When Napoleon was a young officer at the siege of Toulon, he established an artillery battery in an extremely exposed, dangerous location. His superiors thought he would never get troops to man it. But instead of ordering or threatening his soldiers, Napoleon created a large placard and placed it next to the cannons: "the Battery of the Men without Fear." The position was manned night and day.

That's Woo: the ability to win people over to your ideas without coercion, using relationship-based, emotionally intelligent persuasion. It's the secret of success with colleagues, clients, and customers.

G. Richard Shell and Mario Moussa know what it takes to deal with difficult bosses and drive new initiatives through complex organizations. They have advised thousands of executives and have studied the greatest persuaders in history -- from Abraham Lincoln, John D. Rockefeller Jr., and Andrew Carnegie to Andy Grove, Sam Walton, and Bono. Their four-step process, called Woo, is a systematic, repeatable strategy for putting your ideas across.

The Art of Woo shows you how Charles Lindbergh took himself -- in less than a year -- from unknown mail pilot to international celebrity. It explains how Nelson Mandela used Woo to win over the guards at his brutal prison, and reinvented a nation. And it demonstrates how business leaders from all walks of life use Woo every day to achieve their goals.

Shell and Moussa begin your journey with two powerful self-assessments that will help you find your strengths as a persuader. They then show how to implement your unique set of skills in your encounters with others. Your "Woo I.Q." derives from knowing these skills and using them at just the right time with just the right people.

Whether you are introverted or extroverted, competitive or collaborative, intellectual or practical, you'll discover that Woo can strengthen your persuasion skills in every aspect of your life. You may need Sun Tzu's The Art of War to defeat your enemies. But if you would prefer to win them over, read The Art of Woo.

G. Richard Shell is director of the Wharton School's Executive Negotiation Workshop and professor of legal studies, business ethics, and management. His previous book is the award-winning Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People.

Mario Moussa teaches at the Wharton School and is a principal of CFAR Inc., a management consulting firm. Both Authors live in Philadelphia.