I've been working with Gary Ranker and his Corporate Politics Tool, which is now online at his website http://www.GaryRanker.com.

During a visit to his Corporate Politics course at the Marshall Goldsmith School of Management at Alliant International University in San Diego last weekend, I listened to a fascinating discussion with his students about how this tool works to identify important stakeholders that can help them reach their goals, and a methodology to organize their process of tracking their progress with each stakeholder and goal over time.

This was a three-part course over three weekends: one in October, one in November, and the final class in December. Special guest speakers: Steve Rodgers, President and CEO of Prudential California Realty in October, Colin Gautrey of Politics at Work in the UK in November, and Keryl Egan, a Specialist Coach for Bullying and Harrassment in Australia will be the December guest speaker.

Gary Ranker and Colin Gautry have recently published a book co-written with Mike Phipps called "Political Dilemmas at Work".