Power must be obtained by consciously occupying a certain bottleneck, a certain scarce resource, or an irreplaceable role, rather than being granted by the praise and approval of outsiders. Focusing on the system's scarce resources and bottlenecks makes oneself irreplaceable, allowing one's career to be stable and thriving. Focusing on doing one specific thing and waiting for external praise and approval is like building a career on quicksand. When outsiders face pressure, they will only be willing to pay a premium for irreplaceable scarce resources; everything else will be forced to be abandoned.

The leading indicator of power is not who has the louder voice or is more high-profile; rather, it is about who has a deeper insight into the bottlenecks within the system and the irreplaceable scarce resources, and who can layout their strategies more precisely.

Planning for power in advance does not require consultation with outsiders, nor the pursuit of their understanding and approval. Once successful, countless theorists will naturally come forward to provide various grand interpretations.

In controlling power, one should trust basic common sense and intuition, rather than being easily swayed by outsiders' lack of independently verifiable concrete evidence. Even in the absence of similar precedents, as long as there is progress in controlling system bottlenecks and scarce resources, power remains solid.

The solid power mostly comes from the control of multiple invisible bottlenecks in a multidimensional way, making it difficult for challengers to turn the tables. Therefore, it is quiet and does not need to be obtained through roaring and slamming the table; it is hard for outside observers to see its mechanisms. Roaring and slamming the table, on the contrary, often reflect the fragility of power.