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Office politics
From: https://hbr.org/2017/09/playing-office-politics-without-selling-your-soul
Social science has a lot to say about practicing good politics. Research by Gerald Ferris and colleagues indicates that political skills can be broken down into four dimensions:
- Social astuteness: the ability to read other people and the self-awareness to understand how they see you. Most people think of self-awareness as introspection, but its essence is actually other-awareness; that is, knowing how other people see you and how your behavior impacts them.
- Interpersonal influence: a convincing ability to affect how and what other people think. This involves, first, understanding them and their preferences and agendas, and then personalizing your message to appeal to their cause.
- Networking ability: the capacity to form mutually beneficial relationships with a wide range of diverse people. Cynics might say that there is only a one-letter difference between networking and not-working, but having a significant influence often requires a coalition of support. And as the old saying goes, “contacts mean contracts.”
- Apparent sincerity: seeming to be honest, open, and forthright. It is not enough to just be honest; sincerity is in the eye of the beholder. How honest you think you are is far less important than how honest other people think you are.