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One of our most popular course in the SAPM program at Stanford is Managing Without Authority. Students tells us this is the world they inhabit no matter how high they are in the organization. At Stanford this March, I was reminded of three useful takes on power and influence provide tools and insights for inlfuencing teams, direct reports, stakeholders, and the larger world. Each provides a different framework for addressing how to influence those you need to.

Robert Cialdini - Influence
Edward Bernays - Father of Spin

Robert Cialdini on Influence

Cialdini provides a variety of best-seller books and workshops; see his web site for details. For example, six tools he discusses for influence include:

Reciprocation - People tend to return a favor.
Commitment and Consistency - If people commit, orally or in writing, to an idea or goal, they are more likely to honor that commitment.
Social Proof - People will do things that they see other people are doing.
Authority - People will tend to obey authority figures, even if they are asked to perform objectionable acts.
Liking - People are easily persuaded by other people that they like.
Scarcity - Perceived scarcity will generate demand.

Edward Bernays - Father of Spin

The Museum of Public Relations provides an excellent interactive overview of Bernays life. There are YouTube videos of some of his more insidious campaigns that are quite upsetting for those of us that love democracy. Beranys learned and refined how to influence the puublic or target groups using campaigns, ti-ins, influentials, and yes, propaganda. He and what he is did is worth your study and thoughful use of. BBC Four produced a series of The Century of the Self that looked the rise of the all-consuming self against the backdrop of the Freud dynasty. The Episode on the Engineering of Consent

Innovation in management of PBW

Gary Hamel has a long and rich history in thinking about management and how innovation can be applied to management. He defines management innovation as: a company's ability to effect fundamental changes in its own internal way of working. In our own work and in the Stanford SAPM program, we work to help organizations innovate in how they can address the twin challenges of executing strategy via project-based work (PBW) WHILE ensuring alignment of the organization around its strategy, culture, and structure.

Mastering the Current Challenging Times

The Global Business Network pioneered the use of scenario planning and is now part of The Monitor Group. Former GBN President, Eamonn Kelly, offers some insights for Mastering the Moment:

develop a superior contextual understanding of the structural dynamics reshaping the global economy, how they impact your industry, and the new opportunities
APPLICATION→review large programs and projects; are they still fully aligned with strategies needed in these times? are you actively looking for the opportunities?
superior competitive strategy
APPLICATION→ do your largest programs and projects position the organization well relative to competitors (both current and new ones)? Are new programs needed to enhance your competitive position in the current competitive climate?
winners will have superior choice-framing and decision-making capabilities
APPLICATION→ are the portfolio decisions in your organization make with a clear understanding of the choices? are your major programs increasing or decreasing the range of choices the organization will have the future? Look for those portfolio investments that expand the set of choices in the future,m given the high level of uncertainty present.

Social Media for Executing Strategy

Leading project-based work (PBW) in challenging times requires a wide variety of tools and skills. In the SAPM program we focus primarily on ways in which PBW is used to execute the organization's strategy — whether a $100,000 project or a $1B transformational system that has global impact. Social media and networking in all its manifestations offers a variety of ways to support and enable the collaboration necessary for PBW success.Social networking in all its manifestations offers a variety of ways to support and enable the collaboration necessary for PBW success. A dyanmic list the variety of these sites and services is available here and here.

We are looking at the variety of ways Web 2.0 and social media/networking are being used or can be used to improve the execution of strategy. Several recent insights from across the world: