cortisol (stress hormone) levels, while "low power" poses produce opposite effects. These bodily expressions of power may relate to the cichlid fish's transformation-behaving like winners helps us become winners.
Humans excel at systematically denying others success through discrimination. While explicit barriers have been legally addressed, glass ceilings persist-a 2009 survey showed only 15 women among Fortune 500 CEOs. This disparity reflects both conscious and unconscious biases. Research during Obama's 2008 campaign revealed how exposure to positive examples can reshape unconscious racial attitudes in people's brains.
The transformation of NT cichlid fish to dominant T cichlid fish happens simply through a change in territory. This raises profound questions about human potential-are our successes merely products of circumstance? While opportunity clearly matters, success isn't guaranteed merely by position. The relationship between chance, personality, and power proves more complex than simple determinism.
4장
Power's Transformation: The Blair-Clinton Divergence
The friendship between Bill Clinton and Tony Blair reveals how power shapes leadership. Initially close friends sharing political vision, their relationship fractured over military intervention in Kosovo in 1999. While Clinton, weakened by domestic political setbacks and military failures in Somalia, was reluctant to commit ground troops, Blair took a more aggressive stance, effectively upstaging Clinton.
The hierarchical nature of Blair's government contrasted sharply with Clinton's administration. Blair, riding high after successes in Northern Ireland and surrounded by his "sofa cabinet" of trusted advisers, created a steep power structure where cabinet ministers were effectively silenced-a version of the "mum effect" seen in hierarchical organizations where subordinates fear speaking up. This allowed Blair to pursue aggressive Kosovo policies that Clinton's more contentious cabinet wouldn't support.
Power creates an illusion of control even over random events. In experiments, people primed to think about times they had power were more likely to believe they could influence dice rolls and more optimistic about controlling political and economic events. Political analysis reveals this difference between Clinton and Blair-Clinton showed average belief in his ability to shape world events, appropriate for even the most powerful nation. Blair, however, scored extraordinarily high in his belief he could control global events, despite leading a medium-sized country.
In September 2002, Blair and his press secretary Alastair Campbell met Bush and Cheney at Camp David, with Blair believing he could "steer them in a sensible path." In reality, Bush had already decided to invade Iraq and merely needed Blair's public support. Bush praised Blair's "cojones" (balls) to Campbell, dubbing it the "cojones summit"-a macho button-push that appealed to Blair and Campbell's fraternity-like relationship where they valued "ballsy" behavior above all.
Power primes the brain into action mode, helping focus on goals rather than worrying about risks. It puts attentional blinkers on leaders, screening out distractions but potentially blinding them to warning signs. This explains why Blair fell out with the more cautious Clinton but aligned perfectly with Bush's action-oriented worldview.
Leaders who relentlessly pursue goals without noticing warning signals eventually fail. Successful organizations balance action-oriented CEOs with cautious counterparts-often accountants or lawyers. This mirrors our brain structure: while the left prefrontal cortex drives goal-setting through dopamine, the right prefrontal cortex acts as the "cautious accountant," scanning for threats using noradrenaline. Power unbalances this system-it narrows attention to goals while diminishing risk recognition.
Professor D.G. Winter's research reveals how power needs affect stress responses to winning and losing. People with high power needs (like Tony Blair) experience dramatic cortisol drops when winning and spikes when losing. Those with lower power needs (relatively like Clinton) find losing less stressful but, intriguingly, their cortisol actually rises when winning-victory becomes stressful for them. This explains the "killer instinct" in sports-some people are driven to dominate while others unconsciously wilt at the cusp of victory.
Brain imaging confirms that power motivation shapes how we process social signals. People with high power needs show stronger activation in brain regions governing emotion, bodily sensations and reward when viewing facial expressions-particularly angry faces that signal challenge. Democracy evolved specifically to protect us from power's brain-altering chemistry, though media control and other factors can undermine these safeguards.
