THE 48 LAWS OF

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ROBERT GREENE

A JOOST ELFFERS PRODUCTION

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PROFILE BOOKS

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A Treasury of Jewish Folklore by Nathan Ausubel. Copyright © 1948, 1976 by Crown Publishers, lnc. Reprinted by

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The Chinese Looking Glass by Dennis Bloodworth. Copyright © 1966, 1967 by Dennis Bloodworth. By permission of

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Various Fahlesfrom Vizrious Places, edited by Diane Di Prima; Capricom Books / G. P. Putnam's Sons. © 1960 G. P.

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Armenian Folk-tales and Fahles, translated by Charles Downing; Oxford University Press. © Charles Downing 1972.

The Little Brown Book of Anecdotes, edited by Clifton Fadiman; Little, Brown and Company. Copyright © 1985 by

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The Power ofthe Charlatan by Grete de Francesco, translated by Miriam Beard. Copyright, 1939, by Yale University

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Behind the Seenes of Royal Palaces in Korea (Yi Dynasty) by Ha Tae-hung. Copyright © 1983 by Ha Tae-hung. By permission of Yonsei University Press, Seoul.

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Scott-Kilvert, 1965.

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Cha-no-yu: TheJapanese Tea Ceremony by A. L. Sadler; Charles E. Tuttle Company. © 1962 by Charles E. Tuttle Co.

Amoral Politics: The Persistent Truth of Machiavellism by Ben-Ami Scharfstein; State University of New York Press.

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Caravan of Dreams by ldries Shah; Octagon Press (London). Copyright © 1970, 1980 by ldries Shah.

Tales of the Dervishes by ldries Shah. Copyright © ldries Shah, 1967. Used by permission of Penguin Putnam lnc. and

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The Suhtle Ruse: The Book of Arahic Wisdom and Guile, translated by Rene R. Khawam; East-West Publications. Copyright © 1980 English translation East-West Publications (U.K.) Ltd.

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To Anna BilleT, and to my paTents

R.G.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First I would like to thank Anna Biller, who helped edit and research this book, and whose invaluable insights played a critical role in the shape and content of The 48 Laws. Without her,

none of this would have been possible.

I must also thank my dear friend Michiel Schwarz who was responsible for involving me in

the art school Fabrika in Italy and introducing me there to Joost Elffers, my partner and producer

of The 48 Laws ofPower.1t was in the scheming world ofFabrika thatJoost and I saw the timelessness of Machiavelli and from our discussions in Venice, Italy, this book was born.

I would like to thank Renri Le Goubin, who supplied me with many Machiavellian anecdotes over the years, particularly conceming the numerous French characters who play such a

large role in this book.

I would also like to thank Les and Sumiko Biller, who lent me their library on Japanese history and helped me with the Japanese Tea Ceremony part of the book. Similarly, I must thank

my good friend Elizabeth Yang who advised me on Chinese history.

A book like this depended greatly on the research material available and I am particularly

gratenIl to the UCLA Research Library; I spent many pleasant days wandering through its incomparable collections.

My parents, Laurette and Stanley Green, des erve endless thanks for their patience and

support.

And I must not forget to pay tribute to my cat, Boris, who kept me company throughout the

never-ending days of writing.

Finally, to those people in my life who have so skillfully used the game of power to manipulate, torture, and cause me pain over the years, I bear you no grudges and I thank you for supplying me with inspiration for The 48 Laws ofPower.

viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Rohert Greene

CONTENTS

PRE FACE page xvii

LAW 1 page 1

NEVER OUTSHINE THE MASTER

Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please or impress them, do not go

too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite-inspire fear and insecurity. Make

your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.

LAW 2 page 8

NEVER PUT TOO MUCH TRUST IN FRIENDS,

LEARN HOW TO USE ENEMIES

Be wary of fiiends-they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become

spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more

to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from fiiends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to

make them.

LAW 3 page 16

CONCEAL YOUR INTENTIONS

Keep people off-balance and in the dark lly never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no

clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrang path, envelop

them in enough smoke, and lly the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.

LAW 4 page 31

ALWAYS SAY LESS THAN NECESSARY

When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less

in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended,

and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate lly saying less. The more you say, the more likely you

are to say something foolish.

LAW 5 page 37

SO MUCH DEPENDS ON REPUTATION-GUARD IT WITH YOUR LIFE

Reputation is the corners tone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once it slips,

however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be

alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile, leam to destroy your enemies lly

opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and Let public opinion hang them.

LAW 6 page44

COURT ATTENTION AT ALL COST

Everything is judged lly its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never Let yourself get lost in the

crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention

lrj appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious than the bland and timid masses.

CONTENTS ix

LAW 7 pag e 56

GET OTHERS TO DO THE WORK FOR YOU, BUT ALWAYS TAKE THE CREDIT

Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to furtker your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end

your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered. Never do yourself what others can do for you.

LAW S pag e 62

MAKE OTHER PEOPLE COME TO YOU-USE BAIT IF NECESSARY

When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control. It is always better to make your opponent

come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process. Lure him with fabulous gains-then attack. You hold

the cards.

LAW<) pag e 69

WIN THROUGH YOUR A CTIONS, NEVER THROUGH ARGUMENT

Any momentary triumph you think you have gained through argument is really a Pyrrhic victory: The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and !asts longer than any momentary change of opinion. It is much

more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word. Demonstrate, do

not explicate.

LAW 10 pag e 76

INFECTION: AVOID THE UNHAPPY AND UNLUCKY

You can die from someone eises misery-emotional states are as infectious as diseases. You may feel you are

helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster. The unfortunate sometimes draw

misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.

LA W 1 1 page 82

LEARN TO KEEP PEOPLE DEPENDENT ON YOU

To maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted. The more you are relied on, the more

freedom you have. Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear.

Never teach them enough so that they can do without you.

LA W I 2 page 89

USE SELECTIVE HONESTY AND GENEROSITY TO DISARM YOUR VICTIM

One sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones. open-hearted gestures of honesty and

generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people. Once your selective honesty opens a hole in

their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will. A timely gift-a Trojan horse-will serve the same

pur pose.

LA W 1.1 page 95

WHEN ASKING FOR HELP, APPEAL TO PEOPLE'S SELF-INTEREST,

NEVER TO THEIR MERCY OR GRATITUDE

If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds. He

will find a way to ignore you. Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with him, that

will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportion. He will res pond enthusiastically when he sees something to be gained for himself.

x CONTENTS

LA W 14 page 101

POSE AS A FRIEND, WORK AS A SPY

Knowing about your rival is critical. Use spies to gather valuable information that will keep you a step ahead.

Better still: Play the spy yourself. In polite social encounters, leam to probe. Ask indireet questions to get people

to reveal their weaknesses and intentions. There is no occasion that is not an opportunity for artjul spying.

LAW 15 page 107

CRUSH YOUR ENEMY TOTALLY

All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely. (Sometimes they

have leamed this the hard way.) If one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break out. More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation: The enemy will recover,

and will seek revenge. Crush him, not only in body but in spirit.

