The New Power Base Selling: Master The Politics, Create Unexpected Value and Higher Margins, and Outsmart the Competition

A Fox in Action

Let’s use a practical example to illustrate how to detect and work with a Fox. Caroline Miller is the Vice President of Marketing at a medium-sized manufacturing company. Her role in the company has grown to such an extent that she is the most influential member of the Power Base—the Fox, as seen in Figure 4.3. Also notice that there’s something a bit odd about this Power Base: while Manufacturing Department member Claire Thomas is part of the Power Base, Manufacturing’s Vice President, Steve Kramer, is not. This indicates that in some respects, Claire is more influential than her boss in the overall scheme of corporate affairs—which poses an interesting situation. How might this have come to pass?

Figure 4.3: The Fox at the Heart of the Power Base

Five years ago, Caroline traveled to Boston to attend a class reunion at her alma mater. One of her favorite professors introduced her to a graduate student named Claire Thomas. It did not take more than an hour-long lunch for Caroline to see that Claire was bright, was articulate, and had the confident air of a young woman decidedly on her way up in the world. Caroline offered her a summer internship at her company and Claire accepted.

Upon graduation, Claire joined the company’s Marketing division full time. For the next year and a half, Claire established herself as a valuable resource in her division. She won the ...