Power Play: Power is like being a lady…

Power is like being a lady… if you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.

Margaret Thatcher said this and it’s all too true.

The “do you know who I am?” question is a red flag. If they don’t know who you are, you’re not very powerful. And anyone who asks that question in the first place in order to get some type of preferential treatment is pretty suspect to begin with.

If you have power, follow the handbook: don’t remind everybody else that you have it. That’s not the point of having it at all. And if this needs to be pointed out to you then there’s something seriously wrong with your take on power and the types of fringe benefits it’s supposed to deliver.

Never tell people that you have power. If you do this just once, you need to go back to the beginning of this Playbook and start reading all over again.