Power
If you consider the pen mightier than the sword, then you're extremely powerful. However, if you favor the sword, then perhaps you don't have all that much power after all. (Just like an editor, to bring a pen to a sword fight.)
In the hierarchy of the publishing biz, you really don't have much power at all. Your employer will be breathing down your neck as deadlines loom, and you won't have much leeway with them. And when it comes to your writers—the people you should have a certain amount of authority over—you'll find that they typically won't respond to your threats and entreaties. Because they're…writers. They kinda do their own thing.