LAW 16 page 115

USE ABSENCE TO INCREASE RESPECT AND HONOR

Too much circulation makes the price go down: The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you

appear. If you are already established in a group, temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked

about, even more admired. You must leam when to leave. Create value through scarcity.

LA W 17 page 123

KEEP OTHERS IN SUSPENDED TERROR: CULTIVATE AN AIR OF UNPRED lCTABILlTY

Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people's aetions. Your predietability gives them a sense of control. Tum the tables: Be deliberately unpredietable. Behavior that seems to

have no consistency or purpose will keep them off-balance, and they will wear themselves out trying to explain

your moves. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorize.

LA W 1 i:l page 130

DO NOT BUILD FORTRESSES TO PROTECT YOURSELF-ISOLATION IS DANGEROUS

The world is dangerous and enemies are everywkere-everyone has to proteet themselves. A fortress seems the

safest. But isolation exposes you to more dangers than it protects you from-it cuts you off from valuable information, it makes you conspicuous and an easy target. Better to circulate among people, find allies, mingle.

You are shielded from your enemies by the crowd.

LAW 19 page 137

KNOW WHO YOU'RE DEALING WITH-DO NOT OFFEND THE WRONG PERSON

There are many different kinds of people in the world, and you can never assume that everyone will react to

your strategies in the same way. Deceive or outmaneuver some people and they will spend the rest of their lives

seeking revenge. They are wolves in lambs' clothing. Choose your vietims and opponents carefully, thennever offend or deceive the wrang person.

CONTENTS Xl

LAW 20 page 145

DO NOT COMMIT TO ANYONE

It is the Jool who always rushes to take sides. Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself. By maintaining

your independence, you become the master oJ others-playing people against one another, making them pursue

you.

LAW 21 page156

P LAY A SUCKER TO CATCH A SUCKER-SEEM DUMBER THAN YOUR MARK

No one likes Jeeling stupider than the next person. The trick, then, is to make your victims Jeel smart-and not

Just smart, but smarter than you are. Once convinced oJ this, they will never suspect that you may have ulttr

rior motives.

LAW 22 page 163

USE THE SURRENDER TACTIC: TRANSFORM WEAKNESS INTO POWER

When you are weaker, never fight Jor honor's sake; choose surrender instead. Surrender gives you time to recover, time to torment and irritate your conqueror, time to wait Jor his power to wane. Do not give him the satisJaction oJ fighting and deJeating you-surrender first. By turning the other cheek you inJuriate and unsettle

him. Make surrender a tool oJ power.

LAW 23 page 171

CONCENTRATE YOUR FORCES

Conserve your Jorces and energies by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point. You gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper, than by flittingjrom one shallow mine to another-intensity deJeats extensity every time. When looking Jor sources oJ power to elevate you, find the one key patron, the Jat cow who

will give you milk Jor a long time to come.

LAW 24 page 178

P LAY THE PERFECT COURTIER

The perJect courtier thrives in a world where everything revolves around power and political dexterity. He has

mastered the art oJ indirection; he flatters, yields to superiors, and asserts power over others in the most oblique

and graceJul manner. Learn and apply the laws oJ courtiership and there will be no limit to how Jar you can

rise in the court.

LAW 25 page 191

RE-CREATE YOURS.ELF

Do not accept the roles that society Joists on you. Re-create yourself by Jorging a new identity, one that commands attention and never bores the audience. Be the master oJ your own image rather than letting others dtr

fine it Jor you. Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions-your power will be

enhanced and your character will seem larger than life.

LA W 26 page 200

KEEP YOUR HANDS C LEAN

You must seem a paragon oJ civility and efficiency: Your hands are never soiled by mistakes and nasty deeds.

Maintain such a spotless appearance by using otkers as scapegoats and cat 's-paws to disguise your involvement.

xii CONTENTS

LAW 27 page 215

P LAY ON PEOP LE'S NEED TO BELIEVE TO CREATE A CULT LIKE FOLLOWING

People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become the focal point of such desire by offering

them a cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your words vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over

rationality and clear thinking. Give your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifi,ces on your

behalf. In the absence of organized religion and grand causes, your new belief system will bring you untold

power.

LAW 28 page227

ENTER ACTION WITH BOLDNESS

If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit thrvugh audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid.

LAW 29 page 236

P LAN A LL THE WAY TO THE END

The ending is everything. Plan all the way to it, taking into account all the possible consequences, obstacles,

and twists of fortune that might reverse your hard work and give the glory to others. By planning to the end

you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop. Gently guide fortune and help

determine the future by thinking far ahead.

LAW 30 page 245

MAKE YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS SEEM EFFORTLESS

Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease. All the toil and practice that go into them, and also

all the clever tricks, must be concealed. When you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more. Avoid the

temptation of revealing how hard you work-it only raises questions. Teach no one your tricks or they will be

used against you.

LAW 31 page254

CONTROL THE OPTIONS: GET OTHERS TO P LAY WITH THE CARDS YOU DEAL

The best deceptions are the ones that seem to give the other person a choice: Your victims feel they are in contral,

but are actually your puppets. Give people options that come out in your favor whichever one they choose. Forr;e

them to make choices between the lesser of two evils, both of which seroe your purpose. Put them on the horns of

a dilemma: They are gored wherever they turn.

LAW 32 page263

P LAY TO PEOPLE'S FANTASIES

The truth is often avoided because it is ugly and unpleasant. Never appeal to tru,th and reality unless you are

prepared for the anger that comes frvm disenchantment. Life is so harsh and distressing that people who can

manufacture romance or conjure up fantasy are like oases in the desert: Everyone flocks to them. There is great

power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses.

CONTENTS xiii

LAW 33 page271

DISCOVER EACH MAN'S THUMBSCREW

Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall. That weakness is usually an insecurity, an uncontrollable

emotion or need; it can also be a small secret pleasure. Either way, once Jound, it is a thumbscrew you can turn

to your advantage.

LA W :H page 282

BE ROYAL IN YOUR OWN FASHION: ACT LIKE A KING TO BE TREATED LIKE ONE

The way you carry yourself will oßen determine how you are treated: In the long TUn, appearing vulgar or common will make people disrespect you. For a king respects himself and inspires the same sentiment in others. By

acting regally and confident oJ your powers, you make yourself seem destined to wear a crown.

LAW ,,5 page291

MASTER THE ART OF TIMING

Never seem to be in a hurry-hurrying betrays a lack oJ control over yourself, and over time. Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you eventually. Become a detective oJ the right moment; sniff

out the spirit oJ the times, the trends that will carry you to power. Leam to stand back when the time is not yet

ripe, and to strike fiercely when it has reached fruition.

LAW :16 page 300

DISDAIN THINGS YOU CANNOT HAVE: IGNORING THEM IS THE BEST REVENGE

By acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility. The more attention you pay an enemy,

the stronger you make him; and a small mistake is oßen made worse and more visible when you try to fix it. It

is sometimes best to leave things alone. If there is something you want but cannot have, show contempt Jor it.

The less interest you reveal, the more superior you seem.

LAW �7 page309

CREATE COMPELLING SPECTACLES

Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the aura oJ power-everyone responds to them. Stage spectacles Jor those around you, then, Jull oJ arresting visuals and radiant symbols that heighten your presence.

