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"This course offered a collaboration of tier one industry senior leaders working to learn, understand, and apply the principles of persuasion. I leave this course armed with an extensive toolkit to influence in all directions, internally and externally."
– Program Participant J.R. Edwards, National Business Manager at Mars Inc.
At a time when leadership requires less emphasis on giving orders and more of a focus on building consensus, personal persuasiveness and the ability to negotiate effectively have become critical skills for success.
Drawing on sound psychological research, Persuasion: Influencing Without Authority covers the range of interpersonal and intergroup persuasion challenges, from one-on-one negotiations to driving change in an organization's culture. The focus is on practical skills and immediate application to participants' real-world challenges.
For a complete program schedule download the agenda.
Are you looking to complement your persuasion skills with expert negotiation skills? In these short videos, the program's faculty director Bob Bontempo explains why persuasion and negotiation are different sets of behaviors but with two complementary skill sets, and a past participant explains his need for both skills in his role.
View Professor Bontempo's program on Negotiation Strategies: Creating and Maximizing Value.
Please contact our Learning Solutions Specialists at 212-854-3395 for a personal conversation to learn more.
"Technical skills are what poker players call 'table stakes,' the minimum currency one needs to 'get into the game.' But later on, we find that it is an executive's softer skills that determine their ability to create value, drive change, and build institutions.
"The current round of economic turmoil means that certain organizational responses are inevitable. Mastery of the softer interpersonal skills is what will separate those who merely survive these changes from those who will thrive and grow as leaders."
–Robert Bontempo, faculty director
Upon completion of this program, you will earn three credits towards a Certificate with select alumni and tuition benefits. Learn more.
Participants are provided a number of readings in the psychology of persuasion and attitude change prior to the program. During the program, participants apply the techniques to a personal case, are provided an individual assessment of their social style, and receive a videotape analysis of their persuasive communication.
Over the three days, participants have several opportunities for immediate feedback on their persuasion techniques. At the conclusion of the program, participants take with them a personalized persuasion "toolkit."
For a complete program schedule download the agenda.
Persuasion: Influencing Without Authority is designed for all levels of executives. This program is especially suitable for those who find they need to be more effective building consensus and influencing those over whom they do not have formal authority.
Executives who need to promote their agenda in an atmosphere that does not permit giving orders, who need to "manage up," and those who need to drive change, both one on one and across organizational boundaries will also benefit from this program.
Columbia Business School alumni and up to four of their colleagues are eligible for a 25 percent tuition benefit for this program. More on the Alumni Tuition Benefit.
Shirish Shetty explains how he’s learned to speak his boss’s language to better communicate his interests with the help of Persuasion: Leading Without Authority, a non-degree Columbia Business School Executive Education program.
"The program was very engaging and helpful. It will definitely have an impact on my growth both on a professional and on a personal level. I would highly recommend this to anyone who would like to progress their career!"
"The program in conjunction with the Negotiation course not only gave me the toolkit I need to differentiate between the two, but also to optimize and use them both to my advantage in my work."
"I'm leaving with tools that can help me in every aspect of my professional life."
"The most powerful and efficient program I've attended on practical persuasion and negotiation techniques."
"This is a unique program that goes well beyond negotiation skills. It gave me very effective motivation and persuasion techniques to be applied in the corporate world and everyday life. The program is backed up by scientific research and historical data. Very, very useful."
"I came into the class with a tool box of used tools and left with computerized tools for the future."
"An incredibly effective crash course in leadership communication."
"This was the best "soft skills" course that I've attended in the last 25 years. Seeing how we need the techniques presented was the most instructive part of the course. We need the principles to be explained, and it's the practice that drives home the message."
Robert N. Bontempo, Faculty Director
Adjunct Professor of Business
Faculty Member, Executive Education
Robert Bontempo is a leading advisor to senior executives worldwide. He advises on the leadership of organizational change and the implementation of business strategy to such companies as Goldman Sachs, Boeing, Glaxo-Welcome, and NASA. Bontempo has advised the US State Department under both democratic and republican administrations, and has worked closely with the UN Population Fund. His observations on leadership have been featured in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and The Economist, and he has been named by Businessweek magazine as one of the top MBA professors in the U.S.
Along with Professor Bontempo, additional Columbia Business School faculty contribute to and teach in the program.