From DV Shelters to PlayStation: Aligning Humans, Managing Stakeholders
Summary:
Alyza has spent her career figuring out how to get things done across wildly different organizations—from domestic violence shelters to PlayStation. Her secret? Understanding what drives people, grounding in shared purpose, and treating everyone as humans first with roles as context, not hierarchy.
What’s in it for you:
You're tired of meetings that go nowhere and want to actually move things forward
You keep running into the same roadblocks with other teams and you're ready for a different approach
You’re scared about getting too many people involved or you think “we have to move faster” - and you know you need to do better at bringing people along
You want work to feel less like a game of politics and more like... well, actually working together
Helia’s Perspective
Full disclosure that Alyza is one of my most favorite humans! She always expands my thinking and sense of possibilities in ways I didn’t even know was possible while simultaneously calling on my sense of agency with direct asks and a sense of, yes.
As it relates to this convo, she connects class dynamics with stakeholder strategy with ease and clarity —and make both feel like common sense, highlighting how often it's the structure versus the interpersonal dynamics that need attention. When she talks about working across teams, she's not being academic or corporate. She's talking about real humans trying to solve real problems, and how we can move through and get things done in a way that is full of integrity and respect.
While I know roles matter, as Alyza says, "When I'm in a grocery store, you're not a VP, you're not a director... you're just a human being that I asked to help me get that sugar from the top shelf." That's the heart of what makes Alyza brilliant at cross-team work—she doesn’t get lost in titles and structure, instead, she identifies the context we are all operating in and how to best engage with each individual in ways that will best move our work forward.
Alyza's Story
Alyza didn't set out to become an expert at cross-team collaboration. Her breakthrough moment came while working at a DV shelter in Fremont, California. "We had collaborative meetings every other week with other nonprofits, the city, and other organizations," she recalls. "We talked about what resources all of our clients needed and how we could band together to get those resources."
What made these meetings different was the honesty. "Some people were serving anyone who was unhoused. I was specifically supporting women leaving abusive partners. We could have very open and honest discussions about what everyone needed." The key insight? "Because it was mission-driven and we were all on the same page, it wasn't about doing hard convincing but coming together out of purpose."
This experience followed her when she later worked with HIV-focused nonprofits in London. "I came to realize my ability to connect with people isn't because of a particular issue—it's broader. It's about using deep listening skills, really seeing them."
That’s when it clicked: effective collaboration isn’t about navigating org charts—it’s about understanding what people need, what systems they’re operating inside, and how to find shared purpose in getting things done. Whether she’s working with public health teams or global product leads, that’s the throughline she brings: human clarity inside complex systems.
"Palestine, Key Map" by Suhad Khatib
Artists like Suhad Khatib have expanded my thinking by weaving historical truths into patterns that reveal deeper connections. This piece captures what her work so powerfully evokes: Palestine is not an isolated struggle—it is part of a longer history of colonization that began in Africa. And the resistance of Palestinians is a continuation of the resistance of enslaved Africans.
What this Looks Like in Practice
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"Marketing folks have different motivations than someone in legal," Alyza points out. "It doesn't help to put things in hierarchy because everyone has their things they need to meet and report on. Everybody's an employee that has yearly goals they have to achieve."
The lightbulb moment? Instead of approaching someone based on their title, approach them based on what they're trying to accomplish. "I totally get that you want to see a 20% increase in open rate and that's important to you. However, we can't do this exactly as proposed because of legal implications. I'm not just saying 'the legal reason trumps you'—I'm helping you understand why so you can build empathy for that area."
How to apply this today: Before your next cross-team meeting, take 10 minutes to write down what you think motivates each person attending. When someone pushes back on your idea, try asking: "Help me understand what you're trying to accomplish here. What's your main concern?"
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When PlayStation began preparing for an enterprise-wide transformation, Alyza and the VP of Sales were tasked with shaping a three-year strategy that would touch teams across product, merchandising, content, and operations. But instead of starting with a slide deck, they started with conversations.
“We met with every cross-functional team individually,” Alyza explains. “We gave them the opportunity to tell us what they thought would be needed in their area to support where we were going.” After gathering input from across the org, they brought it back—first to individual teams, then in cross-functional settings, and finally to executive leadership.
“It made everybody feel really heard and part of the process,” Alyza says. “In the corporate sector, that level of collaboration isn’t always valued. It might take a little longer, but you’re building up a bank of trust.”
And when things got tough—as they always do in high-stakes transformation work—that trust paid off. “If you haven’t done that preliminary work, there’s more resentment, decreased engagement, and you end up with a lower quality deliverable. People need to understand why decisions are being made—not just what they are.”
How to apply this today: Identify one cross-team project that's struggling. Instead of pushing for quick alignment, schedule individual conversations with key players to understand their perspectives, then bring everyone together around the shared insights.
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This might be Alyza's most powerful insight. “We’re so conditioned to think in hierarchy at work—to focus on titles and levels,” she explains. “But when you strip that away, we’re all actually operating inside the same class system—we just dress it up differently at work.”
She elaborates with a vivid example: "When I'm in a grocery store, you're not a VP or a director. You're a human being that I just said, 'Can you please help me get that sugar from the top shelf?' Outside of work, you're just a regular person." This perspective shifts everything. "The titles trip you up and get in the way of doing the job."
