The Art of Woo

Mastering the Art and Science of Persuasion

The Art of Woo, facilitated by Mario Moussa, is focused on the following learning objectives:

• Demonstrate an understanding of how the basic principles of influence and persuasion apply to change leadership.
• Exercise the leadership and decision-making capabilities needed to build effective partnerships at work.
• Apply the principles of strategic persuasion – based on emotional intelligence, politics, rhetoric, and psychology – to sell their ideas.
• Use the ability to communicate with impact to mobilize resources across an organization.

According to past participants, “The Art of Woo Workshop was an amazing insight into strategic persuasion and influence. Mario Moussa, our facilitator and co-author of The Art of Woo, was able to effectively transform the theory into how we can use it in our personal and professional lives. He starts with the premise that you can’t convince someone else – they need to change their own mind. Your job is to create the situation that makes it easy for them to do this, which has nothing to do with spin. Throughout the day we undertook role plays, exercises and discussions to learn the techniques that are so important in effecting change and succeeding in our careers. I recommend the workshop to everyone at Wharton – you will use the skills you develop every day.”

Mario Moussa, PhD

Senior Fellow, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Care Economics, University of Pennsylvania

Co-author of The Art of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas, Mario Moussa directs and teaches programs for hospital leaders and physicians, corporate security managers, and energy and banking executives. He teaches negotiation, influence, strategy, change, and corporate culture and is co-director of Wharton’s Essentials of Management program. He is also a principal at CFAR, Inc., a management consulting firm that began as a Wharton research center. A specialist in large-scale organizational change initiatives, he has consulted to many of the world’s leading corporations, universities, and foundations, including United Health Group, PNC Bank, the Georgetown University Medical Center, and State Farm Insurance. He has published widely in the field of organizational dynamics, power, and influence.

The Art of Woo website