One of the most transformative insights in my career didn’t come from a boardroom or the Marine Corps, but from my grad school public policy course for Developing Markets. In that course, we were evaluated not just on the quality of our solutions and the depth of the policy recommendations, but on how well we could win over three distinct groups: The Executive Sponsor, The Beneficiaries, and The Disintermediated.
That framework—what I now refer to as the Real World Power Triangle—has served me time and again in business. It has helped me navigate digital transformations, international SEO rollouts, and enterprise technology implementations. Ideas don’t fail because they’re bad; they fail because we ignore the politics and psychology of change. We have all seen it. Once Professor Miller forced us to understand its levers and how to message to each stakeholder, you can see this power triangle everywhere. With an open mind and critical thinking, you will see the world around you much differently.
Why the Triangle Matters
Any initiative that disrupts the status quo will spark reactions from all three corners:
- A sponsor must risk their capital (budgets, authority or favors) and credibility (reputation or political).
- A beneficiary must adopt new behavior or workflows to reap the beenfits.
- Someone disintermediated or forced into implementation may lose control, budget, relevance or resources for other functions.
You cannot succeed without understanding the dynamics between these three forces. This triangle determines whether your project thrives, stalls, or dies quietly in a meeting that should have been an email.
Corner 1: The Executive Sponsor
“You’re asking someone to bet political capital. Make the win, and the credit, clear.”
Executive sponsors are the gatekeepers of resources and the enablers of organizational alignment. Whether it’s budget, visibility, or cross-department support, you need their buy-in. But they’re not philanthropists—they’re investors.
What They Care About:
- Will this move the needle on their goals?
- Can they see measurable progress within their reporting cycle?
- How much political or organizational capital must they expend?
- Will the initiative create backlash—or glory?
Expanded Strategies to Win Them Over:
Align with KPIs: Don’t bury the lead. Demonstrate how your initiative directly supports their goals, such as revenue, efficiency, or compliance.
De-risk the commitment: Offer a low-cost pilot, a phased rollout, or a fallback plan to reduce the perception of risk.
Give them a story to tell: Executive sponsors need a narrative they can pitch upwards. Package your idea into a crisp value prop they can sell in one slide or less.
Ensure visibility and updates: Proactively establish a regular cadence of concise, visual updates. Never make them chase results.
Also ensure that they will have minimal pushback or embarrassment by the project. This can cause the perfect executive sponsor to become an antagonist if they believe there could be a negative impact on them resulting from improvements they should have made earlier.
Corner 2: The Beneficiaries
“Even when people benefit, they resist—because change is a tax on attention.”
The beneficiaries are often internal teams (dev, content, operations) or end users (customers, partners). These are the people who do the work or experience the change—but just because it benefits them doesn’t mean they’ll welcome it.
What They Care About:
- Will this make their job easier or harder?
- Will they lose control or gain efficiency?
- Will this be “just another initiative” that dies mid-stream?
Expanded Strategies to Win Them Over:
Answer “What’s in it for me?” early and often: People support what supports them. Spell out time savings, reduced friction, or better outcomes.
Engage early, not late: Include key contributors in scoping, testing, and piloting. Their fingerprints make them more invested in success.
Make adoption easy: Deliver documentation, training, and quick wins. Avoid anything that feels like a total reinvention.
Publicly reward contributions: Recognition can build loyalty and momentum. Share credit generously and visibly, especially across teams.
Corner 3: The Disintermediated
“These are the people who lose power—and they’ll fight to keep it.”
Disintermediation is a fancy word for “you’ve made someone less relevant.” It could be a vendor whose service you’re replacing, a department losing budget, or a leader whose turf is shrinking.
What They Care About:
- Are they losing influence or budget?
- Does this change make them obsolete or less central?
- Are their KPIs or credibility at risk?
Expanded Strategies to Manage Resistance:
Acknowledge the loss: Don’t pretend the change is neutral. Offer empathy and alternatives.
Redefine their value: Position the change as an evolution of their role, not an elimination.
Offer co-ownership: Invite them to shape the future state. Even limited involvement can reduce resistance.
Map your resistance: Identify who might block progress and understand their reasons. Identify their leverage points.
Build a 2-sided coalition: If you can win two parts of the triangle (sponsor + beneficiary), you can often override the third.
Build Your Power Triangle Battle Plan
“Don’t just build a business case. Build a political one.”
Before launching your next major project:
- Map the triangle – Who’s your sponsor, who benefits, and who might lose out?
- Create your Stakeholder Influence Matrix to align the influence and interests of stakeholders.
- Craft the pitch – Tailor your narrative to each group’s motivations, insecurities, hesitations, and benefits.
- Design for politics, not just logic – Anticipate the power shifts, not just the workflows.
- Build coalitions – You don’t need all three from the start, but having two aligned corners can put pressure on the third.
If you’re managing a more complex initiative or working within a large matrixed organization, you may need a broader lens. That’s where the Stakeholder Influence Matrix comes in. It extends the Power Triangle by mapping all stakeholders based on their level of influence and interest, helping you create engagement strategies tailored to each group’s unique role in your success. Used together, these two frameworks form a strategic blueprint for navigating the emotional, political, and operational dynamics of change.
Final Thought
“To lead change, respect the real-world power triangle. Speak their language. Solve their problems. Share the credit.”
Projects don’t fail on paper. They fail in practice—because someone wasn’t convinced, someone wasn’t involved, or someone quietly blocked progress.
