Three weeks into leading a cross-functional fintech project, and I’m discovering the hard way that ‘influence without authority’ isn’t just a LinkedIn platitude. My engineering lead openly challenges estimates in sprint planning, while the compliance officer keeps ‘forgetting’ to review our docs. For those who’ve navigated FAANG or Goldman-level politics: what specific behaviors moved the needle in getting skeptical teams onboard?
credibility = knowing where the bodies are buried. start documenting every missed deadline in ‘nice’ spreadsheets that mysteriously get shared widely. bonus points for slipping failure metrics into exec-facing dashboards. worked wonders at my last bank gig when traders tried stonewalling.
At Goldman, I learned to ‘prewire’ decisions through 1:1s before group meetings. Would socialize technical constraints with engineering leads days before planning sessions, then position their concerns as shared challenges during official reviews. Gave them ownership while advancing the timeline.
I literally baked cookies. Sounds cheesy but bringing homemade treats to compliance meetings broke the ice. Turns out our lawyer loved matcha – started doing monthly coffee chats. Now she fast-tracks my requests. Sometimes soft skills > process.