The Power to Persuade

Book excerpt: The Power to Persuade answers a fundamental question: how can you navigate a world where persuasion, rather than direct command, is the rule? In public sector organizations, and in today's "flattened" corporate hierarchies, traditional management strategies simply do not work. This book shows how to hone the political skills that are so often the key to improved performance - whether the goal is better policy or greater profit. While teaching at Harvard University, Richard Haass realized that no existing book advised people working in political settings how to be more effective. Now he has filled the gap. Using a compass as his operating metaphor - your boss is north of you, your staff is south, colleagues are east, and so on - Haass provides guidelines for managing relationships, setting goals, and translating goals into results. His interviews with Colin Powell, James Baker, Robert Strauss, and dozens of others yield valuable, practical insight. For the tens of millions of Americans