Before the vote is cast, the deal is signed or the public announcement is made, someone has often already helped shape the decision.
It may be a chief of staff, a longtime adviser, a spouse, a lawyer, a campaign strategist or the trusted relative a family calls before making a difficult choice. In her debut book, Philippine-born American strategist Janet C. Salazar gives that person a name: the “Alpha Whisperer.”
“ALPHA WHISPERERS: Power Behind the Power: How the Most Influential People Shape the Room Before the Decision Is Made” will be released Sept. 8 by Riverchild Literary Press.
Salazar’s central argument is that power rarely works alone.
The people closest to influential leaders may never appear at a podium, lead a company or run for office. Yet they can affect what a leader hears, how a problem is framed and what decision ultimately follows.
“Power is rarely where people think it is,” Salazar writes. “It is shaped long before it is seen.”
The book explores the people who operate beside power rather than in front of it. Salazar describes Alpha Whisperers as trusted advisers capable of guiding a dominant or high-profile leader without trying to replace that leader’s judgment.
The distinction matters, she argues. Influence can sharpen a leader’s thinking; control can quietly substitute another person’s judgment for the leader’s own. That difference, Salazar writes, has consequences for accountability in government, corporate boardrooms, family businesses and daily life.
The idea emerged from experiences that span business, diplomacy and leadership. Salazar, founder and chief executive officer of ALPHAWIN Venture Group, began writing the book in 2023 during a residency at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in Italy, according to the publisher. Her work has included more than two decades in business and leadership, as well as work within the United Nations ecosystem in New York.
Her examples move between institutions and personal relationships: consulting firms that help shape public policy, family members who protect wealth and legacies, and women whose political or cultural influence was often left out of formal historical accounts.
Salazar’s lens is especially timely as governments, businesses and communities confront decisions involving artificial intelligence, changing economies and the transfer of wealth across generations. The book asks readers to look beyond the person making the final call and consider who influenced the conversation before it reached that point.
The closing chapters turn from observation to responsibility. Salazar argues that access to powerful people carries an obligation and that advisers should be trained to exercise influence ethically.
“The next era of leadership is no longer about being the smartest person in the room,” she writes. “It is about building the smartest room.”
The book includes a foreword by Catherine Gray, executive producer of the documentary “Show Her the Money,” and endorsements from entrepreneur and philanthropist Liz Elting, investor and fashion entrepreneur Carmen Busquets, and World Citizen Society President Dr. Jörg Schmitz-Gielsdorf, according to the publisher.
A second volume, “ALPHA WHISPERERS: Athena: Women in the Age of AI and the Great Wealth Transfer,” is previewed in the book’s closing pages.
Riverchild Literary Press is an imprint of independent publisher Wordeee. Founded in 2025 by publisher Yona Deshommes, the press focuses on new literary voices, particularly writers who may have limited access to mainstream publishing channels.
