The principle
Striking imagery and symbolic gestures create the aura of power. Stage spectacles for those around you, and they will be too dazzled by appearances to notice what you are doing.
The application
A symbol moves people that an argument never will. The product launch, the resignation letter, the speech — these are the spectacles of professional life. Designed deliberately, they are persuasion. Designed accidentally, they are leakage.
The defensive tell — how to spot it being run on you
When a leader makes a dramatic public gesture, ask what concrete thing the gesture moves attention away from. Sometimes nothing. Often something. The bigger the spectacle, the more useful the question.