When the outcome depends on coordination, the timely destruction of communication may be a winning tactic. When a man and his wife are arguing by telephone over where to meet for dinner, the argument is won by the wife if she simply announces where she is going and hangs up.

FICTION: A compelling dramatic beat: a character wins a conflict not by out-arguing but by unilaterally ending the conversation, forcing coordination on their terms.

Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, loc. 339