Robert Greene’s wildly successful book The 48 Laws of Power is a unusually useful collection of tips for those seeking to climb a laddered power structure, whether it be in a corporate, government, or even criminal setting. The first law – never outshine the master – is especially important for those in the early building stages of their career. Rare is the ambitious junior manager who isn’t convinced they are better than their boss, but rarer still is a successful one who openly tries to prove it.

We were reminded of Greene’s first law in late March of 2022 when 60 Minutes featured an obscure government bureaucrat in a segment titled Economic shock and awe: The strategy behind the economic sanctions against Russia. In the episode, correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi fawns over Daleep Singh, then the deputy national security adviser for international economics, for his role in designing the sanctions that were sure to bring Vladimir Putin’s Russia to its knees. Viewers were fed two clear messages: Singh is the real genius in the White House, and Putin is on the verge of folding as a result.