Live from The Second City in collaboration with the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Kelly interviews Alison Fragale, the Mary Farley Ames Lee Distinguished Scholar of Organizational Behavior at the Kenen-Flagler Business School at the University of North Caroline Chapel Hill. She has an incredible new book, it’s called “Likeable Badass: How Woman Get the Success They Deserve.”   

You note in the book that status is more important than power – but that’s not what most people think. 

“The problem with the ‘power first, status second’ mentality is that it contradicts the science. Research shows that power is awarded based on status. Technically, you can obtain power by force, but few among us are dictators. If a person has power, it’s almost always because someone else has given it to them – the title, the authority, the budget, the autonomy, the paycheck.” 

And this is especially important when we’re talking about gender in the workplace. 

“This is why I’m evangelical about managing status first, rather than focusing only on power. When we get others to respect our value – which we can all do, regardless of our gender or any other characteristic – we have a much easier time getting what we want, including power.” 

It’s also vital that you and others know how to tell your story, right? 

“Showing up as a ‘likeable badass’ starts with telling your story. To be clear, this is self-promotion. Like it or not, self-promotion is critical to building status. If you don’t tell a good story about yourself, no one else will either. Your story is only as valuable as the number of people who hear it, believe it and repeat it. Anyone who describes themselves as ‘self-made’ is lying to you (and themselves). No one succeeds alone, and that’s particularly true when it comes to building status.” 

Photo Credit: Eileen Molony Photography