Women and power: understanding power

Live your life as someone for whom triumph is a birthright.

Begin living as if you had already won a skirmish or your goal. You will come out ahead. A TV producer had put together a unique show that she wanted to report on camera. She knew the powers that be wanted a more glamorous face for the on-camera role. When she went to the meeting with the network executives, she simply behaved as if the job were already hers. Their confusion set them all working against each other, not against her. It bought her time and quiet from them while she laid out her excellent ideas for the programme. They eventually saw that with her passion, she would be the best on-camera personality. This is the art of not winning but besting. [For a full description, see The Princessa, pages 89-93.] Besting demands that you compete against yourself as much as against your opponent.

Women and power: how to act powerfully