Dazzled by appearances, no one will notice what you are really doing.

LAW �g page 317

THINK AS YOU LIKE BUT BEHAVE LIKE OTHERS

If you make a show oJ going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways,

people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them. They will find a way to

punish you Jor making them Jeel inJerior. It is Jar saJer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your

originality only with tolerant Jriends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness.

LA W :39 page 325

STIR UP WATERS TO CATCH FISH

Anger and emotion are strategically counterproductive. You must always stay calm and objective. But if you

can make your enemies angry while staying calm yourself, you gain a decided advantage. Put your enemies

off-balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you can rattle them and you hold the strings.

xiv CONTENTS

LAW 40 page 333

DESPISE THE FREE LUNCH

'What is offered Jor Jree is dangerous-it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. 'What has worth

is worth paying Jor. By paying your own way you stay clear oJ gratitude, guilt, and deceit. It is also often wise

to pay the Jull price--there is no cutting corners with excellence. Be lavish with your money and keep it circulating, Jor generosity is a sign and a magnet Jor power.

LAW 41 page 347

AVOID STEPPING INTO A GREAT MAN'S SHOES

'What happens first always appears better and more original than what comes after. If you succeed a great man

or have a Jamous parent, you will have to accomplish double their achievements to outshine them. Do not get

lost in their shadow, or stuck in a past not oJ your own making: Establish your own name and identity lry

changing course. Slay the overbearing Jather, disparage his legacy, and gain power lry shining in your own

way.

LA W 42 page 358

STRIKE THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP WILL SCATTER

Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual-the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoner oJ

goodwill. If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their injluence. Do not wait Jor the

troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them-they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence lry isolating or banishing them. Strike at the source oJ the trouble and the sheep will scatter.

LA W 4:� page 367

WORK ON THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF OTHERS

Coercion creates a reaction that will eventually work against you. You must seduce others into wanting to

move in your direction. A person you have seduced becomes your loyal pawn. And the way to seduce others is to

operate on their individual psychologies and weaknesses. Soften up the resistant lry working on their emotions,

playing on what they hold dear and what they Jear. Ignore the hearts and minds oJ others and they will grow to

hateyou.

LA W 44 page 376

DISARM AND INFURIATE WITH THE MIRROR EFFECT

The mirror rejlects reality, but it is also the perJect tool Jor deception: 'When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they do, they cannot figure out your strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks and humiliates them, making

them overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyches, you seduce tltem with the illusion that you share their

values; lry holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson. Few can resist the power oJ the Mirror

Effect.

LAW 45 page 392

PREACH THE NEED FOR CHANGE, BUT NEVER REFORM TOO MUCH AT ONCE

Everyone understands the need Jor change in the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures oJ

habit. Too much innovation is traumatic, and will lead to revolt. If you are new to a position oJ power, or an

outsider trying to build a power base, make a show oJ respecting the old way oJ doing things. If change is necessary, make it Jeel like a gentle improvement on the past.

CONTENTS xv

L AW 46 page 400

NEVER APPEAR TOO PERFECT

Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of alt is to appear to have no faults or

weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to oeeasionalty display defeets, and admit to harmless

viees, in order to defleet envy and appear more human and approaehable. Only gods and the dead can seem

perfeet with impunity.

L AW 47 page 410

DO NOT GO PAST THE MARK YOU AIMED FOR;

IN VICTORY, LEARN WHEN TO STOP

The moment of vietory is often the moment of greatest peril. In the heat of vietory, arroganee and overeonfidenee ean push you past the goal you had aimed for, and by going too far, you make more enemies than you

defeat. Do not allow sueeess to go to your head. There is no substitute for strategy and eareful planning. Set a

goal, and when you reaeh it, stop.

L AW 48 page 419

ASSUME FORMLESSNESS

By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attaek. Instead of taking a form for your

enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the move. Aeeept the faet that nothing is eertain and no law is

fixed. The best way to proteet yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water; never bet on stability or lasting

order. Everything ehanges.

xvi CONTENTS

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY page 431

INDEX page 433

PREF AC E

The feeling of having no power over people and events is generally unbearable to us--when we feel helpless we feel miserable. No one wants less

power; everyone wants more. In the world today, however, it is dangerous

to seem too power hungry, to be overt with your power moves. We have

to seem fair and decent. So we need to be subtle-congenial yet cunning,

democratic yet devious.

This game of constant duplicity most resembles the power dynamic

that existed in the scheming world of the old aristocratic court. Throughout

history, a court has always formed itself around the person in power-king,

queen, emperor, leader. The courtiers who filled this court were in an especially delicate position: They had to serve their masters, but if they seemed

to fawn, if they curried favor too obviously, the other courtiers around

them would notice and would act against them. Attempts to win the master's favor, then, had to be subtle. And even skilIed courtiers capable of

such subtlety still had to protect themselves from their fellow courtiers,

who at all moments were scheming to push them aside.

Meanwhile the court was supposed to represent the height of civilization and refinement. Violent or overt power moves were frowned upon;

courtiers would work silently and secretly against any among them who

used force. This was the courtier's dilemma: W hile appearing the very

paragon of elegance, they had to outwit and thwart their own opponents in

the subdest of ways. The successful courtier learned over time to make all

of his moves indirect; if he stabbed an opponent in the back, it was with a

velvet glove on his hand and the sweetest of srniles on his face. Instead of

using coercion or outright treachery, the perfect courtier got his way

through seduction, charm, deception, and subtle strategy, always planning

several moves ahead. Life in the court was a never-ending game that required constant vigilance and tactical thinking. It was civilized war.

Today we face a peculiarly similar paradox to that of the courtier:

Everything must appear civilized, decent, democratic, and fair. But if we

play by those rules too strictly, if we take them too literally, we are crushed

by those around us who are not so foolish. As the great Renaissance diplomat and courtier Niccolö Machiavelli wrote, ''Any man who tries to be

good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who

are not good.\" The court imagined itself the pinnacle of refinement, but unPREFACE xvii

Courts are, unquestionably, the seats of politeness and good

breeding; were they not

so, they wOllld be the

seals of slallghter and

desolation. Those who

now smile Ilpon and

embrace, would affront

and stab, each other,

if manners did not

illlerpose ..

LORD CIIESTERHELD,

1694-1773

There is nothing very

odd abollt lambs

disliking birds ofprey,

bllt this is no reason for

holding it against large

birds 0/ prey that they

carry ofnambs. Ami

when the lambs whisper {lmong themselves,

\" These birds of prey

are evii, and does this

not give IlS a right to

say that whatever is Ihe

opposite of a bird of

prey must be good? \"

there is nothing intrinsically wrong with such

an argllment�though

the birds of prey will

look somewhat quizzically and say, \" We have

f/othing against these

good lambs; in fact, we

love them; nothing

tastes beller than a

tender lamb. \"

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE,

1844-1900

xviii PREFACE

derneath its glittering surface a cauldron of dark emotions---greed, envy,

lust, hatred-boiled and simmered. Our world today similarly imagines itself the pinnacle of fairness, yet the same ugly emotions still stir within us,

as they have forever. The game is the same. Outwardly, you must seem to

respect the niceties, but inwardly, unless you are a fool, you learn quickly

to be prudent, and to do as Napoleon advised: Place your iron hand inside

a velvet glove. If, like the courtier of times gone by, you can master the arts

of indirection, leaming to seduce, charm, deceive, and subtly outmaneuver

your opponents, you will attain the heights of power. You will be able to

make people bend to your will without their realizing what you have done.

