Primary Influence Base
French & Raven · Power Bases
Power & Influence Style Assessment
Based on French & Raven's (1959) foundational research on social power, this assessment diagnoses your primary sources of organizational influence — and how your current power profile may be serving or limiting your leadership effectiveness.
Expert Power
Others follow because they trust your knowledge and competence
Influence rooted in specialized knowledge, demonstrated competence, and track record of being right.
Referent Power
Others follow because they identify with you or value the relationship
Influence rooted in personal trust, admiration, and the quality of your relationships.
Legitimate Power
Others follow because of your formal role, title, or position
Influence derived from organizational hierarchy, formal authority, and role-based responsibility.
Reward Power
Others follow because you control access to outcomes they value
Influence through access to recognition, advancement, compensation, visibility, and opportunity.
Informational Power
Others follow because you shape what they know and how they interpret it
Influence through framing, synthesis, data, and your position as a trusted information source.
Coercive Power
Others follow to avoid negative consequences you can impose
Influence through accountability pressure, formal corrective action, and consequence-setting.
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Your Power & Influence Profile
Based on French & Raven's (1959) bases of social power
Influence Sustainability Score
Weighted index reflecting how transferable and relationship-preserving your influence profile is.
1 — Low
2
3 — Moderate
4
5 — High
Expert · Referent · Informational (weight 1.5 — high sustainability)
Legitimate · Reward (weight 0.75 — moderate)
Coercive (weight 0.25 — high cost)
Power Profile Type
Power Base Breakdown
Key Insight — Your Top Two Bases
A Note on Ethics & Influence
All influence involves ethical choices. Expert, referent, and informational power are generally sustainable and relationship-preserving — they work with others' autonomy rather than against it. Legitimate and reward power are effective but position-dependent: they diminish when you change roles. Coercive power is the highest-cost form of influence — use with extreme deliberateness. The most durable leaders deliberately cultivate a portfolio weighted toward positional-independent power.
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