Map of Influence

Every time I've stepped into a new leadership role mid-stream — inheriting a team, a portfolio, a set of relationships I didn't build — I've used the same approach to get oriented fast.
The instinct most incoming leaders have is to establish themselves quickly. That instinct is mostly wrong. Pushing for early impact before you understand the terrain exposes your gaps and burns trust you haven't yet earned.
Instead, I build the map first.

Find one person and ask for 30 minutes.

First 25 minutes: Ask them to tell you everything they think you should know. Take detailed notes. Ask for clarification on anything you don’t understand.

Next 3 minutes: Ask about the biggest challenges the team currently faces.

Final 2 minutes: Ask who else you should talk to. Write down every name.

Repeat with every name you’re given. Don’t stop until no new names emerge.

What You Get Back:

A framework for the work. The first question won’t give you a complete picture — but it gives you scaffolding. You start to understand what’s under active discussion, what the team’s language and shorthand actually means, and where the real work is happening.

A cheat sheet for early impact. The second question surfaces challenges that have been sitting unaddressed — not because they’re hard, but because no one had the bandwidth or standing to fix them. Fewer wasted meetings. A process that keeps breaking the same way. Those are yours to solve immediately.

A living org chart. The third question is where the map takes shape. Who gets mentioned most? In what context? That’s different — and more useful — than anything on the official org chart. It tells you who people actually turn to, where influence really lives, and how decisions get made.|

The Real Value: The Act of Asking

The answers matter. But the greater value is what the questions themselves signal.

Walking in with curiosity instead of conclusions tells the people around you that you see them — and that you understand your arrival creates uncertainty for them too. That mutual respect is what builds the trust you’ll need to actually lead.