And if they do not realize what you have done, they will neither resent nor

resist you.

To some people the notion of consciously playing power games---no matter how indirect-seems evil, asocial, a relic of the past. They believe they

can opt out of the game by behaving in ways that have nothing to do with

power. You must beware of such people, for while they express such opinions outwardly, they are often among the most adept players at power.

They utilize strategies that cleverly disguise the nature of the manipulation

involved. These types, for example, will often display their weakness and

lack of power as a kind of moral virtue. But true powerlessness, without

any motive of self-interest, would not publicize its weakness to gain sympathy or respect. Making a show of one's weakness is actually a very effective

strategy, subtle and deceptive, in the game of power (see Law 22, the Surrender Tactic).

Another strategy of the supposed nonplayer is to demand equality in

every area of life. Everyone must be treated alike, whatever their status and

strength. But if, to avoid the taint of power, you attempt to treat everyone

equally and fairly, you will confront the problem that some people do certain things better than others. Treating everyone equally means ignoring

their differences, elevating the less skillful and suppressing those who

excel. Again, many of those who behave this way are actually deploying

another power strategy, redistributing people's rewards in a way that they

determine.

Yet another way of avoiding the game would be perfect honesty and

straightforwardness, since one of the main techniques of those who seek

power is deceit and secrecy. But being perfectly honest will inevitably hurt

and insult a great many people, some of whom will choose to injure you in

return. No one will see your honest statement as completely objective and

free of some personal motivation. And they will be right: In truth, the use

of honesty is indeed a power strategy, intended to convince people of one's

noble, good-hearted, selfless character. It is a form of persuasion, even a

subtle form of coercion.

Finally, those who claim to be nonplayers may affect an air of na'ivete,

to protect them from the accusation that they are after power. Beware

again, however, for the appearance of naivete can be an effective means of

deceit (see Law 21, Seem Dumber Than YOUf Mark). And even genuine

naivete is not free of the snares of power. Children may be naive in many

ways, but they often act from an elemental need to gain control over those

around them. Children suffer greatly from feeling powerless in the adult

world, and they use any means available to get their way. Genuinely innocent people may still be playing for power, and are often horribly effective

at the game, since they are not hindered by reflection. Once again, those

who make a show or display of innocence are the least innocent of al!.

The only means to gain

one:,' ends with people

are force and cunning

Love also, Ihey say; bul

that is 10 wait for

sunshine, am/ life needs

every monzent.

JOHANN VON GOETlII',

You can 1749-1S32 recognize these supposed nonplayers by the way they flaunt

their moral qualities, their piety, their exquisite sense of justice. But since

all of us hunger for power, and almost all of our actions are aimed at gaining it, the nonplayers are merely throwing dust in OUf eyes, distracting us

from their power plays with their air of moral superiority. If you observe

them closely, you will see in fact that they are often the ones most skillful at

indirect manipulation, even if some of them practice it unconsciously. And

they greatly resent any publicizing of the tactics they use every day.

If the world is like a giant scheming court and we are trapped inside it,

there is no use in trying to opt out of the game. That will only render you

powerless, and powerlessness will make you miserable. Instead of struggling against the inevitable, instead of arguing and whining and feeling

guilty, it is far better to excel at power. In fact, the better you are at dealing

with power, the better friend, lover, husband, wife, and person you become. By following the route of the perfect courtier (see Law 24) you learn

to make others feel better about themselves, becoming a SOUfce of pleasure

to them. They will grow dependent on YOUf abilities and desirous of YOUf

presence. By mastering the 48 laws in this book, you spare others the pain

that comes from bungling with power-by playing with fire without knowing its properties. If the game of power is inescapable, better to be an artist

than a denier or a bungler.

The arrow shot by the

archer fllay or fnay not

kill a single person, Bul

slralagems devised hy a

wise man can kill even

habes in Ihe womh,

Learning the game of power requires a certain way of looking at the world,

a shifting of perspective. It takes effort and years of practice, for much of

the game may not come naturally. Certain basic skills are required, and

once you master these skills you will be able to apply the laws of power

more easily.

The most important of these skills, and power's crucial foundation, is ] the ability to master your emotions. An emotional response to a situation is

the single greatest barrier to power, a mistake that will cost you a lot more

than any temporary satisfaction you might gain by expressing YOUf feelings. Emotions cloud reason, and if you cannot see the situation clearly,

you cannot prepare for and respond to it with any degree of contro!.

Anger is the most destructive of emotional responses, for it clouds

your vision the most. It also has a ripple effect that invariably makes situations less controllable and heightens your enemy's resolve. If you are trying to destroy an enemy who has hurt you, far better to keep hirn off-guard

by feigning friendliness than showing your anger.

KAUTILYA,

INDIAN PHILOSOPJlFR,

rHIRn CENTURY B.C.

PREFACE xix

I thought to myself

with wh at means, with

what deceptions, with

how many va ried arts,

with what industry a

man sharpens his wits

to deceive another,

and through these

variations the world is

made more beautiful.

FRANCESCO VETTORI,

CONTEMPORARY AND

FRIEND OF

M ACIIIAVELLI,

EA RLY SIXTEENTH

CENTLJRY

There are no principies; there are only

events. There is no

good and bad, there are

only circumstances.

The superior man

espouses events and

circumstances in order

to guide them. lf there

were principles and

fixed laws, nations

would not change them

as we change our shirts

and a man can not be

expected to be wiser

than an entire nation.

HONORE DF BALZAC',

1799-1850

xx PREFACE

Love and affection are also potentially destructive, in that they blind

you to the often self-serving interests of those whom you least suspect of

playing a power game. You cannot repress anger or love, or avoid feeling

them, and you should not try. But you should be careful about how you express them, and most important, they should never influence your plans

and strategies in any way.

Related to mastering YOUf emotions is the ability to distance YOUfseif

from the present moment and think objectively about the past and future.

Like Janus, the double-faeed Roman deity and guardian of all gates and

doorways, you must be able to look in both direetions at onee, the better to

handle danger from wherever it comes. Such is the face you must create for

YOUfself-one face looking continuously to the future and the other to the

past.

For the future, the motto is, \"No days unalert.\" N othing should catch

you by surprise because you are constantly imagining problems before

they arise. Instead of spending your time dreaming of YOUf plan's happy

ending, you must work on calculating every possible permutation and pitfall that might emerge in it. The further you see, the more steps ahead you

plan, the more powerful you become.

The other face of Janus looks constantly to the past-though not to remember past hUftS or bear grudges. That would only curb YOUf power.

