Riding the Coattails of Others - MAC117
Do you ever look around your company and notice how certain people always seem to rise together? The boss gets promoted... and like clockwork, a couple of people from their team move up right behind them. You start to wonder... are they just that good? Or are they someone’s favorite?
Today, we’re going to unpack that idea—not the shady version, but the strategic one. How do you find the right person to align with... the kind of person whose rising tide actually lifts your boat, too? Cronyism gets a bad reputation, but that’s when it’s paired with incompetence or favoritism without merit. The truth is, every successful career has an element of strategic alignment. It’s about connecting yourself with the right leader, building trust through results, and positioning yourself as someone they want to bring along when they rise.
So today, I'd like to talk about how to identify whose coattails are worth riding... and how to make sure you’ve earned your place on that ride.
The Reality of Relationships in Corporate Advancement
I’ve long said that building a network is the single most important thing you can do for your career. Your skills will get you in the door, but your relationships determine how far you go once you’re inside. Promotions, high-visibility projects, cross-functional opportunities—they rarely appear out of thin air. They come through people. Your network is the radar that picks up opportunities before they hit the job board.
There’s an old quote from Seneca that I love: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” The preparation part is obvious; we all know we have to deliver results, build credibility, and sharpen our skills. But opportunity? That’s the piece most people overlook. Opportunity doesn’t just fall in your lap—it’s usually handed to you by someone who knows your name, trusts your work, and believes in your potential.
That’s why I say the first step in becoming someone’s “crony”—in the best sense of the word—is to build that relationship before you need it. Get on their radar by doing good work. Add value without asking for anything in return. Be the person they can depend on when things get hectic. When the time comes for them to move up or take on a new challenge, you’ll already be positioned as part of their trusted circle.
In corporate life, advancement is rarely a solo sport. It’s a team game—and if you’re not intentionally building the right team around you, someone else is.
What “Strategic Alignment” Actually Looks Like
Let’s start by defining a few terms. The word crony has become shorthand for favoritism, backroom deals, and people getting ahead for all the wrong reasons. But at its root, a crony is simply someone who’s connected to power. That connection, in and of itself, isn’t bad. It’s how the connection is earned that determines whether you’re a crony... or a strategically aligned professional.
Strategic alignment is what happens when your goals, values, and performance directly support the success of someone higher up in the organization. You’re not just orbiting power; you’re contributing to it. You’re part of a symbiotic relationship where your wins make their job easier, their projects stronger, and their vision more achievable.
So how do you know which side of the line you’re on? Ask yourself three simple questions:
Do you help this person win in a way that also helps the team?
Cronyism isolates—it creates winners and losers. Strategic alignment lifts everyone around you. If the person you’re supporting becomes more effective because of your input, and the team benefits in the process, that’s a healthy dynamic.
Do you bring something to the table they need—insight, relationships, execution?
The strongest professional relationships are built on mutual value. If you offer something that fills a gap or accelerates progress, you’re not tagging along... you’re indispensable to the mission.
Are you seen as loyal and competent?
Loyalty without competence is flattery. Competence without loyalty is risk. The combination is trust—and trust is the foundation of every meaningful professional alliance.
If the answer to all three is yes, you’re not a crony—you’re a trusted asset. You’ve built a relationship based on performance, reliability, and shared success. But if any of those answers are no... then yes, you might just be a crony. And cronies don’t get invited to the next level; they get replaced when it’s convenient.
Strategic alignment is about playing the long game. It’s about being so valuable, so dependable, and so in sync with where your leader is heading that they can’t imagine building the next chapter without you in it.
How to Identify the Right Person to Align With
Now that we’ve defined what strategic alignment looks like, the next question is... who should you align with? Not every rising star is worth following, and not every senior leader has the influence—or the inclination—to pull others up with them. The key is to find someone whose momentum, mindset, and management style create opportunity for you to grow alongside them.
Start by looking for people who are already on a fast track. Promotions leave a trail, and those who have moved up consistently are likely to continue that trend. High performers tend to attract new challenges, bigger projects, and broader scope. If you can earn a place in that person’s circle early, their growth naturally creates lift for everyone who supports them well.
Next, look for someone who shares the credit and invests in developing others. You can tell a lot about a leader by the way they talk about their team. If they celebrate wins collectively, delegate meaningful work, and visibly coach others, that’s a person who will recognize competence—and reward it. Those are the leaders who build inner circles, not closed circles.
You’ll also want to watch for people who are part of the conversation, not outside of it. These are the individuals who have access, who get looped into strategic discussions, who are in rooms where decisions are made. You can spot them by the projects they’re trusted with, the visibility they have across the organization, and how others defer to their input. Proximity to power isn’t about politics—it’s about access to the flow of information and opportunity.
And finally, make sure your values align. The higher someone climbs, the more their decisions reflect their core beliefs. If you’re aligned with a leader whose ethics, management style, and goals match your own, you’ll move forward with integrity and confidence. But if your values don’t match, success will come with discomfort... and eventually, conflict.
One last word of caution: be careful not to attach yourself to someone who’s approaching a terminal position. Every company has them—the senior leaders who’ve likely hit the ceiling of their upward mobility. They may be respected, even powerful, but they’re no longer ascending. If their career has plateaued, so will yours if you tether too tightly.
The goal isn’t to find anyone influential. It’s to find the right person—someone who’s still climbing, who builds others along the way, and whose rise opens doors you’re ready to walk through.
How to Build a Genuine, Strategic Relationship
Finding the right person to align with is only half the equation. The real magic happens when you learn how to build that relationship in a way that’s natural, professional, and mutually valuable. The approach looks a little different depending on where you are in your career, but the principles stay the same: earn trust through performance, create value before asking for it, and always keep the relationship grounded in results, not flattery.
