The strongest, most well-articulated vision will have little effect on your organization if you don’t enlist allies to support your view. Allies are people who are willing to listen, who try to help you when you ask, who give you feedback and explain your cause when you’re not in the room. Allies give you inside information and explain political motivations you may have overlooked.

Allies are different from friends in that your relationship with them always serves a specific purpose. You are trying to accomplish something and your ally has a motive in helping you; there’s a principle of mutual self-interest at work. The relationship is strategic; its purpose is to leverage power. You don’t need to have a lot in common with an ally — you don’t even necessarily need to enjoy one another’s company — but you do need to trust one another.

This post was excerpted from The Female Vision, published by Berrett-Kohler Publishers, June 2010.

Sally Helgesen is the author of five books, including the classic best-seller, The Female Advantage, celebrating its 20th year in print, and The Web of Inclusion, described by The Wall Street Journal as one of the best books on leadership ever published. She is an international speaker and groundbreaking thinker on leadership and organizations.

Julie Johnson, a graduate of the Harvard Business School, is considered to be one of America’s most experienced and well respected coaches. She has coached hundreds of senior executives in blue chip companies and has worked with many of the most successful women in the Fortune 500. Her work has been published in the Harvard Business Review as well as in the noted book, Coaching for Leadership.