Half of the game is learning how to forget those events in the past that eat

away at you and doud YOUf reason. The real purpose of the backwardglancing eye is to educate YOUfseif eonstantly-you look at the past to learn

from those who came before you. (The many historical examples in this

book will greatly help that process.) Then, having looked to the past, you

look doser at hand, to YOUf own aetions and those of YOUf friends. This is

the most vital school you ean learn from, because it comes from personal

experience.

You begin by examining the mistakes you have made in the past, the

ones that have most grievously held you back. You analyze them in terms

of the 48 laws of power, and you extraet from them a lesson and an oath:

\"I shall never repeat such a mistake; I shall never fall into such a trap

again.\" If you can evaluate and observe yourself in this way, you can learn

to break the patterns of the past-an immensely valuable skill.

Power requires the ability to play with appearanees. To this end you

must learn to wear many masks and keep a bag full of deceptive tricks. Deception and masquerade should not be seen as ugly or immoral. All human

interaction requires deception on many levels, and in some ways what separates humans from animals is our ability to lie and deceive. In Greek

myths, in India's Mahabharata cyde, in the Middle Eastern epic of Gilgamesh, it is the privilege of the gods to use deceptive arts; a great man,

Odysseus for instance, was judged by his ability to riyal the craftiness of the

gods, stealing some of their divine power by matching them in wits and deception. Deeeption is a developed art of civilization and the most potent

weapon in the game of power.

You cannot succeed at deception unless you take a somewhat distanced approach to yourself-unless you can be many different people,

wearing the mask that the day and the moment require. With such a flexible approach to all appearances, induding your own, you lose a lot of the

inward heaviness that holds people down. Make your face as malleable as

the actor's, work to conceal your intentions from others, practice luring

people into traps. Playing with appearances and mastering arts of deception are among the aesthetic pleasures of life. They are also key components in the acquisition of power.

If deception is the most potent weapon in your arsenal, then patience

in all things is your crucial shield. Patience will protect you from making

moronic blunders. Like mastering your emotions, patience is a skill-it

does not come naturally. But nothing about power is natural; power is

more godlike than anything in the natural world. And patience is the

supreme virtue of the gods, who have nothing but time. Everything good

will happen-the grass will grow again, if you give it time and see several

steps into the future. Impatience, on the other hand, only makes you look

weak. It is a principal impediment to power.

Power is essentially amoral and one of the most important skills to acquire is the ability to see circumstances rather than good or evil. Power is a

game-this cannot be repeated too often-and in games you do not judge

your opponents by their intentions but by the effect of their actions. You

measure their strategy and their power by what you can see and feel. How

often are someone's intentions made the issue only to doud and deceive!

What does it matter if another player, your friend or riyal, intended good

things and had only your interests at heart, if the effects of his action lead to

so much ruin and confusion? It is only natural for people to cover up their

actions with all kinds of justifications, always assuming that they have acted

out of goodness. You must learn to inwardly laugh each time you hear this

and never get caught up in gauging someone's intentions and actions

through a set of moral judgments that are really an excuse far the accumulation of power.

It is a game. Your opponent sits opposite you. Both of you behave as

gentlemen or ladies, observing the rules of the game and taking nothing

personally. You play with a strategy and you observe your opponent's

moves with as much calmness as you can muster. In the end, you will appreciate the politeness of those you are playing with more than their good

and sweet intentions. Train your eye to follow the results of their moves,

the outward circumstances, and do not be distracted by anything else.

Half of your mastery of power comes from what you do not do, what

you do not allow yourself to get dragged into. For this skill you must learn

to judge all things by what they cost you. As Nietzsche wrote, \"The value of

a thing sometimes lies not in what one attains with it, but in what one pays

for it-what it costsus.\" Perhaps you will attain your goal, and a worthy goal

at that, but at what price? Apply this standard to everything, induding

whether to collaborate with other people or come to their aid. In the end,

PREFACE xxi

xxii PREFACE

life is short, opportunities are few, and you have only so much energy to

draw on. And in this sense time is as important a consideration as any

other. Never waste valuable time, or mental peace of mind, on the affairs of

others-that is too high a price to pay.

Power is a social game. To leam and master it, you must develop the

ability to study and understand people. As the great seventeenth-century

thinker and courtier Baltasar Graciän wrote: \"Many people spend time

studying the properties of animals or herbs; how much more important it

would be to study those of people, with whom we must live or die!\" To be a

master player you must also be a master psychologist. You must recognize

motivations and see through the cloud of dust with which people surround

their actions. An understanding of people's hidden motives is the single

greatest piece of knowledge you can have in acquiring power. It opens up

endless possibilities of deception, seduction, and manipulation.

People are of infinite complexity and you can spend a lifetime watching them without ever fully understanding them. So it is all the more important, then, to begin your education now. In doing so you must also keep

( one principle in mind: Never discriminate as to whom you study and

i whom you trust. Never trust anyone completely and study everyone, including friends and loved ones.

Finally, you must leam always to take the indirect route to power. Disguise your cunning. Like a billiard ball that caroms several times before it

hits its target, your moves must be planned and developed in the least obvious way. By training yourself to be indirect, you can thrive in the modem

court, appearing the paragon of decency while being the consummate manipulator.

Consider The 48 Laws of Power a kind of handbook on the arts of indirection. The laws are based on the writings of men and women who have

studied and mastered the game of power. These writings span a period of

more than three thousand years and were created in civilizations as disparate as ancient China and Renaissance Italy; yet they share common

threads and themes, together hinting at an essence of power that has yet to

be fully articulated. The 48 laws of power are the distillation of this accumulated wisdom, gathered from the writings of the most illustrious strategists (Sun-tzu, Clausewitz), statesmen (Bismarck, Talleyrand), courtiers

(Castiglione, Graciän), seducers (Ninon de Lenclos, Casanova), and con

artists (\"Yellow Kid\" Weil) in history.

The laws have a simple premise: Certain actions almost always increase one's power (the observance of the law), while others decrease it

and even ruin us (the transgression of the law). These transgressions and

observances are illustrated by historical examples. The laws are timeless

and definitive.

The 48 Laws of Power can be used in several ways. By reading the book

straight through you can leam about power in general. Although several of

the laws may seem not to pertain directly to your life, in time you will

probably find that all of them have some application, and that in fact they

are interrelated. By getting an overview of the entire subject you will best

be able to evaluate your own past actions and gain a greater degree of control over your immediate affairs. A thorough reading of the book will inspire thinking and reevaluation long after you finish it.

The book has also been designed for browsing and for examining the

law that seems at that particular moment most pertinent to you. Say you

are experiencing problems with a superior and cannot understand why

YOUf efforts have not lead to more gratitude or a promotion. Several laws

specifically address the master-underling relationship, and you are almost

certainly transgressing one of them. By browsing the initial paragraphs for

the 48 laws in the table of contents, you can identify the pertinent law.

Finally, the book can be browsed through and picked apart for entertainment, for an enjoyable ride through the foibles and great deeds of our

predecessors in power. A warning, however, to those who use the book for

this purpose: It might be better to turn back. Power is endlessly seductive

and deceptive in its own way. It is a labyrinth-your mind becomes consumed with solving its infinite problems, and you so on realize how pleasantly lost you have become. In other words, it becomes most amusing by

taking it seriously. Do not be frivolous with such a critical matter. The gods

of power frown on the frivolous; they give ultimate satisfaction only to

those who study and reflect, and punish those who skim the surfaces looking for a good time.

