Influencing Powerful People April 14, 2011

Influencing Powerful People
Engage and Command the Attention of the Decision-Makers to Get What You Need to Succeed

Author: Dirk Schlimm
ISBN: 9780071752862 / 0071752862
©2011 | 1st Edition | 272 pages | Hardback
Pub Date: MAR-11
Price: US$ 28.00
Book Preview | Learn More

How do you engage a powerhouse leader in a way that produces your desired outcome?

Dealing with powerful people can be intimidating. Many of them have reached the height of achievement through a combination of charm, confidence, and brilliance, and they certainly deserve our admiration and respect. More than likely, however, they also succeeded as a result of their relentless drive and, in the process, developed reputations for being intense, demanding, and temperamental. How do you keep up with such individuals, gain their confidence, contribute to their enterprise, and ensure that your ideas count?

Influencing Powerful People provides you with the tools you need to connect and get results with key influencers and decision makers—chief executives, department heads, supervisors, and anyone else in a position of authority. Author Dirk Schlimm, who has frontline experience working with “largerthan- life” leaders, provides sixteen proven rules for working successfully with the powerful people in your life—whether your boss, client, partner, associate, or international counterpart. These rules include:

• Adopt the role of a “helper”
• Counter ego with humility
• Appreciate who they are and what they do
• Do the things they can’t
• Become an effective counterweight

It’s not about giving up your values or telling them what they want to hear—in fact, what powerful people need most often is your loyalty and unbiased perspective. It’s about learning to build a relationship and communicating in a way that gets their attention. It’s about strategically managing and adapting your everyday behavior so that the powerful people in your life gain confidence in you, appreciate your contribution, and listen to you when charting their course.

No matter what your level in an organization, Influencing Powerful People holds the key to ensuring that you make an impact, earn respect, and progress to even greater achievement and responsibility.

Endorsement

“I’ve known Dirk Schlimm for years, and observed with admiration his ability to work effectively with powerful people while sustaining his own core values. His topic is important, and his experience has given him a deep practical wisdom.”
—Jim Collins, author, Good to Great

“For every ‘powerful person’ who has influenced history, there are three or four people behind the scenes without whom history would never have changed. Vision and drive for implementation are never enough. Dirk Schlimm’s book is about how to accomplish the work of real change in the real world by doing the hard work that rarely gets noticed.”
—Governor Howard Dean, Chairman Emeritus, The Democratic National Committee

“Influencing Powerful People provides invaluable insights into this dynamic—insights that will assist anyone to be more effective and successful.”
—Peter Jewett, Chair, Corporate Department, Torys LLP

About the Author

Dirk Schlimm is a corporate director, executive coach, and the principal of Jenoir Management Consultants based in Toronto, Canada.

Dirk studied law at Bonn University in Germany and obtained scholarships to study international law at the universities of Geneva, Switzerland and Trento, Italy. After completing his law degree, Dirk pursued a doctorate in international law at the University of Konstanz, Germany and was awarded a Konrad Adenauer fellowship.

After emigrating to Toronto, Dirk worked for the owner and founder of Husky Injection Molding Systems, Robert Schad. Husky is featured in Jim Collins’ book Built-to-Last and Collins himself has been working as a consultant with Husky over the past 15 years. Dirk also managed Husky’s interface with the world of politics. Part of the challenge was to facilitate between powerful people, i.e., Husky’s founder and Vermont’s then Governor, Howard Dean. It was also at Husky Dirk had had the opportunity to consult with the late Peter Drucker on issues related to succession planning for a powerful owner and company founder.

In addition to his “up close and personal” involvement in the world of powerful people, Dirk continued his education in related fields. He completed executive education at MIT, Harvard, Darden (University of Virginia), University of Michigan, The Richard Ivey School of Business, and the Center for Creative. Dirk also completed the Directors Education Program at the Rotman School of Management in Toronto and earned his ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Since leaving Husky, Dirk started his own consulting and teaching practice (Jenoir). He acts as an advisor and executive coach to business owners and senior executives. His clients are located in North America, Europe, and the Far East and they work in the manufacturing, information technology, and financial services industries.

Dirk’s experience in the not-for-profit world includes work on the boards of the Canadian German Chamber of Commerce and the Leprosy Mission Canada.

Other books you might be interested:

1. 9780071353212 Powerful Conversations
2. 9780071484992 Influencer
3. 9780071544238 Executive Warfare

How to Influence People in 60 Seconds

(more…)