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If you don’t know how to implement your strategic vision, what’s the point of having it in the first place?

When I got tired of talking about ideas, and instead wanted to implement them, I became a student of tactics – the science of implementation.

Part of my love for tactics was survival – literally. I was in the Army and being tactically smart increased your chances of living (a very real motivating force).

Part of my love for tactics also comes from my hatred of losing in the battle of ideas.

For the last 25 years, I have been involved at nearly level of politics. From grassroots to presidential races, I have either been on the payroll or volunteered for hundreds of campaigns. I also have worked for businesses in a sales and marketing role and worked at the state capitol doing lobbying work.

I started my tactical journey during college. I loathed the policies of those in charge of student government and how they were spending my mandatory student fees. So I learned how the student government worked and systematically built a majority. In less than 18 months, I was Speaker of the Legislature.

However, I soon learned that just having the position did not a guarantee my ideas would pass. I still needed to put together plans to implement my ideas. For instance, when a group tried to pass a scheme to force students to pay a mandatory fee for liberal activism, I used every parliamentary procedure I could to keep the issue from coming to a vote. I knew the rules better than my opponent did. When the dust settled, they had been totally outmaneuvered and the proposal died.

I was amazed at the lack of tactical awareness from even the Political Science Professors. The Chairman of the Department (who was an expert on the Soviet Politburo and their power structure) couldn’t figure out how I killed his funding proposal in the Student Legislature. He wanted me to use student fees to fund liberal speakers for his department, and implied my grades could suffer if I opposed the idea.

So how did I kill his proposal without being the bad guy? I drafted a resolution calling on an end to funding academic departments. I asked a friend of mine to pretend it was his idea and introduce it to the legislature. Because I was the Speaker, I controlled the agenda On the day the Chairman’s funding bill came up, the first person I recognized was the person who had the resolution against funding academic departments. He gave a fiery speech attacking the idea that people’s grades could be affected by the money they can bring the department. It passed by acclamation (it was even named the best piece of legislation that year and the “author” received a nice plaque and recognition for “his” bill.) The next person I recognized was the person with the funding request from the political science department – which was voted down 50-0.

My professor never knew that the whole scene was orchestrated by me just to kick him in the ass for threatening my grades in order to get student funds. (And yes, he even thanked me for “trying so hard to get his funding request through.” And yes, I did get an A in the class).

The result of these experiences was to heighten my desire to find the edge, the loophole, to move my issues forward. Every job has taught me new tactics to win.

That’s what Your Political Guru is all about – I want to help you become a better tactician by sharing ideas and examples of implementation. I use these tactics in winning elections, passing legislation and even selling products as well as ideas.

But will this work for YOU? The answer is a resounding YES!

You already use tactics against your advisories – except you probably don’t know you are using tactics and you don’t recognize the person you are using them against as an adversary. Your adversary can be someone you love very much, but in the context of tactical decision-making, they are an adversary.

For instance – you want to go to dinner with your significant other . . . how do you make sure you go where you want to go? You might try the fait accompli, or the quid pro quo.

Have you ever wondered why smart guys get flowers after saying something dumb? It’s a great tactic to smooth things over.

I have beaten opponents who out spent my side of an issue $100-1… I’ve gotten legislation killed that was initially wildly popular, but I was able to convince the right people that the unexpected consequences were just too great…

I have sold billionaires on the importance of my programs and the have gladly written the checks to make it happen.

It is not always easy, and I warn you not to just bumble into most situations of any consequence without giving the situation some careful thought. Learning to thoughtfully implement tactics will be the best investment you can make in yourself, your ideas, your career, and your life.

Let the journey begin . . .