Well at first I experimented and did some tests on which people made good cabinet members and who I could easily get to pledge their votes to me.
I didn't train knowledge skills at all and left that to my cabinet (No nepobabies allowed). I hired someone early on to be my temporary cabinet member for imperial history with the plan to drop her later on because I knew I could finish her quest easily on a return trip to her sector.
I also grabbed a good science man since turn economy is key and double movement is GOATED.
I kept my two childhood friends on-board for a while but dropped one of them when I found someone with a GOATED skill.
Kxenia is my second GOAT (First is science man) so I had to have her on my team until the end despite her mediocre stats (Not beating the nepotism allegations).
The Star Admiral sadly didn't do much for me given how late I got him though the stats I gained in the process of getting him turned out to be pretty useful in general.
I also blocked some of my opponent's early momentum by recruiting some of the people I noticed they had a tendency to get first.
For my strategy in general I took dead dad's advice to heart.
Focus on developing Zorana's skills and get a cabinet of competent reliable people to pick up the slack elsewhere.