The Elements of Power: Lessons on Leadership and Influence.

• Position: Brief article - Book review

By Terry R. Bacon, Amacom, 313 pages. $27.95

Put The Elements of Power firmly in the category of self-help Reading his book, author Terry Bacon believes, will help executives and other leaders garner others' cooperation, generate action and get results--in others words, exercise power effectively.

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Bacon, an executive coach and consultant, compares power to a battery: "Like the cells in batteries, we have a number of sources of power. Some of our power sources will be stronger than others, and they form a mosaic of the power we can bring to bear in different situations."

The book is structured around 11 such sources; five of them are personal, five are organizational and one is will, which Bacon calls "mega-source." The personal sources are intriguing, and include knowledge, history character and expressiveness. Of all the power sources, Bacon writes, "expressiveness has the great potential leverage." Developing your ability to express yourself, then, "is the most important step you can take to increase your power ... eloquence is power."

The organizational powers are more prosaic, and include information, networking...