Look, if you’re a mid-level analyst, program manager, or contractor in a government agency or big support shop these days, you already know the game. You’ve got a solid idea that would actually move the mission forward. You brief it up. You get polite nods. And then… nothing. It dies in the handoff between two offices that don’t talk to each other. Or it gets watered down by the stakeholder who wasn’t even in the room but somehow has veto power.
Formal authority only gets you so far in these matrixed, fragmented environments. The real currency in 2026 — especially with all the Schedule Policy/Career pressure, efficiency mandates, and results-focused mandates hitting at once — is informal power. The ability to build your own coalition so your ideas actually move without needing a title that says “Director.”
Sun Tzu understood this centuries ago. He didn’t just talk about smashing the enemy head-on. He talked about forming the right alliances, knowing the real terrain of interests and relationships, and creating situations where others want to move with you because it serves their ground. The indirect approach isn’t weakness. It’s how you win when direct confrontation would just get you stuck in another endless coordination meeting.
Most people try to influence by going straight at the person with the biggest title. That’s usually the slowest and least effective path. The smart operators — the ones who actually get things done across silos — build coalitions sideways and diagonally. They map who really moves the needle, figure out what those people care about, and position their idea so it becomes the path of least resistance for everyone involved.
Here’s how to actually do it.
First, stop trusting the org chart.
The real power map is almost never the one printed on the wall. The GS-14 who briefs the SES every week often has more pull than the person two levels above them on paper. The contractor who’s been around three reorgs and knows where all the bodies are buried can kill or green-light projects without ever appearing on a decision memo.
Take an hour this week and draw the real map. Who actually influences the people who influence the decision? Who gets copied on the emails that matter? Who do the real decision-makers call when they want the unvarnished take? This is pure Sun Tzu — know the terrain before you move. If you’re fighting based on titles instead of actual influence, you’re already on the wrong battlefield.
And don’t sleep on what people’s bodies tell you in meetings. The way someone leans back when a certain name gets mentioned, or how quickly they check their watch when another office’s priorities come up — that’s intelligence. My book on body language breaks down exactly how to read these signals in real time so you know who’s truly aligned and who’s just nodding along until they can torpedo it later.
Second, find the shared ground before you pitch your idea.
People protect their own terrain. Always. If your proposal looks like it creates work, risk, or loss of control for them, they will resist — even if it’s good for the overall mission. That’s not malice. That’s human nature and organizational survival.
Before you ever open your mouth about your idea, map what the other players actually care about. What are their pressures right now? What are they measured on? What keeps them up at night with the new efficiency mandates landing?
Then frame your ask so it helps their terrain instead of threatening it. This is the indirect approach in action. You’re not asking them to do you a favor. You’re showing them how supporting your move protects or advances their own position.
This is exactly where the redirection patterns from my book Redirecting Rejection become lethal. When someone pushes back with the classic “That’s not how we do things here” or “We already tried something like that,” you don’t argue the point. You redirect. You acknowledge their concern, then reframe so your idea becomes the solution to their problem. The mechanics are simple once you see them, and they turn resistance into momentum faster than any PowerPoint ever could.
Third, start small and make the wins visible.
Big coalition asks usually fail because they require too much trust upfront. Smart operators build through a series of small, visible wins that prove the coalition works. You help their thing get through the coordination process. They return the favor on yours. Each win strengthens the informal network.
Over time you stop being “that person from the other office” and become “the person who actually gets stuff done across the building.” That reputation is pure influence capital. And it compounds.
Sun Tzu would call this building momentum and conserving your strength for the decisive points instead of burning it on every coordination battle. You don’t have to win every skirmish. You just have to keep your coalition moving in the same direction while the other side is still arguing about whose turn it is to take notes.
Fourth, know who actually holds power versus who just has the title.
This is foreknowledge. Some of the most powerful people in any organization have modest titles and massive influence because everyone trusts them or owes them. Others have impressive titles and almost no real pull because nobody believes they can deliver or protect their people.
Spend time figuring out which is which. The person who can quietly kill your idea in a sidebar conversation with the right SES is more important than the person who runs the working group but nobody listens to. Map it. Update it constantly. The terrain shifts every time there’s a new priority memo or another round of “strategic realignment.”
The operators who consistently move ideas across silos aren’t necessarily the smartest or the hardest working.
They’re the ones who treat coalition-building like a core part of the job instead of an annoying distraction from “real work.” They read the room, they read the real power map, they align interests instead of fighting them, and they use the tools of redirection and observation to turn potential blockers into quiet supporters.
That’s the game in 2026. The org chart will keep lying to you. The formal process will keep slowing you down.
But the people who figure out how to build their own coalition — who know the real terrain, who use the indirect approach, who turn resistance into alignment — those are the ones whose ideas actually move.
And those are the ones who become indispensable when the next wave of changes hits.
Because at the end of the day, formal authority is loaned to you. Real influence is something you build.
Stay Strong, Stay Disciplined, Stay Dangerous,
-S
Full piece is also on the site here: [link to artofwarsolutions.com/blog]
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