Influence Without Authority

THE REVISED AND UPDATED THIRD EDITION OF THE CLASSIC BOOK CONTAINS A UNIVERSAL MODEL OF HOW TO INFLUENCE SOMEONE YOU DON′T CONTROL

Leadership gurus Allan Cohen and David Bradford offer a proven model for getting the help you need from those that control the resources, information, or support necessary for you to succeed.

No matter where you stand on your organization′s ladder, Influence Without Authority, Third Edition gives you a useful model and the practical strategies for influencing your colleagues, managers, or customers in order to meet your goals.

"Must–read for current and future business leaders! Allan Cohen and David Bradford beautifully take their influence model to the next level addressing critical factors like gender stereotypes and mastering influence at a distance. In today′s ever–changing and complex business environment, Influence Without Authority offers leaders a concise model for breaking down barriers to success and building winning teams."
—Deborah DiSanzo, General Manager, IBM Watson Health

"Nothing gets done without collaboration and influence. This book is filled with ideas anyone can pick up and run with, making things happen day in and day out."
—James Park, CEO and Co–Founder, Fitbit

From the Foreword:

"The ideas in this book lie at the heart of our success as a business, and at the heart of the design of our service—which enables coworkers to easily collaborate around documents and other forms of content so that they can work together without hierarchy or information bottlenecks. Influence is the foundation of success in the modern world of business and this book is a straightforward guide. We rely on it, we teach it, and you should, too."
—Aaron Levie, CEO, Box Inc., and Dan Levin, COO, Box Inc.

Foreword
Aaron Levie and Dan Levin

Acknowledgments

Part I—Introduction

Chapter 1 Why Influence: What You Will Get from This Book

Part II—The Influence Model

Chapter 2 The Influence Model: Trading What They Want for What You’ve Got (Using Reciprocity and Exchange)

Chapter 3 Goods and Services: The Currencies of Exchange

Chapter 4 How to Know What They Want: Understanding Their Worlds (and the Forces Acting on Them)

Chapter 5 You Have More to Offer Than You Think if You Know Your Goals, Priorities, and Resources

Chapter 6 Building Effective Relationships: The Art of Finding and Developing Your Allies

Chapter 7 Strategies for Making Mutually Profitable Trades

Part III—Practical Applications of Influence

Chapter 8 Gender and Influence; Beyond Stereotypes (Co–Author, Nan Langowitz)

Chapter 9 Influencing Your Boss

Chapter 10 Working Cross Functionally: Leading and Influencing a Team, Task Force, or Committee

Chapter 11 Influencing Organizational Groups, Departments, and Divisions

Chapter 12 Can You Hear Me: Influencing at a Distance

Chapter 13 Influencing Difficult Colleagues

Chapter 14 Initiating or Leading Major Change

Chapter 15 Understanding and Overcoming Organizational Politics

Chapter 16 Hardball: Escalating to Tougher Strategies When You Can No Longer Catch Flies with Honey

Appendix A: Extended Case Examples and Other Supplementary Material Available on the Web

Appendix B: Additional Resources 

Notes

Index

ALLAN R. COHEN is Distinguished Professor of Global Leadership at Babson College, in residence at the San Francisco campus. He has consulted on organizational change and leadership at a wide variety of organizations, including GE, Polaroid, IBM, and F/P Private Equity, and holds MBA and DBA degrees from Harvard Business School.

DAVID L. BRADFORD is Senior Lecturer on Organizational Behavior Emeritus at Stanford Graduate School of Business and former Director of Stanford′s Executive Program in Leadership. He has consulted for a wide array of companies, including Frito–Lay, Levi Strauss & Co., NetLedger, AutoDesk and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Cohen and Bradford are the authors of Managing for Excellence and Power Up, both from Wiley.