Ask your ego.
When I was in college, I worked for a company that was owned by a brilliant keeper of power.
He was a self made millionaire type with an eighth grade education.
He learned somewhere along the way to keep power, you had to marginalize others to the extent necessary while still keeping them productive.
He, I think, suffered from hystrionic personality disorder, among other things, and when I say suffered: I mean suffered. Most of the people who worked with him suffered because of it.
The guy that I worked for in the company told me about the scenario. It was my first beginnings of understanding wisdom.
He told me at first, it made him really mad to be left out of things.
He knew that not only was he being left out of things, that it was intentional and that he was made to know it.
At first it made him mad. He was supposed to be in the loop.
But then he started to work with this strategy of his boss.
He realized that all things being equal, he was one of the only people in the world who could endure being intentionally left out of decisions, ideas, and discussions that he was a prime stake holder in by the person who should be the first to include him.
He explained it as his value proposition.
He didn't worry about his power stake and if or how it was affected by being left out of stuff.
He redoubled his efforts at engaging and caring for his customers.
It made all the difference.
What ever the picadillos of your head person: look at them as opportunities for value proposition development and not sources of frustration.
Keep you enemies close and the head of the organization (or at least her ideas and objectives) closer.
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