Any man who tries to be good alt the time is bound to come to ruin

among the great number who are not good. Hence a prince who wants

to keep his authority must leam how not to be good, and use that

knowledge, or refrain from using it, as necessity requires.

THE PRINCE, Niccolo Machiavelli, 7469-7527

PREFACE xxiii

L A W

1

NEVER OUTSHINE

THE MASTER

JUDGMENT

Always make those above you feel comfortably superior.

In your desire to please and impress them, do not go too

far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish

the opposite-inspire fear and insecurity. Make your

masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will

attain the heights of power.

1

2 LAW 1

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV's finance minister in the first years of his reign,

was a generous man who loved lavish parties, pretty women, and poetry.

He also loved money, for he led an extravagant lifestyle. Fouquet was

clever and very much indispensable to the king, so when the prime minister, Jules Mazarin, died, in 1661, the finance minister expected to be

named the successor. Instead, the king decided to abolish the position. This

and other signs made Fouquet suspect that he was falling out of favor, and

so he decided to ingratiate hirnself with the king by staging the most spectacular party the world had ever seen. The party's ostensible purpose

would be to commemorate the completion of Fouquet's chateau, Vaux-IeVicomte, but its real function was to pay tribute to the king, the guest of

honor.

The most brilliant nobility of Europe and some of the greatest minds

of the time-La Fontaine, La Rochefoucauld, Madame de Sevigneattended the party. Moliere wrote a play for the occasion, in which he

hirnself was to perform at the evening's conclusion. The party began with a

lavish seven-course dinner, featuring foods from the Orient never before tasted in France, as weH as new dishes created especiaHy for the night.

The meal was accompanied with music commissioned by Fouquet to

honor the king.

Mter dinner there was a promenade through the chateau's gardens.

The grounds and fountains of Vaux-Ie-Vicomte were to be the inspiration

for VersaiHes.

Fouquet personally accompanied the young king through the geometrically aligned arrangements of shrubbery and flower beds. Arrlving at the

gardens' canals, they witnessed a fireworks display, which was followed by

the performance of Moliere's play. The party ran weH into the night and

everyone agreed it was the most amazing affair they had ever attended.

The next day, Fouquet was arrested by the king's head musketeer,

D' Artagnan. Three months later he went on trial for stealing from the

country's treasury. (Actually, most of the stealing he was accused of he had

done on the king's behalf and with the king's permission.) Fouquet was

found guilty and sent to the most isolated prison in France, high in the

Pyrenees Mountains, where he spent the last twenty years of his life in solitary confinement.

Interpretation

Louis XN, the Sun King, was a proud and arrogant man who wanted to be

the center of attention at all times; he could not countenance being outdone in lavishness by anyone, and certainly not his finance minister. To

succeed Fouquet, Louis chose Jean-Baptiste Colbert, a man famous for his

parsimony and for giving the duHest parties in Paris. Colbert made sure

that any money liberated from the treasury went straight into Louis's

hands. With the money, Louis built a palace even more magnificent than

Fouquet's-the glorious palace of Versailles. He used the same architects,

decorators, and garden designer. And at Versailles, Louis hosted parties

even more extravagant than the one that cost Fouquet his freedom.

Let us examine the situation. The evening of the party, as Fouquet presented spectacle on spectacle to Louis, each more magnificent than the one

before, he imagined the affair as demonstrating his loyalty and devotion to

the king. Not only did he think the party would put hirn back in the king's

favor, he thought it would show his good taste, his connections, and his

popularity, making hirn indispensable to the king and demonstrating that

he would make an excellent prime minister. Instead, however, each new

spectacle, each appreciative smile bestowed by the guests on Fouquet,

made it seem to Louis that his own friends and subjects were more

charmed by the finance minister than by the king hirnself, and that Fouquet

was actually flaunting his wealth and power. Rather than flattering Louis

XIV, Fouquet's elaborate party offended the king's vanity. Louis would not

admit this to anyone, of course--instead, he found a convenient excuse to

rid hirns elf of a man who had inadvertently made hirn feel insecure.

Such is the fate, in some form or other, of all those who unbalance the

master's sense of self, poke holes in his vanity, or make hirn doubt his preeminence.

When the evening began, Fouquet was at the top 0/ the world.

By the time it had ended, he was at the bottom.

Voltaire, 1694-1 778

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

In the early 1600s, the ltalian astronomer and mathematician Galileo

found hirnself in a precarious position. He depended on the generosity of

great rulers to support his research, and so, like all Renaissance scientists,

he would sometimes make gifts of his inventions and discoveries to the

leading patrons of the time. Once, for instance, he presented a military

compass he had invented to the Duke of Gonzaga. Then he dedicated a

book explaining the use of the compass to the Medicis. Both rulers were

grateful, and through them Galileo was able to find more students to teach.

No matter how great the discovery, however, his patrons usually paid hirn

with gifts, not cash. This made for a life of constant insecurity and dependence. There must be an easier way, he thought.

Galileo hit on a new strategy in 1610, when he discovered the moons

of Jupiter. Instead of dividing the discovery among his patrons-giving

one the telescope he had used, dedicating a book to another, and so on-as

he had done in the past, he decided to focus exclusively on the Medicis. He

chose the Medicis for one reason: Shortly after Cosimo I had established

the Medici dynasty, in 1540, he had made Jupiter, the mightiest of the

gods, the Medici symbol-a symbol of a power that went beyond politics

and banking, one linked to ancient Rome and its divinities.

Galileo tumed his discovery of Jupiter's moons into a cosmic event

LAW 1 3

4 LAW 1

honoring the Medicis' greatness. Shortly after the discovery, he announced

that \"the bright stars [the moons of Jupiterl offered themselves in the heavens\" to his telescope at the same time as Cosimo II's enthronement. He

said that the number of the moons-four-harmonized with the number of

the Medicis (Cosimo 11 had three brothers) and that the moons orbited

Jupiter as these four sons revolved around Cosimo I, the dynasty's founder.

More than coincidence, this showed that the heavens themselves reflected

the ascendancy of the Medici family. After he dedicated the discovery to

the Medicis, Galileo commissioned an emblem representingJupiter sitting

on a cloud with the four stars circling about hirn, and presented this to

Cosimo 11 as a symbol of his link to the stars.

In 1610 Cosimo 11 made Galileo his official court philosopher and

mathematician, with a full salary. For a scientist this was the coup of a lifetime. The days of begging for patronage were over.

Interpretation

In one stroke, Galileo gained more with his new strategy than he had in

years of begging. The reason is simple: All masters want to appear more

brilliant than other people.

They do not care about science or empirical truth or the latest invention; they care about their name and their glory. Galileo gave the Medicis

infinitely more glory by linking their name with cosmic forces than he had

by making them the patrons of some new scientific gadget or discovery.

