One of the comments read, “It is just easier to hold back and let Kate do the thinking.” Kate was stunned. Every step she had taken up the corporate ladder made it that much easier for her to unintentionally kill other people’s ideas. The nature of the hierarchy had skewed power, making every conversation Kate had with a subordinate inherently unequal because the playing field was tilted in her favor. An off-the-cuff remark could be translated as a strong opinion and turned into policy for her division. If she rolled her eyes or sighed sharply after someone’s comment, everyone in the room
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