Great Power Players don’t do power to show off; like ordering a subordinate to complete some menial task just because they can. The great Power Players demonstrate power by example.
So here’s my example: a power player I know who called in a reference from one of the biggest names in the country to vouch for the quality of his company’s work. Now that’s real power: getting someone whose call the Prime Minister will take to write a gushing letter of reference. All of us in that room recognised an example of power when we saw it. And there is no better proof.
Talking “power” is cheap. Get the deed done first and then the evidence will speak for itself. Don’t staff it out or delegate it to the assistant. Pick up the phone or take the meeting, Get it done yourself and then those around you can see that you need not rely on others to get the powerful to use their power to help you out.