Food-For-Thought Journal

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Food-For-Thought Journal

• Bill White
• Bus. 200
• Winter 2004

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Chapter 4 Politics

• Grays Notebook
• Do favors long before you need anything in
  return.
• Explanation
• This is an important aspect of positive politics.
  Doing favors for others at work, ahead of time,
  is similar to making deposits into an IOU bank
  account. Then, the owed favors will be there when
  you need to cash them in.

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Background

• In the early 1990s the University faced a
  tremendous shortfall of students.
• Accordingly, the College of Business and
  Economics was forced to cut classes and layoff
  faculty. It was a time of fear and trepidation
  for many of the faculty, myself included.

This was me.
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Background

• Fortunately, in anticipation of situations like
  this, I had deliberately provided numerous favors
  and kindness to various members of the Department
  years before the crisis.

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Background

• Accordingly, my bank account of IOUs was full.

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How I Cashed-In A IOU.

• Tell the Story

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What Happened

• I continued to teach uninterrupted for the next
  16 years.

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Pearls of Wisdom

• Continuously build a Bank of IOUs before you
  need them.
• Some may call it kissing up and calculated. I
  consider it being thoughtful and smart.
• Ask, Offer, and Thank. I heard from a friend that
  the best way to collect IOUs and build
  relationships is to
• Ask for help to get what you want/need,
• Offer to help them get what they want, and
• Say thank you for knowing them.
• You must be genuine to pull it off.

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The Marketing Department at CSLAFaculty and
Staff