Let’s talk about political power for a moment, one of my fave topics. I’m reading through Hun Sen’s Cambodia and I’m struck by how similar the tactics employed by the push and pull of political actors there mirrors the tactics I’ve observed everywhere in power hierarchies. /1
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I remember when I was younger and reading The Wheel of Time and later Game of Thrones being confused by seeing similar descriptions of these tactics by political actors and not really understanding what the heck was going on. /2
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And then as a young adult in corporate America getting pushed around by more skilled political actors and not understanding why I felt unable to control a situation or respond in the ways I wanted to. /3
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It’s interesting to me because it permeates everything to some degree and I see the same activities over and over and over when people are trying to amass power but no one ever talks about it in explicit terms much (with a few exceptions) and I don’t understand why. /4
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Are power games and power tactics so obvious to people that no one bothers discussing them openly? Is it a way to maintain personal power? Are people afraid of giving bad actors more tools to hurt others? Or are you just supposed to figure this out on your own? /5
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I won’t claim to be an expert on power but I’ve thought about it a lot and study and read a lot on the subject and have played these games alongside much more skilled actors at an executive level in startups and large companies and it’s bizarre how consistent strategies are. /6
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Specifically, it seems to come down to: 1) secrecy, deception, and obfuscation of nefarious or self serving aims for as long as possible by running the equivalent of marketing campaigns with bodies of internal and external people who could affect your power
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2) the demonization, smearing, and (often) elimination of any credible threat to or criticism of your actions or attempts to bring your motives of amassing power to light /8
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3) waiting as long as possible to signal any imminent action and then moving swiftly and devastatingly to accomplish specific outcomes which increase your access to resources (financial, political, or whatever you’re competing over) /9
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Haven’t seen it described so succinctly before but this makes so much sense, especially if you’re planning a paradigm-shifting maneuver You have to move all your pieces at once, otherwise your opponents will be able to mobilize and protect themselvespic.twitter.com/bK4UlmKCDx
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Replying to @choosy_mom
Yup—this is why people ought to think about and talk about this stuff if their job involves playing these games I make a point of teaching product managers I like how it works so they know how to counter but tell them to use it like a defense against the dark arts course
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