Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 33, The subtle art of power plays

As a leader you will often have to operate in a hostile environment, and employ a reasonable degree of hostility to survive. In this podcast, I will discuss the darker power plays that you may employ sparingly. Notes: I made a post on X during the week about the subtle art of power plays: https://twitter.com/TechLeaderPro/status/1691932765783019743 Sometimes leadership is closer to open conflict than you would wish for so you have to be ready. Even though we don't want to be in a fight, in can still happen regardless. You may choose to employ these tactics, or if you are on the receiving end, it will help you spot them. They are in the same category as martial arts: aggressive techniques you can learn to defend yourself, but you hope you never need to use. Some typical examples: Never stick to an agenda set by others. Operate by your timetable, ignore others. Always delay your responses. Act without communicating intent. Accept all info offered, respond with silence. Stop apologizing. Compliment your opposition for doing a great job on tasks you know they hate doing. Leave gaps open. I am not advocating the above as default modes, but can be used instead for exceptional, confrontational circumstances. What I am working on this week: Adding a new report to https://five.today/ for calculating your average task closure time. Media I am enjoying this week: Foundation season 2. Notes and subscription links are here: https://techleader.pro/a/604-Tech-Leader-Pro-podcast-2023-week-33,-The-subtle-art-of-power-plays