5장
The Oscar Effect: Why Recognition Extends Life
In 1956, Charlton Heston turned down the lead in "Alexander the Great" for "The Ten Commandments," while Richard Burton took the Alexander role. Three years later, Heston accepted the lead in "Ben-Hur" and won his only Oscar. Burton, despite seven nominations across 25 years, never won an Academy Award. Heston lived to 84; Burton died at 58.
This reflects a startling pattern: Oscar winners live on average four years longer than equally successful nominees-an improvement equivalent to curing all cancers. Multiple Oscar winners live six years longer than nominees. Similarly, Nobel Prize winners outlive nominees by 1-2 years.
This life-extending benefit isn't about money-the monetary value of Nobel Prizes fluctuated dramatically over the 20th century, yet winners consistently outlived nominees regardless of prize value. The symbolic achievement itself, not wealth, creates this remarkable effect.
Glasgow's Necropolis cemetery contains stone obelisks marking graves of the well-to-do. Researchers discovered the height of these monuments-reflecting wealth and status-directly correlates with the deceased's lifespan. But wealth alone doesn't explain the Oscar-longevity connection. Richard Burton was reportedly Hollywood's highest-paid actor yet died young.
In pre-9/11 Washington, British Ambassador Sir Christopher Meyer recorded Scotland's First Minister Henry McLeish being "struck nearly dumb with shock" when meeting President Bush in the Oval Office. As McLeish "twitched and stuttered," Bush and Condoleezza Rice genially shared stories. These politicians' reactions mirror how subordinate baboons respond to dominant males-with stress triggering cortisol that disrupts brain function, particularly self-monitoring and self-awareness in the prefrontal cortex.
Two secretaries demonstrate how control affects stress despite equal status. While Linda struggles with overwhelming work, Clare manages her workload effectively and appears relaxed. The key difference isn't their objective workload but their sense of control. Research shows that employees with more control over their work timing and flow have lower blood pressure regardless of job title.
John McCain's harrowing Vietnam POW experience reveals extraordinary resilience. Shot down in October 1967, he suffered severe injuries yet survived against all odds. Despite signing one confession to receive medical treatment, McCain later refused early release when offered it in 1968, choosing to endure five more years of captivity rather than accept special treatment as an admiral's son.
Research into who breaks under such pressure revealed a crucial psychological factor: internal locus of control. Those who believe they control their own fate resist better than those who feel controlled by external forces. Brain scans show this isn't just psychological-people with stronger internal control beliefs produce less cortisol under stress and maintain healthier brain structures.
The puzzle of why Oscar winners live longer may be found in the historical evolution of the individual self. On March 31, 1146, Bernard of Clairvaux delivered a transformative speech that launched the Second Crusade by promising individual spiritual redemption rather than collective salvation. This marked a pivotal shift in human psychology-what Colin Morris called "The Discovery of the Individual."
What stresses us most is social-evaluative threat (SET)-the feeling that others judge us as inferior or inadequate. This shame response triggers powerful physiological reactions. Studies of HIV-infected men revealed those particularly sensitive to social rejection showed faster immune system decline, developing AIDS and dying about two years sooner than those less threatened by others' opinions.
The Oscar becomes a permanent "safety signal for self"-insurance against the stress of negative evaluation. For actors, scientists, and salespeople constantly judged by their last performance, such protection is invaluable.
6장
Power's Dark Side: When Winners Lose Perspective
When three auto industry CEOs-Rick Wagoner of GM, Alan Mulally of Ford, and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler-flew to Washington on separate corporate jets to beg for $25 billion in government bailouts during the 2008 financial crisis, the public was outraged. Yet these executives seemed oblivious to how their transportation choices would be perceived, with their companies initially declaring the private jet travel "non-negotiable" despite claiming to be running out of cash.
Jeffrey K. Skilling, once ranked as the second-best CEO in America while leading Enron, exemplifies winning's potential downside. Under his leadership, Enron's revenues skyrocketed from $40 billion to $100 billion in just one year. But Skilling's empire was built on gambling and deception. When Enron's bets began losing money, elaborate "partnerships" were created to hide debts off the main balance sheet.
