Increasing Political Savvy

From the movie "Lincoln."

In my last post I wrote about the movie "Lincoln" and its depiction of politics in action. In this post we'll take a look at some of the things you can do to increase your political savvy and thereby increase you ability to be effective and exercise influence.

Most of us have a complicated relationship with what is generally referred to as "political savvy" in organizations, and our view of the term is generally negative. We all know someone who rose to a position of power and influence based on political skills, self-promotion, and connections rather than merit. None of us want to be that person. Unfortunately, in our efforts not to be that person we overreact and develop an aversion to politics that can undermine our ability to influence others.