Kathleen Kelley Reardon

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Kathleen Kelley Reardon

Professor Emerita, University of Southern California Marshall School of Business

Kathleen Kelley Reardon is Professor Emerita of Management at University of Southern California Marshall School of Business.

She earned her Ph.D. summa cum laude and with distinction at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst after receiving her BA degree with honors from University of Connecticut at Storrs.  Kathleen is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi and Mortar Board.

Her primary areas of scholarly interest have been leadership communication, persuasion, politics in the workplace, negotiation and interpersonal communication. Public Opinion Quarterly described her first book, Persuasion in Practice, as a landmark contribution to the field.

Kathleen has taught negotiation, leadership and politics in the MBA, Executive MBA, and International MBA.  For 15 years, she served on the USC Preventive Medicine faculty, developing interventions aimed at changing health habits among high-risk populations. She also served as associate director with Warren Bennis of the USC Leadership Institute.

She has authored 10 books and numerous articles, including three for The Harvard Business Review.  Her 2001 book The Secret Handshake: Mastering the Politics of the Business Inner Circle (Currency, Doubleday) became an Amazon.com nonfiction and business best seller.  It was followed by The Skilled Negotiator (Jossey-Bass, 2004), It’s All Politics: Winning in a World Where Hard Work and Talent Aren’t Enough (Currency, Doubleday, 2005), Childhood Denied: Ending the Nightmare of Child Abuse and Neglect (Sage, 2008), and Comebacks at Work: Using Conversation to Master Confrontation (Harper Business, 2010).

Her first novel, Shadow Campus, is an inside look at the politics of academia, a mystery-thriller and a love story.  Forbes described it as a “masterful debut.”  The sequel is underway for publication in 2015.

Kathleen was awarded the 2013 Humanitarian Award by the University of Connecticut Alumni Association based on her contributions to underserved groups, especially in originating and working to develop college prep academies for foster teens (www.firststar.org).

Kathleen is a signature blogger at Huffington Post (since 2005) and also blogs at her website (www.kathleenkelleyreardon.com).

Everything Articles
Influence, Power, & Politics
Getting Past Stereotypes That Limit Women’s Power
It isn’t that women desire power less than men do, but in traditional organizations some common avenues to obtaining and maintaining power are blocked for them.  A host of stereotypes […]
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
Can You Manage At Work Without Politics?
The answer to that question is, probably not.  Wherever people come together seeking goals – whether the same or different ones – and especially where there is competition for scarce resources, […]
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
When is it Safe to Speak Up at Work?
   
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
What Managers Can Learn from Pope Francis’ Christmas Missive
How often does a CEO directly and publicly address organizational politics?  How many compose a list of the worst forms or could even identify them? 
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
When to Stop Trying to Get Your Way
“Never try to teach a pig to read,” the saying goes. “It’s a waste of time and it annoys the pig.” But how do you know when you’re at that point?  When does attempting to persuade someone do more harm than good?
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
The Power of Taking The High Road
As Rolling Stone magazine apologized not once, but twice, for its article last month about a young woman who had allegedly been raped on the University of Virginia campus, we witnessed something rarely seen these days: UVA President Teresa Sullivan, took the high road in responding to the fiasco.
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
How to Make Yourself Heard — in Meetings and in Life
At this time of year social interaction increases, including where many of us work.  With pressure to meet year-end goals, tension may be in the air and made worse by more meetings than anyone wants to attend.  This climate offers an opportunity to assess if what you say is actually being heard -- to examine when and whether your comments are talked over, interrupted or even ignored.
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
When is Compromise a Sign of Strength?
As children, many of us read in our U.S. history classes about the “great compromiser,” Henry Clay, congressman and secretary of state under John Quincy Adams.  Clay argued effectively for […]
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
Emotional Outbursts: Liability or Tactic?
Scientists have yet to determine exactly how emotions happen, let alone how we differentiate between our experiences of them.  University of Connecticut professor Ross Buck, expert in emotion and nonverbal […]
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
Why Disagreements Can Be Good for a Relationship
Every person who ventures into the company of others engages in persuasion.  Granted, at times it may be annoying to engage in conversation that requires you to develop effective arguments, but if such conversations are on the wane or largely absent, then important relationships can slip toward reliance on manipulation, coercion or even toward a lack of any significant communication at all.  
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
Without Political Clout Women Lose Ground in High Tech
There’s no doubt that encouraging girls to take STEM courses is imperative to their higher representation as women in those fields.  But a recent Catalyst study of 6,000 MBA graduates […]
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
Making Your Body Language Work For You
There’s a tendency to think of body language as an aspect of communication that gives us away – reveals our true meaning.  We consider words more manageable, more under the […]
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
Learn How to Respond to Common Workplace Put-Downs
Imagine these separate scenarios happening in one week at work: This is the third time you’ve been interrupted by the same person during a single meeting… You offer a suggestion […]
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
Does Your Political Style Suit Where You Work?
There’s no way to live in this world and avoid politics.  It’s in our homes, schools, workplaces and just about anywhere else we turn.  While there’s no shortage of people […]
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
What Does “Choose Your Battles” Really Mean?
Most of us have been advised at one time or another to choose our battles.  We know it’s good advice, yet rarely stop and think about the criteria for passing […]
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
Will Feminism Be Reborn? A Sign of Hope
The harmful baggage attached to the term “feminism” over the years came into the spotlight again on Sunday, as the acclaimed young actor Emma Watson spoke at the United Nations’ […]
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
Want To Be More Persuasive? Maybe Even More Romantic? Don’t Forget The Value of a Good Frame
Framing influences our choices every day.  Why are we willing to pay $10 for a glass of wine at a fancy restaurant when we could buy a bottle of the […]
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
The Vulnerability of Power
To reduce or undo someone else’s power, observe carefully those who have it and how you’re helping them keep it.  Then consider how to alter that pattern with the person in question. 
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
The Impact of Incremental Persuasion
People often think of one great strategy or compelling argument as an effective means of persuasion.  In actuality, persuasion of any import is rarely accomplished by a single argument.  If […]
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
Influence, Power, & Politics
Power and Dependency
We often think of power as a possession rather than a function of the relationship between people.  The problem with this formulation is that it gives the impression that the […]
Kathleen Kelley Reardon
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