PROFESSOR JEFFREY PFEFFER'S LESSON SUMMARISED

1. Individuals have a need to associate themselves with success.

2. This need frequently causes people to reconstruct events that they experienced or make up events that never transpired.

3. Because this associative need is so strong, individuals will forgive many former faults of people and companies currently achieving success.

4. In the same way, individuals will also jump on the bandwagon and disassociate themselves from failures and wrongdoings.

5. Still, as long as an individual or company is successful, success will bring its own rewards – namely, people will forgive or forget previous transgressions.

More video lessons by Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer can be found at Fifty Lessons and cwerty (registration required). Harvard Business School Press and Fifty Lessons have teamed up to produce three books based on the lessons; Managing your Career, Managing Change and Leading by Example.