The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business

Kaufman turns to the interpersonal foundations of business effectiveness, arguing that success depends less on solitary expertise and more on the ability to coordinate, influence, and collaborate. He begins by defining power as the capacity to get things done through people—distinguishing between influence, which inspires voluntary cooperation, and compulsion, which enforces compliance through threat or control. True leadership, he maintains, is grounded in influence earned through credibility, consistency, and mutual respect rather than authority imposed by fear.

The discussion advances through the concept of comparative advantage, showing that collaboration enhances efficiency when individuals focus on what they do best and rely on others for complementary strengths. Drawing from classical economist David Ricardo’s theory and modern strengths-based management, Kaufman extends this principle to teams: Diversity of skill and background fosters resilience and innovation, while excessive self-sufficiency hinders progress. Still, he cautions that effective teamwork requires managing communication overhead—the productivity lost to excessive meetings and bureaucracy. Smaller, focused teams with clear accountability, he argues, make decisions faster and perform better.

Kaufman then explores interpersonal dynamics through ideas like importance and safety, drawn from psychology and communication research, to argue that people perform best when they feel valued and secure. Citing Marshall Goldsmith and the authors of