Scientists are not spared the vagaries of court life and patronage. They

too must serve masters who hold the purse strings. And their great intellectual powers can make the master feel insecure, as if he were only there to

supply the funds-an ugly, ignoble job. The producer of a great work

wants to feel he is more than just the provider of the financing. He wants to

appear creative and powerful, and also more important than the work produced in his name. Instead of insecurity you must give hirn glory. Galileo

did not challenge the intellectu� authority of the Medicis with his discovery, or make them feel inferior in any way; by literally aligning them with

the stars, he made them shine brilliantly among the courts of Italy. He did

not outshine the master, he made the master outshine all others.

KEYS TO POWER

Everyone has insecurities. W hen you show yourself in the world and display your talents, you naturally stir up all kinds of resentrnent, envy, and

other manifestations of insecurity. This is to be expected. You cannot spend

your life worrying about the petty feelings of others. With those above you,

however, you must take a different approach: W hen it comes to power,

outshining the master is perhaps the worst mi stake of all.

Do not fool yourself into thinking that life has changed much since the

days of Louis XIV and the Medicis. Those who attain high standing in life

are like kings and queens: They want to feel secure in their positions, and

superior to those around them in intelligence, wit, and charm. It is a deadly

but common misperception to believe that by displaying and vaunting

YOUf gifts and talents, you are winning the master's affection. He may feign

appreciation, but at his first opportunity he will replace you with someone

less intelligent, less attractive, less threatening, just as Louis XIV replaced

the sparkling Fouquet with the bland Colbert. And as with Louis, he will

not admit the truth, but will find an excuse to rid hirnself of YOUf presence.

This Law involves two rules that you must realize. First, you can inadvertently outshine a master simply by being YOUfself. There are masters

who are more insecure than others, monstrously insecUfe; you may naturally outshine them by YOUf charm and grace.

No one had more natural talents than Astorre Manfredi, prince of

Faenza. The most handsome of all the young princes of Italy, he captivated

his subjects with his generosity and open spirit.

In the year 1500, Cesare Borgia laid siege to Faenza. W hen the city

surrendered, the citizens expected the worst from the cruel Borgia, who,

however, decided to spare the town: He simply occupied its fortress, executed none of its citizens, and allowed Prince Manfredi, eighteen at the

time, to remain with his court, in complete freedom.

A few weeks later, though, soldiers hauled Astorre Manfredi away to a

Roman prison. A year after that, his body was fished out of the River

Tiber, a stone tied around his neck. Borgia justified the horrible deed with

so me sort of trumped-up charge of treason and conspiracy, but the real

problem was that he was notoriously vain and insecure. The young man

was outshining hirn without even trying. Given Manfredi's natural talents,

the prince's mere presence made Borgia seem less attractive and charismatic. The lesson is simple: If you cannot help being charming and superior, you must leam to avoid such monsters of vanity. Either that, or find a

way to mute your good qualities when in the company of a Cesare Borgia.

Second, never imagine that because the master loves you, you can do

anything you want. Entire books could be written about favorites who fell

out of favor by taking their status for granted, for daring to outshine. In

late-sixteenth-century Japan, the favorite of Emperor Hideyoshi was a man

called Sen no Rikyu. The premier artist of the tea ceremony, which had become an obsession with the nobility, he was one of Hideyoshi's most

trusted advisers, had his own apartment in the palace, and was honored

throughout Japan. Yet in 1591, Hideyoshi had hirn arrested and sentenced

to death. Rikyu took his own life, instead. The cause for his sudden change

of fortune was discovered later: It seems that Rikyu, former peasant and

later court favorite, had had a wooden statue made of hirnself wearing sandals (a sign of nobility) and posing loftily. He had had this statue placed in

the most important temple inside the palace gates, in clear sight of the royalty who often would pass by. To Hideyoshi this signified that Rikyu had

no sense of limits. Presuming that he had the same rights as those of the

highest nobility, he had forgotten that his position depended on the emperor, and had co me to believe that he had earned it on his own. This was

LAW 1 5

6 LAW 1

an unforgivable miscalculation of his own importance and he paid for it

with his life. Remember the following: Never take your position for

granted and never let any favors you receive go to your head.

Knowing the dangers of outshining your master, you can turn this Law

to your advantage. First you must flatter and puff up your master. Overt

flattery can be effective but has its limits; it is too direct and obvious, and

looks bad to other courtiers. Discreet flattery is much more powerful. If

you are more intelligent than your master, for example, seem the opposite:

Make hirn appear more intelligent than you. Act naive. Make it seem that

you need his expertise. Commit harmless mistakes that will not hurt you in

the long run but will give you the chance to ask for his help. Masters adore

such requests. A master who cannot bestow on you the gifts of his experience may direct rancor and ill will at you instead.

If your ideas are more creative than your master's, ascribe them to

hirn, in as public a manner as possible. Make it clear that your advice is

merely an echo of his advice.

If you surpass your master in wit, it is okay to play the role of the court

jester, but do not make hirn appear cold and surly by comparison. Tone

down your humor if necessary, and find ways to make hirn seem the dispenser of amusement and good cheer. If you are naturally more sociable

and generous than your master, be careful not to be the cloud that blocks

his radiance from others. He must appear as the sun around which everyone revolves, radiating power and brilliance, the center of attention. If you

are thrust into the position of entertaining hirn, a display of your limited

means may win you his sympathy. Any attempt to impress hirn with your

grace and generosity can prove fatal: Learn from Fouquet or pay the price.

In all of these cases it is not a weakness to disguise your strengths if

in the end they lead to power. By letting others outshine you, you remain

in control, instead of being a victim of their insecurity. This will all come in

handy the day you decide to rise above your inferior status. If, like Galileo,

you can make your master shine even more in the eyes of others, then you

are a godsend and you will be instantly promoted.

Image:

The S tars in the

Sky. There can be only

one sun at a time. Never

o b scure the sunlight, or

riyal the sun's brillianc e ;

rather, fade into the sky and

find ways to heighten

the m aster star's

intensity.

Authority: Avoid outshining the master. All superiority is odious, but the

superiority of a subject over his prince is not only stupid, it is fatal. This is a

lesson that the stars in the sky teach us-they may be related to the sun,

and just as brilliant, but they never appear in her company. (Baltasar

Gracian, 1601 -165R)

REVERSAL

You cannot worry about upsetting every person you corne across, but you

must be selectively cruel. If your superior is a falling star, there is nothing

to fear from outshining hirn. Do not be merciful-your master had no such

scruples in his own cold-blooded climb to the top. Gauge his strength. If he

is weak, discreetly hasten his downfall: Outdo, outcharm, outsrnart hirn at

key moments. If he is very weak and ready to fall, let nature take its course.

Do not risk outshining a feeble superior-it rnight appear cruel or spiteful.

But if your master is firm in his position, yet you know yourself to be the

more capable, bide your time and be patient. It is the natural course of

things that power eventually fades and weakens. Your master will fall

someday, and if you play it right, you will outlive and sorneday outshine

hirn.

LAW 1 7

8

L A W

2

NEVER PUT TOO MUCH

TRUST IN FRIENDS, LEARN

HOW TO USE ENEMIES

JUDGMENT

Be wary of friends-they will betray you more quickly, for

they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled

and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be

more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove.

In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. Ifyou have no enemies, jind a way to make them.

