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Capitalizing on Your Political Savvy 127

port you need for your initiatives. And it means knowing who your
go-to people are for hearing the latest inside scoop and talking up the
information you want disseminated.
People who are politically savvy have a few things in common.
They:

• Know where to get the right information
• Understand what people want to know . . . and what they
don’t want to know!
• Know how to rally support for their agenda
• Are able to build bridges between their own and other
people’s best interests
• Are able to “read between the lines,” which means knowing
what people are really saying or feeling
• Know how to anticipate resistance in the organization and
prepare to address it proactively
• Know what’s going to happen before others do so they can
refocus the right priorities at the right time and with the
right people.

All this, done with the right intention, makes a person politically
savvy. If this is a daunting concept, don’t worry. You’re not alone. The
questions I am asked most frequently on the topic of political savvy
are as follows:

• How do I know if I have it?
• How can I better understand the political dynamics in my
organization?
• How do I figure out how information is really shared and
how do I get access to the right information when I need it?
• How do I know if I’m picking up on the unwritten rules or
social cues in meetings and other conversations?