THIS WEEK
A new executive made what seemed like a straightforward decision in her second month.
She restructured a process that was clearly inefficient.
The data supported it. She’d consulted her direct reports.
Within days, she sensed something had shifted.
Meetings felt different.
People who had been supportive became formal.
An initiative she was counting on stalled without explanation.
Eventually, someone pulled her aside.
The process she’d changed had been built by a long-tenured director who still had deep relationships across the organization.
No one had told her.
She hadn’t misjudged the work.
She’d misread the culture.
THE REALITY CHECK
Every organization has two structures.
The one on the org chart.
And the one that actually determines how decisions get made - and whose opinion quietly shapes outcomes.
New executives often read the first structure well.
The second is harder to see.
And misreading it is one of the most common reasons executive transitions fail.
What to read beyond the org chart
1/ Who has informal authority
People whose titles don’t reflect their influence, but others defer to them anyway. Decisions don’t stick without their quiet endorsement.
2/ Where the real resistance lives
Not those who openly disagree - but those who stay quiet in meetings and talk to others afterwards.
3/ What the unwritten rules are
Things you simply don’t do. Violating them has consequences no one explains directly.
4/ Whose opinion your boss actually trusts
Every leader has advisors, formal and informal. Knowing who they listen to can matter more than your direct relationship.
Why capable leaders miss this
New executives are in learning mode. Sometimes, curiosity can look like judgement mode to others.
Every question signals what you think matters.
Every meeting signals who you think is important.
People are reading you while you're reading them.
The drift is usually gradual.
You make a reasonable decision that violates an unwritten rule.
You skip someone who expected to be consulted.
Small missteps accumulate into a pattern others see but you don't.
By the time feedback reaches you, the damage is already done.
What actually helps
1/ Slow down your interpretation
When something doesn't make sense, such as a strange reaction or an unexplained delay, resist explaining it away.
2/ Find the historians
Someone knows the backstory: which initiatives failed, what happened to the last person in your role. This isn't gossip - it's data for navigation.
3/ Map the informal network
Who do people check with before making decisions? Whose absence from a meeting changes the tone? These are the influencers.
4/ Test before you act
Before making visible changes, float the idea informally. Resistance that surfaces early is a gift. Resistance that surfaces after you've committed is a problem.
5/ Watch for silence
Agreement in the room doesn't mean alignment. If a decision goes through without pushback and then nothing happens, the resistance is somewhere else.
The cost of getting this wrong
Leaders who misread the room lose credibility in ways they can't see.
They become isolated without realizing it.
People stop telling them things.
The feedback loop closes.
One executive said it best: “Once you realize you can be wrong, you start paying attention to what you might be missing.”
Staying curious about what you don't see is what separates leaders who navigate politics from leaders who get blindsided by them.
