Hey folks, I'm Swati.
Welcome back to my weekly newsletter.
This newsletter is those conversations: what I'm seeing, thinking, and what I'd tell you if we were grabbing coffee.
This week's edition is about stakeholder management.
But before that:
When you need to get something done at work, who do you focus on?
A student came to me a few weeks ago with a proposal to change how MU-BAAT evaluates candidates.
He had done his research, had benchmarks from other B-Schools, and a clear point of view on what we should do differently.
There were two other people in the room.
My EA, who manages everything that moves in and out of this office.
And our Head of Admissions, whose team designs and runs the BAAT, and who would have to redesign the rubric, re-train evaluators, and own the entire change.
He addressed everything to me.
When I asked a question, he'd answer it and then turn straight back to me, as if the other two weren't there.
After he left, I looked at the Head of Admissions. She had an expression I've learned to read well. Valid concerns she hadn't raised in the meeting, and ones that I didn’t have an answer to.
I didn't move forward with the proposal.
He followed up with me twice that week. When I finally explained what had happened in that room, he went quiet for a bit.
And I'm sure you can relate.
This is one of the most common mistakes I see.
People come in fully prepared and spend all their energy on the most senior person in the room.
What they haven't thought about is who else is in the room and what it will take for that person to want the same outcome.
At Bain, we used a framework called RAPID. It maps the five roles that exist in every significant decision and the D, the person who decides, is only one of them.
The Head of Admissions was the P.
The person who would have to make the proposal work or let it die. She had been ignored for the entire conversation.
I also rely on my EA's read of people more than most people would expect.
She meets everyone before I do. She knows who follows through and who doesn't, who was genuinely warm on the way in and who switched it on only when I walked in.
Most senior people have someone like this, like an EA, a chief of staff, a program lead who has been around long enough to know everything.
The final decisions get made in those conversations, after the meeting ends.
Ignoring these people registers in their heads and it’s tough to rectify.
There is also the reality of office politics, which a lot of young professionals want nothing to do with.
Politics is understanding whose quiet resistance can sink a good idea before it reaches the room, and who has built enough trust to move things faster than any pitch.
So here's what I'd do.
You just got the framework, use it. Even a rough version of this changes how you prepare. If you're not sure who plays which role, ask someone before you get there.
Usually the EA, the chief of staff, someone who's been there long enough to have seen everything. Look at them, address them when it's relevant, and follow up with them after.
The Head of Admissions had the power to quietly kill that proposal, and she did. People who have to own the execution but had no say in the plan will find reasons it can't work. Go to them first, not last.
Hit reply: what's the most important relationship you've underestimated at work?
I read every email.
Swati