Had an interesting conversation with our CEO today.  She asked me what order I thought we should put the e-mail addresses of a client we recently met with in the To: Sections of the email.

We've all been there.  Do you put the highest ranking person in first?  Or is that sucking up?  Do you put the women first?  The men?  The people who talked the most or the least?

Who get's cc'ed, and who gets in the original To: Line?

Comments are welcome, but my thoughts are pretty standard, though complex.

Here's the minefield for the outside consultant.

If one woman and multiple men are at the table, the woman goes in the To: line, but second. 
If one man and multiple women are at the table, do the same.
If the number of men and women are roughly equal, mix it up.
Never put only one person in the cc unless you know them well.
Never address the top ranking person first in an email unless they are involved in the decision making.
If someone was supposed to be at a meeting and they didn't make it, they get cc'ed.
Never place the top ranking person in the cc line. It either looks like you're disrespecting them or checking up on their employee.
If the people you're e-mailing are in different regions, they all go to the tip line.
Assistants and admins get cc'ed.  Never put an admin in the top line and someone else in the cc.
BCC: is for internal politics or sending to your own address as a backup.  Never send the e-mail to yourself in the cc.

Those are the basic rules for the outside consultant, but what is it for those on the inside?  On the inside, power politics is far more important - so pay close attention. 

Keep your e-mails to two points. Multiple point e-mails don't get read in full.
If someone sends you an email with multiple points, respond to just one or two points.  This makes them send out more emails to you putting, you in a position of power over them.
If someone sends out an e-mail to 5 or more people,  reply to the individual asking a question about the email.  They then have to reply to all, but it's not coming from you, so you don't look like the one spamming everyone.
Whenever you do something good, send a note to your boss and share the news.
Whenever someone else in your team does something good, send a note to them congratulating them, and cc your boss.  This allows you to suck up without having to look like you are.
If you get chainletters from coworkers, reply to all and explain how these letters clog up the email, and to please take you off the list.
If you're in a fight with a co-worker, go to your boss's computer and change the address book so that everytime your coworker mails the boss, it's the name of an online gaming site.  Example: coworkersname@partypoker.com.  The only person who will see it is your boss, and that won't last for long!
Replace the email icon on an annoying coworkers desktop with a picture of the icon.
When it's close to raise and promotion time, forwardan e-mail, change a few words to make the first person look like a bad speller.  Works great if they went to an Ivy League college.

And most important, remember that lawyers have a word for e-mail, and that word is "evidence."