Newswise — Allan Cohen, Babson College management professor, and David L. Bradford, Senior Lecturer on Organizational Behavior Emeritus at Stanford Graduate School of Business, have released the third edition of ‘Influence Without Authority.’

The book aims to offer a proven model for getting the help you need from those that control the resources, information, or support necessary for you to succeed. It provides a useful model and practical strategies for influencing colleagues, manager or customers with helping readers achieve their goals.

The book’s proven model builds on ways of working that readers will already know and use, though abandon when dealing with particularly difficult individu­als, groups, or organizations. Cohen and Bradford walk the reader through techniques that will help overcome the things that get in the way of influencing in problematic situations and offer an approach that can dramatically increase the ability to complete even complex projects.

The model outlined is based on a universal principle of interaction social scientists call the Law of Reciprocity. The steps are simple:

  • assume everyone is a potential ally;
  • clarify goals and priorities;
  • diagnose the world of the other person;
  • identify relevant currencies;
  • deal with relationships; and
  • influ­ence through give and take.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Allan Cohen

At Babson since 1982, Professor Cohen is the Distinguished Professorship in Global Leadership, in residence at San Francisco campus. He recently served two years as the interim dean of the graduate school, and previously completed seven years as vice president of academic affairs and dean of faculty.

His career has been devoted to increasing the leadership and management skills of practicing and aspiring managers, and building innovative academic organizations. A consultant on organizational change and leadership for companies as large as GE, IBM and Lafarge, and as entrepreneurial as Access Technology and Menon and Menon Diesel Engine, he helped found the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, and has also lived/worked in the Philippines, England and Holland, and consulted in China, Brazil, Venezuela, Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Singapore, and Dubai. At the University of New Hampshire, he was the J.R. Carter Professor of Management and helped build the Whittemore School of Business and Economics. Throughout his career he has directed and taught in executive development programs for thousands of managers.

Cohen is coauthor of numerous books widely used by managers: best seller Managing for Excellence, the award-winning Alternative Work ArrangementsPower Up: Transforming Organizations Through Shared LeadershipInfluence without Authority; and Influencing Up. He edited The Portable MBA in Management.

Areas of expertise include leadership and influence, changes in organizations, educational methods, management and organizational behavior, cross-functional teams, family business, management development for international work, negotiations, corporate entrepreneurship and strategic change. He is on the Board of Third Street Youth Center and Clinic.

David L. Bradford

David L. Bradford is Senior Lecturer on Organizational Behavior Emeritus at Stanford Graduate School of Business and former Director of Stanford's Executive Program in Leadership. He has consulted for a wide array of companies, including Frito-Lay, Levi Strauss & Co., NetLedger, AutoDesk and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

About Babson College

Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds®. The top-ranked college for entrepreneurship education, Babson is a dynamic living and learning laboratory where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society. We prepare the entrepreneurial leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, motivate teams in a common purpose to make a difference in the world, and have an impact on organizations of all sizes and types. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value.