Module 11 — Executive Influence — Coalitions, Boards, Politics

60-Second Summary

Module 11 of the Advanced Manager-of-Managers program. Theme: Influence without losing yourself.
Stakeholder strategy + one real influence play — the real artefact you produce.
4-hour monthly intensive + biweekly coached practice on real work.
Reviewed by CHRO, VP/Director, sitting CEO, and OB faculty lenses.

At this layer, getting things done depends on people you don't manage. Your peer leaders, your CEO, your CFO, board members, key customers — none of them work for you, all of them affect what you can do. Most directors either avoid politics (and lose) or play badly (and lose trust). This module installs the practice of principled influence.

What the evidence says

Cialdini — Influence: the six principles remain the empirical baseline for influence in organisations.
Pfeffer — Power: organisational reality is that influence is structural; pretending it isn't is a career-limiting move.
Grant — Give and Take: long-term influence is built by giver-archetype behaviour, not transactional politics.

Pre-read (90 minutes)

Pfeffer — Power, ch. 1–4 — 60 min.
Grant — Give and Take, ch. on long-term reputation — 20 min.
Your company's most recent board deck and your last 3 cross-functional decisions — 10 min.

Monthly intensive (4 hours)

Cohort flow with a senior practitioner coach

1
Stakeholder map (45 min)
Each leader maps their key stakeholders by influence × interest × current relationship. Coach surfaces blind spots.
2
Coalition-building (60 min)
Walk through how to align peers before a decision lands at the exec table — and why most directors lose decisions in the meeting because they didn't pre-align.
3
Board-deck literacy (60 min)
Walk through what a board reader is actually looking for, how to write a one-page memo, when to bring a problem vs a recommendation.
4
Politics with integrity (45 min)
How to play the game without becoming the kind of person you wouldn't want to work for. The line between influence and manipulation.
5
Wrap (30 min)
Each leader names one stakeholder relationship they will invest in deliberately this quarter.

The artefact you produce

Stakeholder strategy + one real influence play

Stakeholder map, named investments per quarter, and one real cross-functional initiative you'll move through the org with coalition discipline. Reviewed with coach.

Tools at this layer

Layer	Examples (2026)	Use
Stakeholder mapping	Notion stakeholder map, internal CRM-style relationship tracker	Make relationship investment visible
Board comms	One-page memo template, FAQ pre-circulation, exec sponsor alignment	Boards read; they don't watch
Pre-alignment	1:1s before any meeting where a decision lands, written pre-reads, FAQ docs	Decisions get made in 1:1s, ratified in meetings

Copy-paste AI prompt

I have a cross-functional initiative I need to land [describe]. Help me: (1) map the stakeholders by influence and current alignment, (2) draft a coalition-building sequence — who to talk to in what order, (3) draft a one-page memo summarising the recommendation for the exec table, (4) anticipate the strongest objection from each stakeholder and prep counters.

Between-session homework

Stakeholder map completed; 3 deliberate investments this quarter named.
One cross-functional initiative pre-aligned with at least 3 stakeholders before the formal meeting.
One-page board-style memo drafted on a real topic.
One ethics line you will not cross documented for yourself.

Success signal

By end of this module, you can land a cross-functional decision through deliberate coalition-building, write a one-page memo that survives a board reader, and play the political layer with integrity intact. Your peers see you as a partner, not a competitor or a fixer.

Reviewer notes

CHRO (20+ yrs)

The directors who navigate executive politics with integrity get further faster than those who treat it as either beneath them or a game to win. The exec layer reads character early and remembers.

VP / Director (15+ yrs, 3+ scaled orgs)

Build the coalition before the meeting. The leaders who lose decisions in the room are the ones who tried to win them in the room. The winners had already won them in 1:1s the week before.

Sitting CEO

I notice quickly which directors are reliable partners and which are agenda-driven. The first get pulled into more decisions; the second get worked around.

OB / HR Professor (25+ yrs)

Pfeffer's central point holds: power and influence in organisations are structural and behavioural realities. Pretending otherwise is not principled — it's naive. The principled path is to engage skilfully and ethically.

Written by Pawan Joshi.Sources cited inline.

First published 23 Jun 2026See site changelog →