Political Literacy
For senior leaders navigating workplace politics, shifting feedback, and complex organisational dynamics.
"The ability to see how power and influence actually move through an organisation, and to make deliberate choices about how to engage with that system."
Politics is not the problem. Being blind to politics is the problem. This page is the body of work built around that idea.
Start with where you are
Most organisations run on two sets of rules: the ones written down, and the ones that actually determine who gets heard, who gets resources, and whose ideas move forward. Political literacy is the skill of reading and working with both.
The assessment below is the best starting point. It tells you where you are strong and where you have blind spots across the five dimensions of political literacy. The guides that follow go deeper into each one.
New guides are added regularly. Subscribe below to hear when the next one is ready.
How Politically Literate Are You?
Before you navigate the system, it helps to know where you actually stand inside it. This 25-question assessment tells you.
Across five dimensions: reading the room, influencing intentionally, building strategic relationships, landing as you intend, and working from solid ground. Based on Ferris et al.'s Political Skill Inventory (2005). No login required. A clear read of where you stand and where to focus first.
Take the assessment →The Five Dimensions of Political Literacy
Political literacy is not a single skill. It is a set of five distinct capacities. The assessment above measures each one. The guides develop each one. Understanding where you are strong and where you have gaps is the starting point.
01
Reading the Room
The ability to accurately observe who holds power in a situation, how decisions are being made, and what the unspoken dynamics are. Most people see the official version of the room. Political literacy means seeing the real one.
02
Influencing Intentionally
The ability to shape outcomes through deliberate, values-consistent influence rather than reacting or hoping. Not manipulation. The legitimate use of relationships, timing, and framing to move things in the direction that matters.
03
Having the Relationships That Matter
The depth and breadth of professional relationships that provide access, information, and advocacy. Not networking for its own sake. Knowing who the people are whose support, counsel, or sponsorship actually makes a difference.
04
Landing as You Intend
The ability to communicate in ways that are received as intended, across different contexts, cultures, and power dynamics. What you say and how it lands are not the same thing. This dimension is about closing that gap.
05
Working from Solid Ground
The internal stability and self-awareness that makes effective political navigation possible without losing yourself in the process. You cannot read a complex system clearly if the system is also dysregulating you. This is the foundation the other four rest on.
Based on Ferris et al.'s Political Skill Inventory (2005) and Goleman's emotional intelligence framework. The five dimensions are measured in the How Politically Literate Are You? assessment.
Start from your situation
Each guide is a standalone deep dive into a specific dimension of political literacy at work. Practical, research-backed, and written for anyone who wants to read the political landscape clearly and engage with it on their own terms, without selling their soul or their sanity.
Before you can navigate the political landscape, you need to be able to read it. These two guides build the foundation: one on how organisational politics actually works, one on why speaking authentically sometimes backfires and what to do instead.
Organisation Politics 101
A field manual for seeing the political game, understanding the players, and choosing how you want to engage. Covers the spectrum from constructive to destructive politics, power mapping, how decisions really get made, alliances and coalitions, and gendered political dynamics.
Read the guide →You spoke up. It was authentic, so where did it go wrong?
A guide for anyone navigating the gap between authentic expression and professional impact. Covers why speaking your mind backfires, the communication patterns that undermine credibility, a diagnostic framework for when things go wrong, and practical tools for speaking in ways that land.
Read the guide →For senior leaders and executives operating at the level where formal feedback stops being developmental and starts being political. The 360 feedback, the skip-level meeting, the PIP can each be used as a political instrument. This series covers the full arc: reading what is happening, deciding what to do, responding under pressure, and if it comes to it, leaving on your own terms.
Want a guide on something specific?
If you are navigating a situation at work that you cannot find a clear framework for, tell me what it is. I write guides based on what people are actually dealing with. This is how most of them start.
Frequently asked questions
What is political literacy at work?
Political literacy at work is the ability to see how power and influence actually move through an organisation, and to make deliberate, intentional choices about how you engage with that system. Every organisation runs on two systems simultaneously: the official one (the org chart, stated processes, formal authority) and the real one (where decisions actually get made, whose opinion actually carries weight, which alliances matter). Political literacy is the capacity to see both systems clearly and navigate them with agency.
What is the difference between formal and informal power at work?
Formal power comes from your title, your role, and your position in the organisational hierarchy. Informal power comes from relationships, access to information, control of resources, and social capital. In most organisations, informal power is where decisions are actually shaped: in the conversations that happen before the meeting, in the relationships that determine whose ideas get backed, and in the unwritten rules about who gets heard. People with high political literacy can read both structures simultaneously.
Who is political literacy coaching for?
Political literacy coaching is for technically excellent professionals who are finding that performance alone is not producing the outcomes they expect. This typically includes senior leaders and mid-career professionals who keep getting blindsided by decisions that seem to come from nowhere; women navigating organisations where the informal rules were written by and for someone else; and leaders moving between India and global headquarters who are navigating two political cultures simultaneously.
Is political literacy the same as playing politics?
No. Playing politics often implies manipulation, self-interest, and causing harm to others for personal gain. Political literacy is about reading the system you are operating in and making deliberate, values-consistent choices about how you engage with it. The ethic behind this work is closer to martial arts than to chess: you develop the skill not to attack, but so that you cannot be ambushed. Political literacy, practised this way, is about agency without aggression.