Early Career: Earn Proximity Through Performance
When you’re early in your career, your best strategy is to make yourself visible through excellence. Every project, every deliverable, every presentation is an opportunity to show that you’re reliable and capable. Leaders notice people who make their lives easier. That might mean volunteering for a stretch assignment, being the one who spots potential problems before they escalate, or simply being the person who always delivers high-quality work on time.
At this stage, proximity is the goal. You want to earn a seat in the room—not by talking your way in, but by performing your way in. Reliability builds access, and access builds relationships.
As You Begin Your Ascent: Anticipate Needs and Add Value
Once you’ve established yourself, your focus should shift to strategic contribution. Don’t just do what’s asked—start seeing around corners. Learn your manager’s priorities, their pressure points, and their success metrics. When you can anticipate what they need before they ask, you’re no longer just an employee; you’re a partner in execution.
At this level, small gestures can carry big weight. Send a concise summary after a meeting to clarify action items. Offer data or insights that make decision-making easier. Look for inefficiencies you can streamline. These small actions add up to a reputation of someone who thinks like a leader—and that’s exactly the kind of person rising leaders want close by.
Senior Levels: Become a Strategic Sounding Board
By the time you reach senior levels, alignment shifts from execution to perspective. Leaders at this stage don’t just need doers—they need thinkers who help them see blind spots, validate ideas, and shape direction. You can strengthen your relationship by becoming a trusted sounding board. That means you’re not just agreeing with everything; you’re respectfully challenging assumptions, offering alternative views, and contributing insights that make their strategies stronger.
Credibility becomes currency here. The more thoughtful and data-driven your input, the more likely you’ll be invited into strategic discussions. This is how you evolve from being part of someone’s team to being part of their inner circle.
Transitioning from Manager/Director to Executive: Build Alignment at the Organizational Level
When you’re preparing to move into executive ranks, your relationship-building focus must scale beyond one person. You’re no longer aligning with a leader—you’re aligning with the leadership ecosystem. This means cross-functional collaboration, strategic visibility, and building trust horizontally as well as vertically.
Still, one key ally can make all the difference. Find an executive who embodies the leadership style you aspire to, and look for ways your growth can directly reinforce theirs. Support their initiatives, lead projects that expand their influence, and deliver outcomes that make their leadership more effective. At this stage, you’re not just someone’s protégé—you’re part of their leadership legacy.
How to Avoid the Traps of Cronyism
Loyalty is one of the most powerful traits you can bring to a professional relationship... but it’s also one of the most dangerous if you don’t manage it wisely. The same loyalty that earns you trust early in your career can hold you back later if it keeps you tied to the wrong person or situation.
Let’s be clear—loyalty matters. The people who advance together are often those who’ve proven they can depend on each other through pressure and change. That kind of professional trust isn’t built overnight; it’s earned through consistency, discretion, and shared wins over time. When your leader knows you’ve got their back, they’re far more likely to bring you into opportunities, conversations, and rooms you wouldn’t reach on your own.
But loyalty has limits. There will come a point where you may have to ask yourself whether the person you aligned with is still the right one to stay tethered to. Maybe their values have drifted. Maybe their leadership style has changed. Or maybe their career has plateaued—or even started to unravel—in a way that could drag you down with it.
When that happens, you can’t let nostalgia or misplaced loyalty compromise your own trajectory. Staying loyal to someone who’s no longer aligned with your principles or your potential isn’t loyalty—it’s stagnation.
If your values no longer match, that’s your cue to respectfully create distance. Protect your reputation, maintain professionalism, and quietly redirect your energy toward relationships that reflect where you’re headed, not where you’ve been. Similarly, if someone’s progress has stalled—or worse, they’ve made choices that could tarnish your credibility—you have to make the hard call to step away.
The key is to do it with grace. Don’t burn bridges, don’t gossip, and don’t make it personal. Just reposition yourself in a way that keeps you moving forward. True strategic alignment is never blind loyalty; it’s a partnership built on mutual growth. And if that growth stops, it’s okay to move on.
The best professionals know how to stay loyal and self-aware. They understand that integrity and momentum go hand in hand... and that sometimes, the most strategic move you can make is knowing when to cut ties.
So let’s bring this full circle. Every organization has those people who seem to rise together... the boss gets promoted, and a few key players move right along with them. From the outside, it might look like favoritism; but from the inside, it’s usually the result of trust, consistency, and shared success.
That’s the essence of strategic alignment. It’s not about currying favor—it’s about creating real value for someone whose growth creates opportunity for you, too. It’s about recognizing who’s going places, showing up as someone who helps them get there, and earning your spot through performance and integrity.
When done right, this isn’t cronyism—it’s partnership. And it’s one of the most powerful ways to accelerate your own career, provided you keep your eyes open, stay true to your values, and know when it’s time to pivot.
Because in the end, the relationships you build are the single biggest differentiator between a career that stalls... and one that soars.
This week, I want you to take a closer look at your own network. Who are you aligned with right now? Are those relationships fueling your growth—or holding you back?
And while you’re thinking about that, I’d love your help shaping future episodes of Managing A Career. Take a minute to complete a quick survey at https://managingacareer.com/survey . Your input helps make sure each episode stays relevant, actionable, and valuable for wherever you are in your professional journey.
If this episode gave you something to think about—or helped you see your relationships at work a little differently—share it with a friend or teammate who’s also trying to move up. The more people who understand how to navigate these dynamics with integrity, the better our workplaces become.
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