Influence without Authority, Second Edition

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

One of the biggest challenges facing us in UBS-IB (UBS Investment Bank) is the ability to influence others over whom we have no direct authority. Flatter structures, globalization, and cross-functional teams have brought fresh challenges and having to influence people who have different styles or views makes the task even harder.

Being able to influence one's boss, peers, or top management is often quoted as a key reason for the success or failure of individuals. We all know what we want to achieve, yet are often unsure how to go about it or even who are the key people needing to be influenced.

—Rationale for Course on Strategies for Influencing and Persuasion, MAST, UBS-IB

This is a book about influence—the power to get your work done. You need to influence those in other departments and divisions, that is, people you can't order and control. You need to influence your manager and others above you, and you certainly can't order and control them!

But you are not alone: Nobody has the formal authority to achieve what is necessary, not even with those who report to them. It is an illusion that once upon a time managers could make their direct reports do whatever was needed. Nobody has ever had enough authority—they never have and never will. Organizational life is too complicated for that.

Yet, it is possible to have enough influence to make things happen—and this book will tell you how.

You will learn how to move others in order ...