Alliances Nurturing friendships in high or strategic places is a significant tactic.
They can offer sponsorship, patronage, protection and share intelligence on what is going on. A lesser member of the in-group or clique can speak more influentially as others know they have the ear of the most powerful. An interesting variant on this is where powerful psychological dependencies enable dependent parties to draw power from key players. History is sprinkled with such figures - Lady MacBeth, the Czarina of Russia and Rasputin and may influence decisions substanitally. The network formal or informal.