I am powerful.

Most power in an ordinary life shows up as refusal. The meeting declined. The favour you did not agree to at the moment of being asked, because you said you would check and get back to them.

Yes is the reflex, and it is the reflex that quietly gives the week away. The strongest people at work are rarely the loudest in the room. They are the ones whose diaries have gaps in them on purpose, and who do not explain the gaps.