Power Play: Bend it, don’t break it

Power Players know this one by heart. In every situation there’s a line that (though it can be walked) can never be crossed.

Bend the rules but don’t break them. Push the agenda as much as you can but don’t ride roughshod all over it.

Is it incredibly hard to do? You bet your ass it is. That’s why there’s a particular art to pushing things just enough to get things done but not too much so as to cause a catastrophe.

Because it’s in this space between ‘safe and pushing it just a little bit’ that the great work gets done.

The great decisions get made and life becomes victorious.

I watched a Power Player push a writer just that little bit further until a great, great piece of dialogue came out of his mouth and onto the page.

The writer was frustrated, bordering on angry (but still engaged) and the Power Player motivated him to greatness. All from bending it but not breaking it…