Break The Power Struggle

The higher you rise, the more challenges you’ll face. Backing down may keep the peace, but it won’t win you the war.

- Dr Tanvi Gautam

It was a quiet afternoon. Almost the entire team was out. It was three months into my new job, and I was holding the fort. Then the phone rang. The CEO’s office was requesting some analysis in an hour and wanted me to present the data!

While the query was routine, the database was managed by a man who had issues with female authority figures. Other women in the office had warned me about him.

I requested a report from him and explained the urgency. It should have only taken 10 minutes. Yet, after 45 minutes and an e-mail reminder, I received nothing.

Finally, I walked up to him and asked him to “please hurry it up as the meeting starts in 15 minutes”. That was when all hell broke loose.

He yelled at the top of his voice: “I will give it to you when it is done. You are not the boss, so stop behaving like one. I don’t care if it is urgent.”

You could have heard a pin drop.Everyone stopped to stare at me.