Looking out for Number Two

Lately, I've been on a history kick (again) in reading, but I'm definitely a bit underwhelmed by Douglas Boyd's Eleanor, April Queen of Aquitaine. (Far too many liberties taken in guessing the motivations and thoughts of the principals, for one thing. If I want that, I can just as easily watch my VHS copy of The Lion in Winter for the umpteenth time, thank you very much...)

But Thomas Becket has now arrived on the scene to make himself indispensable to one of the most powerful of power couples Western History will ever know. And to me, 850 years or so in the future, does me the service of reminding me that watching the person at the top of an organization--who has a vested interest in remaining inscrutable--isn't nearly so informative as watching her/his most indispensable person. Number Two's first priority is guessing Number One's priorities, and s/he is often forced to be more obvious. And odds are that the failures--with their inevitable consequences--are more instructive than the successes.

If you're like me and don't care to participate in politics (but can't afford to be ignorant of them), keeping part of your attention on the antics of Number Two is one of the most low-bandwidth ways of staying plugged into the office power-plays. Not that it should be the only plug-in point, because Number Twos typically rise and fall more rapidly than number one. But it does save a lot of cycles trying to figure out Number One on your own.