Strategy and influence
Influence Without Authority
4 lessons · ~24 min total
01
Being right is not a strategy
~6 minRecognise why correct proposals lose, and what has to be true for one to win.
Key takeaways
- Correctness gets a proposal considered, not adopted
- Ask whose problem it solves and whether they know they have it
- Agreement is cheap, which is why nodding tells you nothing
02
The meeting is not where it is decided
~6 minBuild agreement before the room, so the meeting confirms a decision rather than making one.
Key takeaways
- Decisions are ratified in meetings, not discovered in them
- A private objection is information; a public one becomes a position
- Go in willing to change the proposal, and credit the people who improved it
03
Speak in the other side's units
~6 minTranslate a technical case into the terms the decision maker is measured on.
Key takeaways
- Argue in the units the decision maker is measured on
- Latency becomes conversion; missing tests become rollback rate and estimate inflation
- Translating is not spin, but the engineering claim still has to hold up
04
Proof beats argument
~6 minUse a small reversible demonstration to end a debate that words cannot settle.
Key takeaways
- When both sides reason from unverified assumptions, buy the information
- Make the experiment small, reversible, and pre-agreed on what counts
- Settling by seniority answers with a guess what evidence could answer with a fact
Try a sample check
A sample from the Technical Writing track. The real checks unlock with an account.
Technical Writing
Your design doc has been open two weeks. Eleven comments, all about naming and diagram style, and nobody has said yes or no. What went wrong?
Start Influence Without Authority.
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