Thinking about "good at politics"
Jan. 29th, 2008 08:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Politics (for purposes of this discussion, defined as getting other people to do what you want, especially if they're in large organizations, and possibly also having some judgment about the consequences of getting them to do what you want) is not my strong point.
A mention of being or not being good at politics has me wondering about what goes into being good at politics. I assume it starts with being perceptive about what people want, without being compulsive about either giving it to them or denying it from them. And being able to keep track of largish numbers of people.
I suppose it splits into being able to keep track of people as individuals and having an understanding (acquired how?) of which way large groups are likely to jump if prodded.
Once you've got information, there's got to be some way of intuiting what to do to get desired reactions.
I'm especially interested in replies from people who have at least some talent for politics about what they understand that most other people don't seem to get.
A mention of being or not being good at politics has me wondering about what goes into being good at politics. I assume it starts with being perceptive about what people want, without being compulsive about either giving it to them or denying it from them. And being able to keep track of largish numbers of people.
I suppose it splits into being able to keep track of people as individuals and having an understanding (acquired how?) of which way large groups are likely to jump if prodded.
Once you've got information, there's got to be some way of intuiting what to do to get desired reactions.
I'm especially interested in replies from people who have at least some talent for politics about what they understand that most other people don't seem to get.