The case of "Kate," a fifty-year-old woman with restless legs syndrome, reveals how dopamine-enhancing drugs can disrupt normal reward processing in the brain. When researcher Dr. Birgit Abler studied women taking these medications, she discovered their ventral striatum-the brain's reward evaluation center-functioned abnormally. While normally unexpected wins trigger dopamine surges and unexpected losses cause painful drops, these women experienced the opposite: losses triggered dopamine "highs" while wins produced dull negative responses.
The connection between power, money, and sexual behavior reveals itself through historical and contemporary examples. From Silvio Berlusconi's alleged "bunga bunga" parties with young women to the Maharaja of Patiala's diamond-encrusted naked parades, powerful men often display heightened sexual appetites.
This connection has a neurological basis. The DAT1 gene, which affects dopamine availability in the brain's reward centers, significantly influences sexual behavior. Similarly, the DRD4 gene affects both attention and risk-taking-Harvard students with certain DRD4 patterns risked significantly more money in financial games.
Dopamine emerges as the "common currency of desire" linking gambling, sex, and power. Financial trading functions like gambling on a vast scale, triggering the same dopamine pathways as sexual pleasure. These visceral rewards can become addictive, as cocaine and other drugs hijack the same reward system, creating tolerance that demands ever-higher levels for the same "high."
Like Goldilocks preferring her porridge "just right," dopamine must exist in a precise balance for optimal brain function. Too little dopamine leads to poor coordination between brain regions (as in Parkinson's disease), while too much disrupts neural organization (as in schizophrenia).
Research reveals how power transforms behavior. In Dacher Keltner's cookie experiment, randomly assigned "bosses" were more likely to take a second cookie and eat messily, showing social disinhibition. Power makes us poorer at reading others' emotions, more egocentric, and inclined to see people as instruments for our goals.
Jeffrey Skilling's ruthless leadership at Enron created a toxic environment where employees were subjected to the infamous "rank and yank" system. This arbitrary culling branded the bottom 15 percent as failures, regardless of actual performance. Skilling's management style-treating others as objects, giving the middle finger to subordinates, and forcing his way to front of lines-revealed his blunted empathy, likely resulting from power's effects on his brain.
When we think about ourselves-considering words like "strong," "dreamy," or "brave"-a specific part of our medial frontal lobe activates for self-reflection. When thinking about others, like our mothers, a different brain area typically activates-except for Chinese and East Asian people, who use the same brain region for both themselves and their mothers. This neurological difference offers a clue to understanding group dynamics and power.
While women and men have similar needs for power, men tend to be more power-aware, noticing power dynamics more quickly. George W. Bush and Barack Obama revealed different power orientations reflecting two distinct power types: p-power (personal power) and s-power (socialized power). P-power individuals see life as a zero-sum game where winning is paramount, while s-power individuals are governed by moral standards and concern for consequences.
7장
Mastering Power: The Path to True Winning
The author recounts being manipulated by a door-to-door salesman who used classic influence techniques. After gaining entry with a deceptive offer about asthma information, the salesman gradually took control, even spilling dirt on their carpet as a demonstration tactic. Despite growing frustration, the author found it surprisingly difficult to eject the unwanted visitor.
This experience illustrates how our brains handle conflicting impulses. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) serves as our brain's error detector and conflict resolver. When faced with contradictory impulses-like wanting to both avoid and greet an old colleague-this structure helps sort them out. In an experiment at Berkeley, researchers discovered that when people are induced to express beliefs contrary to their actual feelings, the dorsal ACC activates strongly, ultimately changing their true attitudes to resolve the dissonance.
The logic of cognitive dissonance drives bullying behavior. Bullies manipulate others into small acts against a victim, creating internal conflict that the brain resolves by concluding the victim deserves mistreatment. This escalates as participants rationalize increasingly worse behavior. Power acts as an addictive drug in this process, especially for insecure teenagers.
The Iowa researchers created a detailed power scale to measure parental control, ranging from ignoring the child (-2) to forceful physical control (+5). They followed 101 families from when children were 2-3 years old until age 5.5, finding that children whose parents scored high on "power assertion" became more resentful and oppositional by age four. By 5.5 years, these children displayed significantly more disruptive and antisocial behavior toward others, especially those without secure parental attachments.
