What a Freshman Senator Can Teach CEOs About Building Bipartisan Coalitions

In the world of business and politics, the conventional wisdom is that first‑term leaders should keep their heads down, avoid controversial fights, and build relationships slowly. Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona did the opposite. In his first year in the U.S. Senate, he took on one of the most sensitive foreign policy issues of the era: moving the American embassy to Jerusalem. He faced a hostile administration, a skeptical State Department, and a Senate where seniority usually rules. Yet within months, he had built a veto‑proof coalition of 95 senators and 374 House members. His playbook, detailed in the new book “Because It’s Just and Right: The Untold Back‑Story of the US Recognition of Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel and Moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem” by Farley Weiss and Leonard Grunstein, offers a masterclass in coalition‑building, negotiation, and long‑term execution.