Your Org Chart Is a Lie: How Power Actually Flows in Your Company.

On paper, your company looks neat. Everyone has a box. Everyone has a title. Everyone knows who “reports to” whom. That tidy little org chart makes it feel like power flows logically, top to bottom, line by line.

But here’s the reality: power doesn’t care about your boxes.

In every company, there’s the formal structure - and then there’s the real one. What actually keeps your company moving isn’t the org chart. It’s the web of influence, trust, and informal authority nobody wants to admit exists.

Psychologists call this the shadow organization - the unofficial dynamics that drive decisions. The person everyone turns to for advice, even though they’re not the boss. The gatekeeper who makes or breaks initiatives quietly from behind the scenes. The mid-level manager everyone ignores because they don’t actually have credibility.

If you want your company to function, you can’t ignore the shadow. You need to map it. Who actually has influence? Who do people trust? Who do they avoid? Who rallies the team in a crisis? That’s where the real power lives - and if leadership doesn’t see it, it breeds resentment and wasted talent.

You can shove people into the boxes on your chart all you want. But if you want results, start managing the humans, not the lines between them. Build structures that recognize how trust and influence actually work. Promote the people your team already follows. Stop rewarding performative “leaders” who only look good on paper.

Because if you ignore the shadow org long enough? It’ll run the show without you.