Power is often just being the person who actually read the whole document.

Hardly anybody reads the whole thing. The terms, the rubric, the handbook, the rules of the competition, the contract on your phone. Whoever did read it knows things the rest of the room is guessing at, which is a quiet advantage available to anyone willing to spend twenty dull minutes. That is attendance rather than cleverness.

Find the document that governs something you care about and read it properly this week, pen in hand. Mark the two sentences that affect you most. Bring one up next time a decision is being argued about from memory.