Just as we track health metrics like BMI and blood pressure, we should conduct regular "power audits" of our relationships. Those in positions of authority-teachers, managers, doctors, police-should examine how they exercise power and how it affects them. Research shows that leaders whose power need is primarily ego-driven (p-power) rather than socially-oriented (s-power) risk addiction to power, relationship breakdown, and substance abuse.
Democracy-from Greek demos (people) and kratia (rule)-was Greece's ingenious invention to distribute power more equitably. The sight of impoverished citizens waiting hours to vote in newly democratic countries demonstrates how precious this shred of power feels. Democracy, education, and wealth are interlinked through empowerment. Education physically builds brains, increasing intelligence and conferring better health by enrolling people into the network of human ideas-powerful concepts like freedom, accountability, and democracy.
Mathematicians Timothy Gowers and Terence Tao demonstrated the power of democratized intelligence through their Polymath project, creating a mathematical "super-brain" that solved complex problems faster by connecting minds across expertise levels-from Field Medal winners to high school teachers. This shows how a "we" orientation and democratic distribution of power can wire human brains together into computational grids capable of transforming human life.
Majority status confers power that can breed contempt for minorities. This contempt triggers brain circuits that reduce cognitive dissonance by justifying negative behavior through increasingly derogatory attitudes. Hitler exploited this neuropsychological dynamic by manipulating millions of Germans whose egos were bruised by post-WWI humiliation. He strategically had ordinary citizens take small negative actions against Jews, triggering a cognitive dissonance spiral where people justified their behavior by concluding Jews must deserve mistreatment.
The isolated "I" is a chimera that can never truly win, even with an Oscar. True winners recognize that the ego is "a dangerous dog" that must be kept leashed through accountability to principles beyond themselves. Power-hungry leaders must balance their hunger between power for others' benefit (s-power) and power for ego sustenance (p-power). Winners feel in control of life, which shields them from stress and helps them succeed, live longer and be happier.
8장
Power's Global Impact: Democracy as Brain Protection
The world faces serious environmental, social and military challenges. With population growth exceeding resources and spreading weapons of mass destruction, humanity must take serious action.
Perhaps the greatest obstacle is the toxic effect of power on decision-makers' brains. Democracies have developed accountability mechanisms-elections, independent judiciaries, free press-primarily to prevent power holders from becoming neurologically deranged by power addiction.
Power given to the wrong person makes them see clients as objects, not people. Their behavior deteriorates while their brains rationalize this behavior through contempt and loathing for clients. Teachers, doctors, police officers and prison guards who develop a malign need to win can have their brains scrambled by the power they hold.
Power is dangerous but also enables positive leadership. Without Churchill and Roosevelt's leadership, fascism might have prevailed. Martin Luther King and President Lula da Silva used power to benefit countless people.
The challenge is creating winners who achieve proper victories benefiting all rather than self-serving triumphs. Women might be safer power-holders due to higher s-power motivation, though history shows female leaders like Margaret Thatcher and Catherine the Great wielded power similarly to men.
Concentration camp atrocities aren't from inevitable biological cruelty but result from giving individuals unfettered power without legal restraints or leadership demanding decency. Their brains scrambled by power, they see inmates as objects, not people.
Mass cruelty can be activated like a switch, as in Rwanda where radio broadcasts triggered genocide. Media owners like Berlusconi and Murdoch wield enormous unchecked power. Democratic politicians have checks on their power appetite, but dictators become mentally sick from power overdose.
There can be no "benevolent dictator"-unfettered power damages normal brain functioning. Good governance at all levels is the bulwark against power's damaging effects. Leaders need power but must be constrained and accountable. The International Criminal Court represents humanity's attempt to address power's corrupting effects.
Like addiction, power-induced illness requires naming the problem before change can occur. Only by understanding what power is and what it does can we gain insight into how the wrong kind of power makes people sick.
