Find each member's niche so they propel rather than compete.

technique — attributed to Edie Fraser

The Women CEO initiative WBC built with Catalyst, C200, and Ascend illustrates the technique. Catalyst owned the Fortune 500 framework. C200 owned small and mid-sized and private companies. Ascend owned diversity. Each organization had a defined patch of the territory in which its leadership was elevated rather than challenged. The architecture removes the zero-sum dynamic that usually breaks coalitions. Members do not have to defend turf because the turf has already been allocated. The coalition leader's job is to find the niche where each member is uniquely positioned to lead and then hand them that visible role.

For coalition designers managing multiple organizations with overlapping missions. The technique requires deep knowledge of each member's strengths and the willingness to make the allocation explicit.

niche-design, alliance-management, differentiation, coalition-design