On Sunday mornings, HBO often airs older movies. From my office, I can hear my husband watching Die Hard 2. It's been decades since I've watched that movie, but my ears perked up when I heard a scene that reminded me of the power and influence unit in OB class.
A character was trying to reach a government decision maker whose administrative assistant answered the phone. The character had urgent news about the facts on the ground and needed to convey them before the decision-maker selected a course of action. The administrative assistant, or gatekeeper, put the character off, saying her boss was busy and couldn't take any calls. The character threatened, "If you don't put me through, you might as well start typing your resume."
What type of power and what type of influence strategy does this represent - and how is the administrative assistant likely to respond?
