I was recently involved in a situation at work where someone decided to cut me out of something for his own personal benefit, but it would hurt the company. The boss approached me to try to justify that I was removed from the project.

The boss came to me and said, "How do you feel about this?" I said, "It makes no difference to me whether I am involved or not. But it is strictly business, not personal. How I feel doesn't matter."

Then the boss said, "But you must be upset." I said, "No it is strictly business. You need to understand that it doesn't matter to me as long as his business doesn't conflict with our goals. What is it you want me to do?"

Boss said, "You know, you are back in the loop now. You are right."

So, I ended up winning the debate by primarily paraphrasing The Godfather in a roughly monotone voice.