How to apply this today: Make a list of people you find intimidating at work. Next to each name, write something that humanizes them. Practice removing titles from how you think about projects. Instead of "Marketing wants this," try "The people focused on customer acquisition need this."
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For all her emphasis on human relationships, Alyza is remarkably organized about it. She creates detailed stakeholder maps that outline who needs to meet with whom, how often, and why.
"Every meeting should have a purpose—an update, an ask, or a reflection worth sharing.”
The goal? To make every interaction count. “People love to complain about meetings—but if there’s no reason to meet, don’t. Send a clear email instead.” Her approach replaces noise with intention—creating space for real connection, not performative check-ins.
How to apply this today: Create your own stakeholder map for a current project. For each key relationship, note: meeting frequency, purpose of connection, what they need from you. Review your calendar for the next month. Which recurring meetings could be replaced with an email update when there's nothing critical to discuss?
When Things Get Tricky
Not everyone wants to collaborate, and that's okay. Here's Alyza's approach to common challenges:
The person who just won't engage: "When things feel hard, I always ask: is it hard in the uphill battle hard or is it challenging?" If they're integral to the work, try directness with purpose: "This does need to happen. Can you let me know how best we can work together? Is there a process that would make it easier?"
The bully: "I don't know how to work with that. And to be honest, I don't think anybody should work with that," Alyza states firmly. Her advice is straightforward: go to their boss, go to HR, don't engage. “If you’re walking into a meeting tense about how someone might treat you, that’s not just personal discomfort—it’s a structural problem. It’s not part of the job, and we need to stop normalizing it.”
When data trumps opinion: "Use data to ground folks and get everyone on the same page," Alyza recommends. "You might think X needs to happen, but the data shows Y. Either help us understand how your information relates to this, or if we're being driven by data, we have to go in this direction."
Secret Sauce & Takeaways
Understanding everyone's motivations is more important than any org chart
Show you're listening through real follow-up - "If you don't have a good memory, take notes so you can circle back, whether it's about a deadline or something personal"
Everyone knows and is aligned on purpose—with clear reasons for every connection
Check the feeling—"When things aren't resulting in what they did before, do a quick check on what's actually working"
Use data to ground everyone when emotions or opinions run high
Check your titles bias—"People get tripped up by titles and can't effectively do the job. Understanding what a title needs is different than placing it at a higher hierarchy"
Be direct about dysfunction—if someone's behavior makes you anxious, that's a problem to solve, not endure
I was recently introduced to Hassan Massoudy, an Iraqi calligrapher. his work is bold and beautiful. I love the overlapping strokes, reminds me of venn diagrams, which I LOVE for how it illustrates connections so well!
Questions to Ask Yourself
Am I getting tripped up by titles instead of focusing on what needs to happen? What would change if I approached this as two people solving a problem together?
Do I actually understand what motivates the people I'm trying to work with?
Are my meetings serving a real purpose, or am I just filling time?
Where am I making assumptions instead of asking questions?
What would it look like to approach this as two humans trying to solve a problem together?
In which relationships do I need to build more "trust bank" before I can have truly direct conversations?
Want to Try This?
Templates & Guides:
Alyza’s Stakeholder Map - A framework for organizing who needs to talk to whom, how often, and why
Learn more about the RICE framework Alyza mentions - it’s a prioritization tool that cuts through opinion with data: (Reach × Impact × Confidence) ÷ Effort = Priority score (includes a downloadable template HERE)
Meeting Agendas - Ensure every conversation has a clear goal
Venn Diagrams are Alyza’s favorite - to draw, to imagine, to see the connectedness and overalls
Recommended Reads:
Alyza recommends listening to Catherine Liu– share about the professional managerial class, according to Catherine Liu, is a liberal elite that maintains power by promoting moral superiority and expertise—believing they're progressive, but often reinforcing the very systems they claim to challenge.
Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits — Since my early 20s, Alyza’s vowed to read this book once or twice a decade and LOVES how it so beautifully illustrates the macro themes of rising authoritarianism and the erasure of Indigenous wisdom in Chile, all playing out in the micro of the Trueba family.
Connections:
Alyza works with companies to support product management and strategic planning - all with a brilliant eye towards stakeholder management and bringing as many team members in and along
About the Library Contributor
Alyza Jehangir has built a career connecting people and ideas across wildly different sectors. From domestic violence shelters to PlayStation, where she led a global product team responsible for over $1B in annual revenue, Alyza brings over 20 years of experience navigating systems at every scale. Raised in Los Angeles by parents from metropolitan South Asia, and shaped by the city’s cultural and class diversity, she learned early how to connect across communities—a foundation that fuels her approach to authentic collaboration, not traditional power dynamics.
Her work blends strategic clarity with deep listening, helping people and businesses move with intention inside systems that often demand disconnection. Based in Oakland, Alyza now runs Jehangir Studio, a solo practice supporting people and organizations to build what’s next through a grounded blend of reflection, action, strategy, and purpose.
This article comes from a coffee chat with Alyza Jehangir in May 2025. These conversations form the heart of the Helia Library – because I've learned the most from doing and from talking with other doers willing to share their wisdom. We don't need to start from blank pages or do it all alone.
As always, take what's helpful, leave what's not, and make it your own.
