The Second Org Chart: For Sponsors, Mentors, and Architects
A Twelve-week cohort for people with real standing inside their institutions who want to use it well.
Every organization has a second org chart: the one that decides who actually advances. Black executives spend careers learning to read that structure from the outside, absorbing a cost that rarely shows up on anyone else's ledger.
This cohort is built on the Second Org Chart to give sponsors, mentors, and architects a clear picture of what their Black colleagues are actually navigating, and a concrete pathway for acting on it. You'll learn to see the structure your Black colleagues have had to read without a map, and how to use the standing you already have to open a door, make an introduction, or say, "This person is ready," and have it land.
Most people in this position want to help. Few understand what being an ally actually requires, and many have gone quiet now that people with power call DEI a liability. This cohort moves past the acronym to the real work: building environments that are respectful and nurturing for everyone.
Fifteen seats. Applications reviewed on a rolling basis.
About the Book.
Frederick C. Jefferson III, MSOD, has spent twenty-five years coaching Black executives navigating predominantly white institutions. The Second Org Chart, releasing in spring 2027, distills that work into the POWER Framework: five concepts for reading power you were never shown, built from research and real coaching rooms. This cohort translates that framework for sponsors, mentors, and architects: people with the standing to act on what the book reveals.
The Second Org Chart is Invisble to you too.
The informal structure that decides who actually advances isn't visible to Black executives alone. It's just as invisible to the sponsors, mentors, and architects standing next to them because most people never need to learn to see it.
The differences is what not seeing costs. For a Black colleague, missing it can cost a promotion, a sponsor, a seat at the table. For you, missing it costs something smaller: the chance to use the standing you already have on someone else's behalf, and you may never even know it mattered.
The POWER Framework
Each of the five concepts in the framework ends in a concrete deliverable, not something to reflect on and set aside. The first, Position, produces an Organizational Systems Map: a working document that shows who actually shapes a decision, who gets consulted before the meeting starts, and where you stand relative to both. In the cohort, you'll build that same map for your own institution. Then you'll use what it reveals to decide exactly where your standing can move something for someone else.
This Program was built for you if...
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You have real standing inside your institution and want to use it well
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You want to help but don't know what that actually looks like in practice
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You've quiet because DEI became politically risky, and you're ready to move past that
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You're more interested in the real work than in a label
What you walk away with after 12 weeks
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A map of the second org chart inside your own institution, so you can see who actually shapes a decision and where your Black colleagues are navigating without one
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Sponsor clarity, knowing not just what someone accomplished but how, so you can hold the accurate story when an inaccurate one starts to circulate
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A specific bounded ask you're ready to make, not a vague offer to "be a sponsor," but concrete actions tied to real opportunity, built during the cohort
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An honest inventory of what your actual seat gives you access to, and a plan for using it instead of just occupying it
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A concrete way to build mentorship access for people who wouldn't otherwise have it, not a single relationship, but infrastructure that multiplies its reach
Cohort 1 - January 2027
Application deadline: December 15, 2026
Frederick responds by: Within 5 business days of submission
Deposit deadline: $2000 per participant, due in full within 7 days of acceptance
Payment accepted: Square invoice
Week One: Wednesday, January 13, 2027
Week Twelve: (Final Session Wednesday, March 31, 2027
Apply
Frederick reviews every application personally. There are no wrong answers, only honest ones
Complete the application below. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis through December 15, 2026, and Frederick responds within five business days.