Full Idea
Power is a capacity not the exercise of that capacity (it may never be, and never need to be, exercised); and you can be powerful by satisfying and advancing others' interests.
Gist of Idea
Power is a capacity, which may never need to be exercised
Source
Steven Lukes (Power: a Radical View (2nd ed) [2005], Intro)
Book Reference
Lukes,Steven: 'Power: a radical view' [Macmillan 2005], p.12
A Reaction
A school teacher could, in extremis, bring in the army to control a wildly anarchic class of kids. You control kids by making them want to do what you want them to do.