10/13/2026
A hospital system I worked with was rebuilding the same wheel on every single project, and nobody in the room could see it.
We had been engaged for leadership development and team cohesion. That was the scope. But as we worked, a pattern kept surfacing that had nothing to do with the behaviors we were measuring. Every new initiative started from scratch. No repeatable process. No institutional memory. Talented people burning energy re-solving solved problems.
Here is the part that matters for anyone who sells expertise for a living. Process management was outside my firm's competency. I could have stayed quiet in my lane and delivered exactly what I was paid to deliver.
Instead I brought in an alliance member who specializes in process design. He helped them create, test and implement real processes. Internal performance metrics improved. So did employee satisfaction.
Months later, that same partner brought me into a large medical device organization to run a Five Behaviors workshop with a team he was leading.
He got new consulting work. I got a chance to serve a client beyond my core competency. Both clients got better outcomes than either of us could have delivered alone.
A typical working relationship requires a mutual focus on a task. A strategic alliance is different. It is built on mutual protection and mutual promotion.
The most influential leaders I have ever coached, the ones with genuine executive presence, all had one thing in common. The best internal and external alliances in the building.
Who is in your alliance network right now, and when did you last make an introduction that cost you nothing and gave them everything?
