Power and negotiation: a council on influence
Three people who held power in rooms full of rivals. Catherine the Great on people as the real capital, Cleopatra on desire as leverage, Napoleon on concentration and speed.
Who is at the table
This is the table for a negotiation you expect to lose, a partnership where the balance has shifted, a board or a team that has already made up its mind about you, and the everyday politics of getting a decision made by people who do not report to you. It is a room about how choices actually get taken — who is watching, who owes whom, what it costs each side to back down — rather than about the merits of your case.
Bring the conversation you are preparing for, the alliance that is quietly ending, or the decision you keep losing despite being right. Expect disagreement about tempo: Napoleon wants the attack today, Cleopatra wants the other side to offer it, Catherine wants the talent kept and the glory given away.