Influencing Up

Table of contents

1. Cover
2. Contents
3. Title
4. Copyright
5. Preface
6. Acknowledgments
7. Part I: Fundamentals
   1. Chapter 1: The World Has Changed
      1. The Impact of Large Power Differentials
      2. Becoming a Partner
      3. The Book’s Organization
   2. Chapter 2: How Power Differentials Blind Smart People
      1. Introduction
      2. Common Negative Consequences of Having Relatively Great Power
      3. The Necessity of Power—But “Mind the Gap!”
      4. Sources of Power—Organizational and Personal
      5. Bad Patterns, Not Bad People
   3. Chapter 3: How Power Differentials Give Smart People Laryngitis
      1. Actual versus Virtual Power
      2. The Danger of a Dysfunctional Dance
      3. The Costs to Both Parties
      4. Conditions for Altering Power Relationships and Narrowing the Gap
   4. Chapter 4: Overview of the Steps Required to Access and Influence Powerful People
      1. 1. Determine Who Has to Be Influenced
      2. 2. Assume That Each is a Potential Partner
      3. 3. Determine Their Power and the Power Gap
      4. 4. Diagnose the World of the Powerful, Their Currencies (What They Value), and Which Ones You Can Offer
      5. 5. Figure Out How to Gain Access
      6. 6. Clarify What You Need and Your Priorities
      7. 7. Diagnose Your Relationship and the Preferences for How to Approach
      8. 8. Negotiate Win-Win Exchanges
   5. Chapter 5: The Influence Model at Work
      1. Next Meeting
8. Part II: Building a Powerful Partnership with Your Boss
   1. Chapter 6: Partnership
      1. The Gaps That Make Influence Necessary
      2. The Meaning of Partnership
      3. The Characteristics and Expectations of True Partnership
      4. Why Partnership is Needed
      5. What Does Partnership Require from You?
      6. Whose Responsibility is It?
      7. What Does an Elusive Boss Look Like?
      8. The Partnership Approach Can Work with Senior Powerful People
   2. Chapter 7: Building a Partnership Relationship with Your Boss
      1. 1. Examine your own beliefs for barriers
      2. 2. Adopt a Partnerlike Mind-Set
      3. 3. Accept That Your Boss Isn’t and Can’t Be Perfect
      4. 4. Assess the Gap in Power between You and Your Boss
      5. 5. Stop Giving Away Your Potential
      6. 6. Understand Your Boss’s World or Specific Situation
      7. 7. Raise Your Concern in a Direct But Nonblaming Way
      8. 8. Acknowledge Your Part in Any Difficulties
      9. 9. Accept Your Boss’s Concerns as Legitimate
      10. 10. Don’t Undermine Yourself
   3. Chapter 8: The Art—and Responsibility—of Helping Your Boss Succeed
      1. Taking on Some of the Boss’s Tasks
      2. Relieving the Boss of Heroic Tendencies
      3. Proactively Giving Support
      4. Knowing the Impact of Your Boss’s Behavior
      5. Helping Your Boss Be a Better Boss
      6. For Whose Sake?
   4. Chapter 9: Recovering from Failed Talks with Your Boss
      1. Ways You Might Have Trapped Yourself
      2. Can We Discuss the Way We Can Talk?
      3. Disagreeing with Your Boss . . . and Surviving or Thriving
      4. But What If Directness Does Not Work? Andy’s Vanishing Boss
      5. But What If I Have a Truly Toxic Boss?
      6. Your Fallback Position
9. Part III: Influencing Powerful People
   1. Chapter 10: Framing Your Change Strategy
      1. Failing to Identify Key Stakeholders—in or outside of the Company—Can Be Extremely Costly
      2. Difficult Founder
      3. Progress after Baker
      4. Known Stakeholders Ignored—At Great Cost
      5. Start with a Power Map
      6. Stakeholder Power
      7. Partnership Mind-Set
      8. Sequencing of Action
   2. Chapter 11: What Do the Powerful Care About?
      1. Factors in the Organizational World That Shape the Currencies of Powerful People
      2. Are You Seeking to Influence People inside or outside the Organization? About One Event, or Multiple Issues?
      3. Use a Powerful Proposal Style Whether Dealing Internally or Externally
   3. Chapter 12: Action Steps for Gaining Access to Powerful People
      1. The Bold, Direct Approach
      2. Networking Advice
      3. Summary of Overall Access Approach
   4. Chapter 13: Clinching the Deal
      1. Dual Focus: Determining What You Want and Constantly Improving the Relationship
      2. Addressing the Power Gap
      3. Other Strategies for Increasing Your Power with Senior Management in Your Own Organization
      4. Connecting to Frequently Important Personal Currencies
      5. Where You Have Little Relationship and Trust is Low
   5. Chapter 14: The Contours of Change
      1. Background: The Need
      2. Finding Allies
      3. Overcoming Institutional Objections
      4. A Complex Integrated Plan—and Real Time Corrections
      5. Outside Influences
      6. Remembering Less Prominent but Still Important Stakeholders
      7. Conclusions
   6. Chapter 15: Influence across Multiple Organizations
      1. Key Players
      2. Gaining Credibility
      3. An Early Test
      4. Nearing Agreement, Internal Dissent from Unplanned-For Stakeholders
      5. Saving Face for Elected Officials
      6. Legal Hitches
      7. Lessons for Influencing on a Grand Scale
10. Additional Resources
11. Index