On paper, Amy Dacey, 44, CEO of the Democratic National Committee, and Katie Walsh, 31, chief of staff for the Republican National Committee, should be enemies. Bitter enemies. But after I spotted Dacey and Walsh embracing at a Glamour/Facebook luncheon in Washington, D.C., this spring, I found out they’re on good terms—and uniquely positioned to give us all some tips on dealing with office drama. But I had to start with the obvious question:

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Cindi Leive: Wait: You guys are friendly? Aren’t you supposed to hate each other?

Amy Dacey: [Laughs.] Katie’s a hard person not to like.… We met on an overseas trip and found out we had a lot in common. The reality is, there are only two jobs like this in the country, right? And we both have them.

Katie Walsh: Party committees are such an interesting entity to run during a presidential election.… Amy and I have a unique understanding of each other’s challenges.

Leive: How did each of you get into this? Amy, I know your dad ran for school board when you were eight, and you were his best door-to-door campaigner.

Dacey: I didn’t know that all kids weren’t doing that—I grew up in a household where you were involved in public service. It was part of the lens we looked at life through.

Walsh: I identify with Amy on [that].… My mom worked on a county executive race when I was seven or eight, in St. Louis. And seeing my mom, a woman, taking interest in the political process was really great for me.

Leive: Katie, you broke records as the RNC’s finance director during the 2014 election. Clearly you are good at asking for money! Any advice for a woman trying to get to yes?

Walsh: You need to be comfortable with your own value. When you walk in to your boss, you need to be confident in your role. The other thing to remember is that…most people want to say yes to people. Right?

Dacey: I agree. But you also have to be prepared when you’ve advocated for something and the answer is no.… You have to pivot.

Walsh: I think when a woman hears no, she takes it more personally than a man does. Sometimes you’ll shut down. But when a man hears no—trust me, I’ve seen it—they just come back with another [reason] why they’re right.

Dacey: One of the best lessons I’ve learned is that—sometimes people think they’re expected to know the answer to every single thing. But when I worked with Secretary [John] Kerry, if I didn’t know the answer right away, it was best to say, “Sir, I don’t know, but I’ll find out in five minutes.” Then when I did give him an answer, he was 100 percent confident it was the right one.

Leive: From a distance, the upcoming conventions look like a food fight. Katie, there have been months of strain between the RNC and the Donald Trump campaign. Amy, you’ve dealt with Bernie Sanders’ claims of bias on the part of certain DNC officials. How can you and your organizations clean up this mess by the conventions?

Dacey: The bottom line is campaigns are conversations, right? But I don’t think it’s a mess. I think it’s a process.

Walsh: We had 17 people run for president on our side of the aisle. Of course there were going to be disagreements.… But Trump has received more votes than any of our Republican nominees in history. If you look at the voters, they were pretty clear.

Leive: What question do you hope each ­other’s nominee will answer between now and the election?

Walsh: “Help me understand why the American electorate should trust you.” That would be my question [for Hillary Clinton].

Dacey: I have a lot of questions [for Trump]. I have more every day. [Laughs.] But I want to have accountability about his taxes, how he does business. He has to [talk] forthwith about those things.

Leive: What do you each plan to be doing a week after the election?

Dacey: One of us will be buying the other a drink, for sure!

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