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The Office Politics Playbook

Learn the dynamics shaping your workplace, build genuine influence without compromising who you are, and advocate for yourself when it matters most with The Office Politics Playbook.

What's included:

  • Read the room with confidence. Complete the Diagnostic Worksheet, Power Map, and Relationship Inventory to uncover who holds influence, how decisions really get made, and which relationships deserve your attention. Walk away with a clear plan to increase your visibility and influence.

  • Handle difficult conversations with the right words. Use the Workplace Conversation Toolkit to prepare for conflict, take credit for your work, set boundaries, advocate for yourself, and push back when necessary. Walk away with practical scripts for the moments when the stakes are high.

  • Get clear on your next move. Complete the Exit-Trigger Self-Assessment to determine what can change, what probably will not, and whether your best path is to improve your situation or leave it. Walk away with clarity instead of continuing to question yourself.

Instant access. Self-paced, with lifetime access to every lesson, worksheet and script.

Who this is for

  • You do excellent work and keep finding out about decisions after they have been made.
  • You have replayed a conversation at night and found the perfect answer three hours too late.
  • You are wondering whether to learn this workplace or leave it, and you want a clear framework for what's next.

Taught by

Ginny Clarke

She’s watched brilliant people lose ground for reasons that had nothing to do with their work - and watched people who understood the system pull ahead without ever raising their voice. As a former Partner at Spencer Stuart and Director of Executive Recruiting at Google, Ginny spent 25+ years inside the rooms where those decisions actually get made. She built this course to teach what she saw from the inside: office politics isn’t a character flaw, it’s a system - and once you can read it, you can work it without losing yourself.

Bonus resources included

  • Exit Strategy Checklist: document your case, build your outside network, and plan your exit before you need it.
  • The Five Manipulation Patterns: a quick-reference card for spotting gaslighting, triangulation, and other tactics before they take hold.
  • Impact Translation Template: a fill-in-the-blank framework for turning your work into language leadership actually hears.
  • Political Capital Budget Tracker: a recurring log for deciding which battles are worth your capital, before you spend it.
  • Scripted Response Pack, Volume 2: four more real scenarios in Ginny’s voice: a missed promotion, stolen credit, an overloaded plate, and asking for what you’re worth.
  • 8 People You Need In Your Network: Ginny’s own framework for the relationships that actually move a career, with a tracker to put it into practice.
Fifth Dimensional Leadership

Office politics is a system. Systems can be learned.

Three modules and an honest closer. Each one ends with a tool you use at work the next day, not a theory you admire and forget.

1

The Game You're Already Playing

Five diagnostic questions tell you which of three environments you work in: relatively healthy, moderately political, or toxic. Every strategy after this depends on your answer.

Tool: Diagnostic Worksheet
2

Navigating Power with Integrity

Map where power sits instead of trusting the org chart. Translate your work into outcomes leadership hears. Build relationship currency before you need it. Choose which battles deserve you.

Tool: Power Map + Relationship Inventory
3

Stand Your Ground

Spot manipulation before it escalates. Handle passive aggression without feeding it. Deal with a bully. Say what you want out loud, and have the words ready before the moment arrives.

Tool: Workplace Conversation Toolkit
4

When the System Fails You

Four signs the smartest move is leaving, and how to leave well: document your contributions, build your outside network first, and exit with your reputation intact.

Tool: Exit-Trigger Self-Assessment

From Ginny

Nobody handed you the playbook. I will.

Most people who feel stuck at work have diagnosed the wrong problem. They think they are bad at politics, too sensitive, or missing some social gene the people getting ahead were born with. They are not.

I spent my recruiting career watching smart, capable people quietly lose ground, not because their work was weak, but because they were playing a game they didn't know they were in.

This course is the conversation I wish someone had created for me early in my career. The Office Politics Playbook will show you how to read the environment you are in, build real influence without compromising your integrity, and stand your ground when it counts, leaving you with the tools to navigate any workplace with clarity and confidence.

Ginny ClarkeConscious Leadership Expert, Author of Career Mapping: Charting Your Course in the New World of Work

In their words

What leaders say about working with Ginny

“Her direct, honest feedback, paired with belief in what is possible, stretched my thinking and gave me actionable guidance on the most challenging situations of my career.”

VP of Compliance, Financial Services Organization

“Ginny delivers hard truths about leadership drawn from real corporate experience. She challenges conventional thinking while offering practical solutions.”

Michael Dykes, President & CEO, International Dairy Foods Association

“Ginny challenges leaders with clarity and care, inspiring growth without coddling.”

SVP, Global Talent & Employee Experience

Stop taking the game personally. Start reading it.

Enroll above for instant lifetime access to every lesson, worksheet, and script.