Everybody may want to rule the world, but the sad truth is that...not everyone can. But there are people who can sorta kinda rule itty-bitty portions of the world, and we refer to them as “power brokers.”
Power brokers are folks with a lot of influence and power, and they use it to make things go the way they want them to go. Think Hiram Lodge in Riverdale, or Danny Ocean in Ocean’s Eleven, or lobbyists in…well, anywhere, really.
But power brokers don’t always have to use their powers for evil. In 1985, a bunch of power brokers in the music industry—Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Phil Collins, David Bowie, and Paul McCartney, to name a few—got together and put on Live Aid, a concert that raised about £150 million to help relieve famine in Africa. Long story short: if a person with clout uses that clout to influence the decisions and actions of others, we can safely call that person a power broker.
