A power move is a conscious, often conspicuous display of power that instantly and memorably shifts the social power dynamics in your favor.

This is the definitive guide on power moves, breaking down the meaning of power moves, with an analysis of 13 real-world examples (including intellectual, negotiation, and social moves) to help you understand, identify, and execute them effectively.

What Is A Power Move

Most power moves are deliberate and often conspicuous actions that shift power dynamics in your favor, catch the other party unprepared, and impress observers with a major display of superior value, wit, or dominance.

In its broadest sense, any action that shifts power dynamics is technically a power move. However, in common usage, the term usually refers to conspicuous, high-impact, and memorable moves.

Power moves can be divided into several categories, including:

• Dialectical power moves: quips or rebuttals that win the exchange and display mental superiority
• Negotiation power moves: gambits that win a concession (see ‘negotiation power moves‘)
• Raw muscle power moves: using physical size (example), superior weaponry, or fearlessness displays
• Status power moves display of higher rank within a hierarchical structure,
• Mental power moves display higher confidence or higher-value mindsets

A single well-placed power move can change everything, including sometimes flipping the power script and taking you from subservient to dominant.

Power Moves Examples

Let’s now explore 13 power moves examples you can also use in real life:

1. The Underdog Flex™: Beat Them At Half-Power

Nothing shows absolute dominance like beating everyone else with a handicap.

For example:

Competition lines up with carbon running shoes, fuel gels, and moisture-wicking shorts? You outrun them in jeans.

Subtly or openly parade your handicap: it sub-communicates you’d have crushed them 10x harder if you even cared to put in some effort.
Tyson Fury does it here:

Tyson: This is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world (stands up and shows his ‘soft’ physique)
Tyson: (turns to his fit and athletic opponent) Have a look. Fat man. That’s who beat you

Winning against the odds is also a ‘self-signaling’ power move that boosts your confidence.

2. The Money Flex™: Display “F U Money”

Money is the true power equalizer. 

Money doesn’t look at your dress, skin color, or appearance.

If you have lots of money, you can always pull a power move that propels you from the bottom to the top.
As a matter of fact, the best timing for this power move is when others look down on you.

Why?

Because with this power move, you are telling them:

📣🟰If me, someone whom you think is beneath you, can buy you and all your worthless establishment, what does it say about you?
It says you must really be a nobody.

Look at an example here:

Bartender: (dismissive, looking down on him, implying he can’t afford it) The Latour is 400 pounds a bottle
The Saint: Then we will have two bottles. (hands a wallop of bills) There, you count it 

There is an art to this power move.
Don’t flash credit cards at women: it screams ‘simping‘. And don’t throw money in anger, which signals emotional overreaction, like in this scene from “The Wolf of Wall Street”.

To execute this power move correctly:

1. Pick an expensive item
2. Stay cool if they mention the price, or smile a little, as if you’re thinking “LOL, if this poor loser only knew”
3. Take out a big wallop of money: the bigger, the better. And make sure it’s big notes
4. Handle money as if it were paper, almost with disdain: it signals you have so much you couldn’t care less
5. Say “keep the change”: researcher Deborah Tannen notes that very large tips can be offensive as it’s a way to “show them”.

Alternative ways:

• Hire a ‘payer’ to handle bills for you: a ‘money flex’ on its own. Then tell him: “Don’t tip, they’re rude” as you leave

Abundant resources also win you freedom.
As Nassim Nicholas Taleb says:

This is sometimes called “fuck you money,” which, in spite of its coarseness, means that it allows you to act like a Victorian gentleman, free from slavery.
It shields you from prostituting your mind and frees you from outside authority–any outside authority.

How To Use It To Score On Dates

SEE SEDUCTION UNIVERSITY

F*ck You Money For Women

Women can best pull this power move with a feminine twist -a “coquette style“, for example.

See Charlotte executing it to perfection:

Friend 1: Charlotte, this is really inappropriate
Sidney: Yes, you’re such a… 
Charlotte: What, what am I, Sidney? (stares them with a power gaze, drops a note inside the glass, walks out)

Her frame control is confident, without being overly aggressive.
Faced with a judge-role shame attack, she refused to backtrack and owned the accusation with pride.

