Pentru cei care n-au auzit de ei, James Carville şi Paul Begala – trust-your-gut strategists – sunt doi reputaţi consultanţi politici americani cu un portofoliu impresionant (de exemplu, victoria lui Bill Clinton din 1992 a fost instrumentată de ei).

Buck Up, Suck Up . . . and Come Back When You Foul Up nu este doar o lecţie gratuită (isi merită de zece ori banii) de consultanţă politică, cât mai ales o lecţie de viaţă.

Mi-a împrumutat-o Dan Andronic anul trecut (va trebui s-o returnez cumva) şi am citit-o de două ori cu creionul în mână. Recent, am găsit notiţele, le-am revăzut şi m-am gândit c-ar fi păcat să nu le împărtăşesc pe blog.

American Politics is a winner takes-all game
Politics is the only game for grown-ups.
The purpose of this book is to make you faster, smarter and more aggressive.

Focus on the big picture.

RULE 1 – Don’t Quit. Don’t Ever Quit

Calităţi decisive:
–    perseverenţă
–    tărie
–    tenacitate

“Oamenii pot uita o greşeli, însă nu pot uita pe cel care dă vina pe alţii.”

You won’t believe how far you can go if you simply refuse to quit.

Never become bitter. Becoming bitter is giving up.

Put youself in the position to win.
If you take more chances, you’ve got more chances to win.
If you have a low tolerance for risk, you’ve got a lower possibility of success.

RULE 2 – Kiss Ass
Ass-Kissing is both an art and a science.
Trebuie să învăţam cum să ne purtăm cu oamenii pe care nu-i suportăm.

a. Be a good listener. Kiss ass with your ears.
b. Culegi ceea ce semeni. Reciprocity is a basic human emotion.
c. Turning Fools into Tools.

Motivate, Don’t Dictate

A short-term suck-up has pas paid dividents for decades.

RULE 3 – Kick Ass
An All-or-Nothing Game

Liberty is not given. It’s taken. La libertad no es tad. Es toca.

Be aggressive. We love negative campaigning.

Patru lucruri adoră presă în politică :
– scandaluri
– gafe
– sondaje
– atacuri

Dacă eşti atacat, atacă dublu .

Reagan – master of killing with kindness.
Clinton – maestrul al contratacului

First impressions DO matter MORE.
You never get the second chance to make a first impression.

So get it done, get it done right, get it done fast.

Reward risk more than you punish failure.
Winner do. Losers meet.

Speed kills (your opponent)
“The object of war is not to die for your country. It’s to make the other poor son of a bitch die for his country.”

RULE 4 – Frame the Debate
He who defines the debate wins the debate.
Bush is a relentessly focused messenger.

RULE 5  – Understand differences between Strategy and Tactics
Focus on strategy!
”Keep Your Eyes on the Prize”

Empower, delegate and stop micromanaging.

Mix candor and cojones!

RULE 6 – Be Open!
Being up-front with people confers respect. So don’t be a sneaky little shit.
Everything in Washington leaks.

Openness makes it easier to keep the secret you really need to keep.
Openness empowers people.
Just Say It!

You can’t delegate authority and then hoard information.
If there’s something bad to be said about you, say it yourself.

RULE 7 –  Know How to Communicate

Tony Blair – his message was energetic, sharp and focused

Reguli de comunicare
1. Tell a story
Facts tell, but story sell.
Human beings process information in the narrative form.
2. Be brief
3. Be emotional
Clinton întrerupt de un bolnav de SIDA: I feel your pain
4. Be unique
5. Be relevant
6. Repeat your message relentlessly
You got to have a fanatical commitment to returning again and again to your basic point.

RULE 8 – Work Your Ass Off
God is on the side of the hard workers

RULE 9 – Turn Weakness into Strength
A good salesman, like a good politician, knows how to turn chicken shit into chicken salad.

Don’t think that a deficiency in one area is a life sentence.
Don’t be a lemming. If your strengths lead you on an untraditional path, so be it.
Celebrate your choice.

Leaders need to be good at psychology – starting with self-knownledge.
Clinton – “We don’t have a person to waste”

RULE 10 – Be Nimble, Jack
The ability to adapt to a changing enviroment, to adjust to new realities is essential.
Our improvisational career is usually more challenging than our intentional career.
Keep learning

Flexibility confuses your adversaries and builds a sense of self-confidence that you cand handle anything they throw at you.

RULE 11 – Know How to Recover When You REALLY Screw Up
Take away their spears
Set Things Right
Fight Back

Sometimes there’s just no way to recover, so you duck and cover.
Sometimes you just gotta get your ass whipped.

RULE 12 – Know What to Do When You Win
No victory is ever final.
”The higher up a monkey climbs, the easier it is to see it ass.”

Mesaj puternic:
”If a criminal has the right to see a lawyer, why don’t working people have the right to see a doctor?”

Deny credit for winning, take responsibility for losing.

Don’t sweat the small stuff
Once you’ve won, the goal is not to gloat; it’s to win another one.

Be Gracious in Victory
Allow you opponent a graceful exit

Consolidate Your Gains
Take Ever More Risks. Risk taking breeds success.