Influencing Up - Babson's Cohen & Stanford's Bradford Explain How To Win Over Powerful People You Don't Control

WELLESLEY, Mass., Aug. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In their new book, Influencing Up, Babson's Allan Cohen and Stanford's David Bradford provide a universal model of how to influence someone you don't control. Their book then applies those ideas to problematic bosses and other powerful people.

Influencing Up explains the dynamics of power and encourages you to engage in difficult conversations, overcome your fear of "no," let go of your understandable "problems with authority," and become willing to give something valuable in order to get cooperation from a powerful person.

If you're afraid of retaliation or just unclear as to how to change a powerful person's behavior, don't remain paralyzed. Influencing Up gives you the tools to bridge the power gap. You'll get critical advice that will help you achieve your goals and elevate your career, including:

* How to overcome the common difficulties that arise when building a partnership relationship with your boss;

* How to help your boss be successful and in turn help yourself;

* How to effectively deal with more distant senior executives--inside and outside of your organization--and understand the power discrepancies that come into play;

* How to identify relevant stakeholders and assess their role in the change process;

* Examples of determined, persistent, and effective influencers who have reached solutions through careful diagnosis or by intuitively sizing up the needs and concerns of others.

No matter what you're trying to accomplish, influence matters. You need powerful people to cooperate in order to get information, approval, resources, introductions, and support just to get your job done. But how do you win cooperation from a boss who is uninterested in your concerns, resistant to change, or threatened by your potential? How do you secure buy-in from senior managers, inside or outside your organization, who are hard to reach, and hard to sell on your ideas, products, or services?

You can't achieve your objectives without help. If you're trying to make significant contributions at work, you need to learn how to influence powerful people you don't control. Discover what a great partnership with your boss or senior executives can do for your career--and your mental health!

For more information, please visit the Wiley website http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/PressRelease/pressReleaseId-103911%2cdescCd-release_author_info.html

About The Authors

ALLAN R. COHEN is the Edward A. Madden Distinguished Professor of Global Leadership at Babson College. He has consulted on organizational change and leadership at a wide variety of organizations, including GE, Pernod USA, IBM, and Fidelity, and holds MBA and DBA degrees from Harvard Business School. http://www.babson.edu/faculty/profiles/Pages/cohen-allan.aspx

DAVID L. BRADFORD is the Eugene O'Kelly Senior Lecturer in Leadership, Emeritus and Director of the Executive Program in Leadership at Stanford Graduate School of Business. He has consulted for a wide array of companies, including Frito-Lay, Levi Strauss & Co., Raychem, Genentech, and AutoDesk, as well as the Whitney Museum of American Art. http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/users/dlbrad

View the author interview video http://blog.babson.edu/faculty/2012/08/17/making-a-bad-workplace-situation-better/

Table of Contents

PART I Fundamentals

Chapter 1 The World Has Changed: To Be Successful You Need to Influence Up

Chapter 2 How Power Differentials Blind Smart People

Chapter 3 How Power Differentials Give Smart People Laryngitis

Chapter 4 Overview of the Steps Required to Access and Influence Powerful People

Chapter 5 The Influence Model at Work: Moving a Tough Boss

PART II Building a Powerful Partnership with Your Boss

Chapter 6 Partnership: The Critical Mind-Set to Overcome Power Gaps

Chapter 7 Building a Partnership Relationship with Your Boss

Chapter 8 The Art--and Responsibility--of Helping Your Boss Succeed

Chapter 9 Recovering from Failed Talks with Your Boss

PART III Influencing Powerful People

Chapter 10 Framing Your Change Strategy: Fitting Your Approach to the Players

Chapter 11 What Do the Powerful Care About?

Chapter 12 Action Steps for Gaining Access to Powerful People

Chapter 13 Clinching the Deal: "Exchanging" to Build Trust with the Powerful

Chapter 14 The Contours of Change: Dr. Pomahac and the Challenge of Influencing Multiple Senior Managers and Surgeons to Allow the First Facial Transplant in the United States

Chapter 15 Influence across Multiple Organizations

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SOURCE Babson College