3. The ‘Win & Shame’: Rub Their Noses In Your Wins

Valentino Rossi, a formerly dominant racer, called the new young guys “pussies” for preferring ‘clean’ racing.
Unluckily for Rossi, the “pussies” were finishing ahead of him, and Lorenzo pulled the power move:

Rossi: Young riders are p*ssies
Lorenzo: Shame for Rossi to be beaten by p*ssies

Obama does something similar here:

Obama: I have no more campaigns to run. My only agend..
Republicans: (interrupt with applause, cheering) Yeeeeeah
Obama: I know, because I won both of them <—- 📣🟰 Suck my winning d*ck, losers

The secret to doing it well is to move forward right after you deliver the power move, lest you look narcissistic, too into yourself, and emotionally thin-skinned.

Note: Winners Don’t Overreact

Here’s a power nugget of wisdom for you:

Look at the video above again.

And note who goes wild at Obama’s joke.
It’s the backbenchers and the smaller players who truly go wild.

Top players know how to act high dominance, and they know that overreactions signal low power.

4. The ‘Not Worth My Words’: Show Your Superiority With Nonverbals

Nothing says “I’m better than you”… Than saying it without words.

The law of least social effort says that the less effort you expend, the more powerful you look.

So when you cut off or ignore people without saying a word, you naturally come across as superior. 
Some tips on how to pull off this power move:

• Exhale emphatically
• Roll your eyes upward
• Show disgust with facial expression

5. The Royal Delay: Let Them Wait (With Royal Attitude)

Letting people wait is a power move.

While we don’t advise abusing it because it’s disrespectful, there can be situations when it’s fair.

The secret to perfect execution is “sprezzatura”, like it’s the most normal thing in the world, and like people are supposed to wait for you.

Look at how this man from the movie “Il Marchese del Grillo” does it.
Note his tonality and his body language:

Butler: Mr. Marquis, there is downstairs a French official in barouche, he says he is…
Marchese: Oh yeah, that’s captain Blachard, let him wait (waves hands in the air as if to say “who cares”), I had even forgotten about him (and stays seated talking to his mother)

This is how old-world royalty moves and thinks.
They think like they are owed power, and that it’s actually fair for people to wait for them.

6. The Ask & Own: Ask Their Opinion, Then Contradict Them 

This is pure social power at play.

And the movie “Meet the Parents” provides the perfect context.
Guys who “met her parents” instinctively feel the tension between husbands and fathers-in-law.
If the two meet before marriage, the father-in-law can:

• Be territorial with his daughter
• Test the new man
• Stake a dominance claim to remain ‘the alpha male‘ around his daughter

On the other hand, the boyfriend seeks the family’s approval, which can put him in a subservient frame of mind and give away power.

In this example, De Niro goes for verbal signals of power.
And caps it all off with the “contradict power move”:

Jack: Let me ask you a question, Greg: can you really trust another human being, Greg? <— Ask
Greg: (thinks about it) Sure, I think so
Jack: No, the answer is that you cannot <— Own
Greg: (does not reply, looks away, owned)

7. The Shock & Chill™: Make Them Nervous, Then Tell Them to Relax

Making people nervous with your presence, questions, or jokes is a dead giveaway of dominance.

To avoid breaking rapport after you made others jittery, you can add “just joking” or “chill”.
Denzel Washington does it in a few of his movies.

And De Niro does it here:

Jack: Oh, you’d be surprised how accurate they are. I can tell fairly easy if one is lying or not
Greg: (Squeaks and sweats)
Jack: Relax, relax

8. The Godfather Power Move: Extend An “Offer They Can’t Refuse”

Could we make a list of power moves without this classic?

No, we couldn’t:

Producer: Johnny Fontane will never get that part
(…) You don’t understand: Johnny Fontane never gets that movie
(wakes up next to his favorite horse. Johnny Fontane gets the part.)

These power moves propose a negotiative option. They say:

📣🟰 We can get to you easily, but for this time, we just wanted to warn you.
You can play ball with us and get your fair value back, or your will force us to use force. 
We hope you choose to negotiate in friendliness.

To pull it off, show that:

• You can reach a favorable outcome with or without them (flaunting other options)
• Take what you are negotiating through negotiations or with nastier means (violence, hostile takeover, replacing them, etc.)
• Make them pay a high price if they don’t negotiate as you please

9. The Leadership Takeover: Conspiciously Refuse to Follow

Principle:

Never adapt to others, always let others adapt to you.

Who adapts to whom is all about power dynamics.

And when people try to “teach” you about their culture, they are indirectly saying that you should learn their culture because it’s important.

The moment you start following them, not only you empower them, but you also become, well… The follower.
And power players don’t follow.

