Survival of the Savvy
High-Integrity Political Tactics for Career and Company Success
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4.6 • 5 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Two of the nation's most successful corporate leadership consultants now reveal their proven, systematic program for using the power of "high-integrity" politics to achieve career success, maximize team impact, and protect the company's reputation and bottom line.
Each day in business, a corporate version of "survival of the fittest" is played out. Power plays, turf battles, deceptions, and sabotages block individuals' career progress and threaten companies' resources and results. In Survival of the Savvy, Rick Brandon and Marty Seldman provide ethical but street-smart strategies for navigating corporate politics to gain "impact with integrity," helping readers to:
-Identify political styles at work through the Style Strengths Finder, and avoid being under or overly political
-Discover the corporate "buzz" on you, and manage the corporate "airwaves"
-Decipher unwritten company rules and protect yourself from sabotage and hidden agendas
-Build key networks to promote yourself and your ideas with integrity
-Learn to detect deception and filter misleading information
-Increase your team's organizational savvy, influence, and impact
-Gauge the political health of the company and forge a high-integrity political culture
In addition, Survival of the Savvy helps individuals discover and overcome their own political blind spots and vulnerabilities. They learn step-by-step methods to avoid being underestimated or denied full recognition for their achievements. It shows them how to put forward their ideas and advance their careers in an ethical manner, with a high level of political awareness and skill.
After reading this book, you will never have to say, "I didn't see it coming." Organizational savvy is a mission-critical competency for the complete leader. This timely and timeless book provides cutting-edge strategies and skills for surviving and thriving as you build individual and company success.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this guide to the often slippery realm of office politics, executive coaches Brandon and Seldman champion a politics of "moral means" to "noble ends." However, some of their wisdom has a Machiavellian cast. They recommend avoiding open confrontation with more powerful managers, explain how to network strategically, cite movie godfather Vito Corleone on the importance of veiling your thoughts and detail procedures for getting to your boss with your side of the story before a rival can bad-mouth you. Much of their advice involves the basics of popularity and tact, like their "Balanced Response" technique for inoffensively quashing colleagues' flawed or incomplete ideas. Image and self-presentation are covered, with bullet points on "power wardrobe," posture, vocal style ("err on the side of speed and slightly revved-up volume") and body language (a clenched jaw and dilated pupils give off bad vibes). Sample monologues provide models for the self-promotional, 30-second elevator speech to corporate bigwigs. If nothing else, employees can always "mention top management catchphrases" and "carry around the Wall Street Journal or Harvard Business Review to show general business acumen." Aimed primarily at "under-political" people perennially steamrollered, ostracized or exploited by slicker operators, the book includes lots of "self-talk" mantras ("it's 'networking' and 'relationship-building,' not 'schmoozing'") that readers can recite to overcome their reluctance to play the game. The authors have a good feel for the nitty-gritty of corporate conflict, misbehavior and skullduggery. Their portrait of a business world ruled by intrigue, "buzz" and "savvy" instead of competence is not reassuring, but this engagingly written and reasonably specific primer will help employees navigate it.
