What if the problem isn't your capability?
You've done everything you've been told to do. You work hard. You deliver consistently. You prepare thoroughly. You build good relationships. Your performance reviews are positive.
And yet something doesn't add up.
- Someone less capable is promoted.
- A decision is made before you're invited into the room.
- Your ideas are acknowledged, but rarely shape what happens next.
- You leave important conversations with the uncomfortable sense that something significant happened, but you can't quite explain what.
So you begin asking yourself difficult questions.
For many highly capable women, this is the point where confidence begins to erode. Not because they've become less capable, but because the explanation they've been relying on no longer matches their experience.
Am I not visible enough?
Am I too direct?
Am I too accommodating?
Do I need to become more political?
Organisations don't run on competence alone.
These dynamics exist in every organisation. Yet most of us are expected to navigate them without ever being taught how they work.
When we don't understand them, organisational life seems confusing, unfair or deeply personal. When we do understand them, patterns begin to emerge. Conversations make more sense. Decisions become easier to interpret. Influence becomes easier to recognise.
That's what political literacy offers. Not a way to play politics. A way to understand the organisation you're working in.
They also run on
Start here
Start with the Political Literacy Hub
The Political Literacy Hub is the foundation of my work. It brings together practical guides, essays and frameworks exploring how organisations really work, including workplace politics, influence, sponsorship, promotions, organisational power and decision-making.
Whether you're trying to make sense of a difficult situation or simply understand organisational life more clearly, this is where I'd encourage you to begin. Read a few guides. Follow the ideas that resonate. Take your time.
My hope is that you'll begin to see your organisation differently, and with that, make more informed decisions about how you want to navigate it.
Comprehensive guides
Where most people start reading
Organisation Politics 101
A field manual for seeing the political game, understanding the players, and choosing how you want to engage with it.
How Careers Actually Advance
Why sponsorship, not mentorship, is what moves careers forward, and how that backing is actually built.
Is Your 360 Feedback Politically Motivated?
How to read whether a feedback process is being used developmentally or politically, and what to do about it.
About
I'm Shirisha Nagendran.
For more than two decades I've worked in organisations, and for over a decade I've coached professionals navigating leadership, career transitions and organisational complexity.
Again and again, I noticed the same pattern. Highly capable people weren't struggling because they lacked competence. They were struggling because they were trying to navigate systems they had never been taught to understand.
That observation became the foundation of my work.
Today, I help highly capable women develop the political literacy to read organisations more accurately, exercise better judgement and navigate complexity without compromising who they are.
If, after exploring the Hub and following the newsletter, you'd like a more personalised conversation, you can learn more about Executive Coaching and the Political Intelligence Audit on my Work With Me page.
Work with me privately
Executive Coaching, The Situation Room and the Political Intelligence Audit
If you would rather think one situation through with someone than read another guide, this is where that begins.
See how we could work together →22
Years across corporate leadership and executive coaching
1,500+
Hours of client coaching
ICF PCC
Certified coach, internationally accredited
Frequently asked questions
What people ask about political literacy
What is political literacy at work?
Political literacy at work is the ability to see how power and influence actually move through an organisation, and to make deliberate, intentional choices about how you engage with that system. Every organisation runs on two systems simultaneously. The official system is the org chart and the stated decision-making processes. The real system is where decisions actually get made, whose relationships matter, and what the unwritten rules are. Political literacy is the capacity to see both systems clearly and navigate them without compromising your values.
Who is Shirisha Nagendran?
Shirisha Nagendran is an ICF PCC certified Executive Coach and the leading voice on political literacy at work. Based in Bengaluru, she works globally with senior professionals from Fortune 500 and FTSE-listed companies. She holds an MBA from Cranfield School of Management and has more than 1,500 hours of client coaching experience. She previously held senior leadership roles at Deutsche Bank and HSBC across two continents.
Who is political literacy coaching for?
Political literacy coaching is for technically excellent senior leaders and mid-career professionals who are finding that performance alone is not producing the outcomes they expect. This includes women navigating organisations where the unwritten rules were written by and for someone else, leaders moving between India and global headquarters navigating two political cultures simultaneously, and anyone who has done everything right and still found themselves on the wrong side of a decision they never saw coming.
What is the difference between the Political Intelligence Audit and Executive Coaching?
Executive Coaching focuses primarily on you: your leadership, your thinking, your decisions and your development. The Political Intelligence Audit focuses on the organisational system surrounding you. Rather than exploring how you might grow as a leader, we examine the relationships, influence networks, incentives and organisational dynamics that may be shaping the situation you're facing. The two engagements complement one another, but they answer different questions. Executive Coaching asks how you can lead more effectively. The Political Intelligence Audit asks what is happening here, and why.
How much does it cost to work with Shirisha?
Executive Coaching, a structured eight-week engagement, is ₹45,000 for clients based in India and US$1,800 for international clients. The Situation Room, a single 90-minute strategic thinking session, is ₹10,000 or US$200. Journey Coaching, for clients who have completed an Executive Coaching engagement, is ₹15,000 or US$600. The Political Intelligence Audit is ₹1,25,000 or US$3,500. Every offering page lists its investment in full.
How long does an engagement last?
It depends on the work. The Situation Room is a single 90-minute session. Executive Coaching is a structured eight-week engagement. Journey Coaching is four sessions used across six months from the date of purchase. The Political Intelligence Audit runs over approximately two weeks.
What does working together look like in practice?
Sessions are held online. Shirisha has an international client list and accommodates different time zones within reason, at hours that work on both sides. Capacity is deliberately limited, and the Political Intelligence Audit in particular is capped at ten engagements each year.
What if I am not sure I need this, or which option fits?
Use the enquiry form on the Work With Me page to describe what is happening, in whatever shape it comes out. Shirisha reads every enquiry and replies within two working days with an honest read on where to begin, including whether coaching is the right tool at all.
The goal isn't to become more political.
The goal is to become more politically literate.