The real power players refuse to follow and take the lead, instead.
See here a great example:

Streisand: (teaches De Niro how to pronounce) L’chaim! L’ha-ha. Like you have popcorn stuck in the throat. It’s a…
De Niro: (looks away, smiles derisively, as if to say “fuck you and your BS”) OK, to family <—- Refuses the ‘learner’s frame’, takes the lead
Everyone: laughs

10. The Neg: Hit With a Back-Handed Compliment

Nothing screams “power move” like offending people with a compliment.

Billy Bats does it well here:

Billy: This kid was great.
They used to call him “spitshine Tommy” <—- 📣🟰 The ‘neg’
I swear to God, he made your shoes look like fucking mirrors. He was the best. Made a lot of money, too <—- 📣🟰 You don’t make a lot of money shining shoes, it implies Tommy was poor and working hard for a pittance
Salute, Tommy!

This whole dialogue is an attack masked as a compliment.
It’s covert-aggression (albeit not too covert).
It’s far more annoying being on the receiving end of covert aggression. If you get angry without playing their same game you look over-reactive because it was not overt aggression -plus the attacker can always say “take it easy it was just a joke”-.

11. The Humor Power Move: Use Humor to Call Out the Unspeakable Big Issue

Harsh truths can sound overly aggressive if you just blurt them out.

But frame them as a joke, and it becomes a covert power move that lets you get away with almost anything.
Humor makes it harder for others to challenge you back. If they do, they’d look over-reactive. 

Joe Rogan: you want people to walk down the street with a mask on?
Bill Burr: let’s not start this, Joe
Joe Rogan: do you, though? Let’s start it
Bill Burr: I’m not going to sit here with no medical degree, listening to you with no medical degree, with an American flag behind you, smoking a cigar, acting like we know what’s up better than the CDC

Ouch!

In that same interview:

Burr: You don’t have the body fortitude. Your fu*king knuckles would scrape on the floor

🟰 You’re like a dumb gorilla

Burr: Oh God, you’re so tough with your fucking open nose and throat. G.I. Joe and his five o’clock shadow. This is a man over here.

🟰 you’re a posturer pretending to be tough

And later:

Burr: Now is the bitch Joe. Now is the bitch
(Joe laughs with hissing sound)

🟰 In the end, you’re not even tough.

Burr frames Rogan as a loudmouth talking things he doesn’t understand.
It took away all of Rogan’s authority.
It robbed him of any credibility, present and future, to talk about anything outside of, maybe, combat sports and pot.

Humor is a technique that suits people like Bill Burr especially well. Since it’s his job to make fun of others, you cannot attack him back easily.

12. The Puppeteer’s Call™: Draw Them In, Leave Them Hanging

Law of kings #1: Use your smaller allies to look hyperdominant. Smaller allies can’t rebel witout losing the alliance. They’re forced to submit. Use their neediness to display dominance with impunity

Calling people up to you displays power.
And letting them hang there displays total dominance.

Example:

Trump: Where is the United Kingdom <— Acts like a teacher taking attendance
Starmer: (walks to Trump) <— Obeys like a good pupil
Trump: (turns around and leaves Starmer hanging, who then must walk back in shame)

Starmer already lost power walking to Trump. Trump could re-empower him a bit. Instead, he doubles down and embarrasses him even more.

13. The Stealth Flex™: Drop Hints, Let Them Connect The Dots

Machiavelli said it first:

Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are.

What’s the point of having power, if you cannot flaunt it?

However, there is an art to displaying power.
Do it in one of two ways:

1. With bravado, as if to say “This is the reality of things, friends” (also see ‘how to brag on dates‘)
2. Indirectly, as if you’re trying to hide your real power

Here are some examples of this power move:

Random guy: So, what do you do?
You: I do some charity work to help less fortunate people <—- 📣🟰 I’m rich, I don’t need to work

And:

Random Guy: Where are you from?
Me: Originally, Italy, but EU during summers and warm places in winters <—- 📣🟰 I lowkey live my dream life

And:

Him: If you had to choose between a rich and handsom but jerk and nice but poor, what would you choose?
Her: Well… I have more than enoguh and don’t need any help there. Beauty does not impress me either, so… <—- 📣🟰 Your low-value criteria don’t apply to me

The guy’s options are both poor frames. She switches the power tables by making him come across as petty and low-value.

14. Switch The Power Tables

This is the peak power move: going from power down to winning.

SEE POWER UNIVERSITY

FAQs

Remember: Life Success Needs More Than Showy Power Moves

This article, just like its cousin “office power moves“, is based on solid principles of power dynamics.

But while these high-impact moves are effective to impress and look supremely cool, true success comes from a baseline of high-status behavior and life strategy.

If you’re ready to move beyond “showy” tactics and master the underlying dynamics of social and professional success: