SUBTEXTcrayon sets, the scissors, the paste pots. But he never monopolized
his ownership. He graciously gave each object back to the boy
or girl who had had it before Tommy announced his possession.
He never took physical possession of any of these things, and
everyone who used them continued to use them. But very subtly,
the right to use them came to be Tommy's disposition.
By the end of the term Tommy was the undisputed leader of
the group. He had managed successfully to take power into his
own hands. He made the decisions for the group and gave the
orders, real orders now and not simple confirmations of what every-
one was doing. Tommy had risen above the situation. He had
created his own situation to take over power.
The way adults assume and keep power is often similar to the
technique Tommy used. Within an organization, adults with the
equivalent of Tommy's power drive manipulate their own position
and the opinions of others to get control. Workers in subordinate
positions who desire power, for example, could either change jobs
or find some way in which their strengths could be better used
in their current job.
If people are subtle and clever in their manipulations, and if
we like them, they send out a subtext of charisma. We are glad
to go along with their drive for power. If we don't like them, or
if their methods are blatant, the subtext they send out is one of
cunning or unscrupulousness. Still, in the end, if we strip away
both subtexts, their methods seem to be the same.