Political Management Students Use First “Periodic Table of Influence” to Depict and Predict Strategies of Politics and Policy

WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 15, 2011 – What strategies of influence explain Herman Cain’s sudden spike and sudden scramble in the GOP nomination race? What single play sparked revolution across the Arab world last spring? And what are the games and gamesmanship behind the Occupy Movement?

For students of the Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM) at The George Washington University, these are questions to which there are specific answers. Chemists have the periodic table and, now, students of politics, communications, marketing, and journalism have one too.

GSPM today announced that The Elements of Influence (PMGT 6265.14), a ground-breaking graduate course first offered in 2011, will return for the 2012 spring semester. Taught by Alan Kelly, CEO of Bethesda, MD-based Playmaker Systems, a strategy consulting and software firm, the course is based on a landmark classification system, The Standard Table of Influence Strategies, and Kelly’s critically acclaimed book and the course’s namesake, The Elements of Influence.

“Elements of Influence is a unique addition to the study of political management,” said Dr. Michael Cornfield, acting director of the GSPM. “No other graduate program in the country offers a political ontology as detailed and descriptive as what Mr. Kelly delivers. If you take this course, you’ll never see politics in the same way again.”

Designed for pre-professional masters track students in political management, communication, marketing and political science, the full-semester syllabus connects political leadership with strategy and management. It presents the first practical and in-depth classification system – a kind of periodic table – for breaking down and predicting moves and countermoves of organizations and people in politics as well as business and entertainment.

About GW’s Graduate School of Political Management

The Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University is the nation’s preeminent school of applied politics, offering graduate programs in political management, legislative affairs, strategic public relations and PAC management, as well as international programs in Latin America and Europe. The school seeks to improve politics by educating its students in the tools, principles and values of participatory democracy; preparing them for careers as professional, ethical and effective advocates and leaders at the international, national and local levels.

About the Instructor

Alan Kelly, 53, is a visionary business strategist, political commentator, and award-winning Silicon Valley public relations agency CEO. In 2006, he authored the book on which PMGT 6265.14 will be based: The Elements of Influence: The New Essential System for Managing Competition, Reputation, Brand, and Buzz (Dutton 2006 and Plume 2007). In the same year, Kelly founded Playmaker Systems, a Bethesda, MD-based management consulting and software services firm specializing in competitive strategy and influence programming.

In 2008, with GWU adjunct professor of political management Michael Cornfield, Kelly created and co-hosted Plays for the Presidency, a news feature at www.politico.com and XM satellite radio’s P.O.T.U.S. He is well known for his founding and leadership of Applied Communications Group, a Silicon Valley-based public relations and research firm that from 1992 to 2003 earned numerous best-in-class recognitions for its work with companies such as Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Sun Microsystems, Genentech, VeriSign, Veritas Software, BEA Systems, TechNet and Informatica.

Kelly holds an M.A. in communication research from Stanford University and a B.A. in public relations from the University of Southern California.

###

Useful Links

• About The George Washington Graduate School of Political Management
• About Alan Kelly
• About Playmaker Systems
• About The Elements of Influence
• Publishable images of The Standard Table of Influence Strategies and Playmaker's Glossary
• PDF version of course syllabus
• PDF version of this news release

For more information contact

John Koval
Certified Consultant, Playmaker Systems, LLC
301-654-6500 | jkoval@plays2run.com