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# Day 10: Play the power game
- URL: https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/day-10-power-game/
- Published: 2025-12-09T18:18:12.000Z
- Updated: 2025-12-09T18:18:12.000Z
- Description: Get across the invisible stuff if you want to win.
- Author: Alicia McKay
- Tags: 🎄 24 Days of Unpopular Opinions

🎄

Welcome to [24 Days of Unpopular Opinions.](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/tag/24-days/) In this series, enjoy an advent calendar of daily hot takes to help you get through the silly season.

Doing good work and being a smart person isn't enough. 

There are relationships to get across, favours to trade - and money available - once you know how things are really done. There's a whisper network of useful connections who can grease your wheels or bog you down.

If you don't know about it, you can't change it, and you won't get bugger all done.

Merry Christmas,

A

### Further reading

[Critical thinking is not enough. It’s time you learned about power.Numbers and words are cool, but we have calculators and ChatGPT now. What you need is POWER LITERACY.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f6/ea/f6eacf9c-bf08-4a3e-b200-2a209bebe3ad/content/images/icon/2-65.png)Alicia McKayAlicia McKay![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f6/ea/f6eacf9c-bf08-4a3e-b200-2a209bebe3ad/content/images/thumbnail/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f0db3e88f-228a-49d4-8f22-f1ee055cb382_938x547-heic-1.jpg)](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/critical-thinking-is-not-enough-its/)

---

### 🎄 About 24 Days of Unpopular Opinions

This December, I'm calling bullshit, to keep you sane over the silly season. Over 24 days, I'll share 24 unpopular opinions - like an advent calendar, but filled with controversy instead of chocolate. Share widely to whoever else needs this.

**Catch up on unpopular opinions you might have missed:**

[December 1: You don't have a strategy](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/day-1-2025/)

[December 2: CEOs are tiny babies](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/day-2-24-ceos-are-tiny-babies/)

[December 3: Women should be ugly and mean](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/women-should-be-ugly-and-mean/)

[December 4: Leaders are dry drunks](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/day-4-dry-drunk/)

[December 5: Conspiracy theorists are right](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/day-5-conspiracy-theorists)

[December 6: We should tell people to shut up](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/day-6-shut-up)

[December 7: We should lose our Internet privileges](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/day-7-internet)

[December 8: Self-help is a con](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/day-8-self-help/)

[December 9: There's no right answer](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/day-9-right-answer/)

[December 10: Play the power game](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/day-10-power-game)

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