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

In the mid-ninth century A.D., a young man named Michael III assumed

the throne of the Byzantine Empire. His mother, the Empress Theodora,

had been banished to a nunnery, and her lover, Theoctistus, had been murdered; at the head of the conspiracy to depose Theodora and enthrone

Michael had been Michael's unde, Bardas, a man of intelligence and ambition. Michael was now a young, inexperienced mIer, surrounded by intriguers, murderers, and profligates. In this time of peril he needed

someone he could trust as his councillor, and his thoughts tumed to Basilius, his best friend. Basilius had no experience whatsoever in govemment

and politics-in fact, he was the head of the royal stables-but he had

proven his love and gratitude time and again.

They had met a few years before, when Michael had been visiting the

stables just as a wild horse got loose. Basilius, a young groom from peasant

Macedonian stock, had saved Michael's life. The groom's strength and

courage had impressed Michael, who immediately raised Basilius from the

obscurity of being a horse trainer to the position of head of the stables. He

loaded his friend with gifts and favors and they became inseparable. Basilius was sent to the finest school in Byzantium, and the cmde peasant became a cultured and sophisticated courtier.

Now Michael was emperor, and in need of someone loyal. Who could

he better trust with the post of chamberlain and chief councillor than a

young man who owed hirn everything?

Basilius could be trained for the job and Michael loved hirn like a

brother. Ignoring the advice of those who recommended the much more

qualified Bardas, Michael chose his friend.

Basilius leamed weIl and was so on advising the emperor on all matters

of state. The only problem seemed to be money-Basilius never had

enough. Exposure to the splendor of Byzantine court life made hirn avaricious for the perks of power. Michael doubled, then tripled his salary, ennobled hirn, and married hirn off to his own mistress, Eudoxia Ingerina.

Keeping such a trusted friend and adviser satisfied was worth any price.

But more trouble was to come. Bardas was now head of the army, and

Basilius convinced Michael that the man was hopelessly ambitious. Under

the illusion that he could control his nephew, Bardas had conspired to put

hirn on the throne, and he could conspire again, this time to get rid of

Michael and assurne the crown hirnself. Basilius poured poison into

Michael's ear until the emperor agreed to have his unde murdered. During

a great horse race, Basilius dosed in on Bardas in the crowd and stabbed

hirn to death. So on after, Basilius asked that he replace Bardas as head of

the army, where he could keep control of the realm and quell rebellion.

This was granted.

Now Basilius's power and wealth only grew, and a few years later

Michael, in financial straits from his own extravagance, asked hirn to pay

back some of the money he had borrowed over the years. To Michael's

shock and astonishment, Basilius refused, with a look of such impudence

To have a good enemy,

choose a [riend: He

knows where to strike.

DIANE DE POITIERS,

1 499-1566, MISTRESS OF

HENRI II OF FRANCE

Every time I bestow a

Wlcant office I make a

hundred discontented

persons and one

ingrate.

LOUIS XIV, 1 638-1715

Thus tor my own part

I have more than once

been deceived by the

person I loved most

and o[ whose love,

above everyone else 's,

I have been most c9njident. So that I b leve

that it ay be \" ght to

love and s ve one

person above alt others,

according to merit and

worth, but never to

trust so much in this

(empting trap o[[riendship as to have cause to

repent o[ it later on.

BALDASSARE

CASTlGLlONE,

1 478-1529

LAW 2 9

1'1 11,:

S\\ \\\"1': TI 11·.

FAH�lF ll. .\\ \\Il TI IF

I IEIW\\

A snake chased hy

hunters asked a farmer

to save its life. To hide it

from its pursuer.\\; the

farmer squatted and let

the snake crawl into his

belly. But when the

danger had passed and

the farmer asked the

snake to come out, the

snake refused. [t was

warm and safe inside.

On his way home, the

man saw a heron and

went up to him and

whispered wh at had

happened. The heron

told him to squat and

strain to eject the

snake. When the snake

snuck its head out, the

heran caught it, pt/lled it

out, ami killed it. The

farmer was worried that

the snake 's poison

migllt still be inside

him, and the Ileum

told him that the cure

for snake poison was

to cook ami eat six

white fowl. \" You 're

a white fo wl, \"

said t lle farmer.

\" You 'll do for a

start. \" He grabbed

the lIeron, put it in a

bag, ami carried it

home, where he

hung it up while he

told his wife what

had happened.

\"['m surprised at

you, \" said the wife.

\" The hird does

you a kindness,

rids you ofthe evil

in your heUy,

saves your life in

fact, yet you

catch it and talk

of killing it. \"

She immediately released

the heron, and

it flew away.

But on its

way, it gouged

out her eyes.

Mo ra I:

When you

see water

fl owing

uphill, it

means that

that the emperor suddenly realized his predicament: The former stable

boy had more money, more allies in the army and senate, and in the end

more power than the emperor hirnself. A few weeks later, after a night of

heavy drinking, Michael awoke to find hirnself sUITounded by soldiers.

Basilius watched as they stabbed the emperor to death. Then, after proclaiming hirnself emperor, he rode his horse through the streets of Byzantium, brandishing the head of his former benefactor and best friend at the

end of a lang pike.

Interpretation

Michael III staked his future on the sense of gratitude he thought Basilius

must feel for hirn. Surely Basilius would serve hirn best; he owed the emperor his wealth, his education, and his position. Then, once Basilius was in

power, anything he needed it was best to give to hirn, strengthening the

bonds between the two men. It was only on the fateful day when the emperor saw that impudent smile on Basilius's face that he realized his deadly

mistake.

He had created a monster. He had allowed a man to see power up

close-a man who then wanted more, who asked for anything and got it,

who feit encumbered by the charity he had received and simply did what

many people da in such a situation: They forget the favors they have received and imagine they have eamed their success by their own merits.

At Michael's moment of realization, he could still have saved his own

life, but friendship and love blind every man to their interests. Nobody believes a friend can betray. And Michael went on disbelieving until the day

his head ended up on a pike.

Lord, protect me from my friends; I can take care of my enemies.

Valtaire, 1694-1 778

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

For several centuries after the fall of the Han Dynasty (A.D. 222), Chinese history followed the same pattern of violent and bloody coups, one after the

other. Army men would plot to kill a weak emperor, then would replace hirn

on the Dragon Throne with a strong general. The general would start a new

dynasty and crown hirnself emperor; to ensure his own survival he would kill

off his fellow generals. A few years later, however, the pattern would resume:

New generals would rise up and assassinate hirn or his sons in their turn. To

be emperor of China was to be alone, sUITounded by a pack of enemies-it

was the least powerful, least secure position in the realm.

In A.D. 959, General Chao K'uang-yin became Emperor Sung. He

knew the odds, the prob ability that within a year or two he would be murdered; how could he break the pattern? Soon after becoming emperor,

Sung ordered a banquet to celebrate the new dynasty, and invited the most

powerful commanders in the army. Mter they had drunk much wine, he

someone is repaying a kindnes.1:

AFRICAN FOLK TA/I

dismissed the guards and everybody else except the generals, who now

feared he would murder them in one fell swoop. Instead, he addressed

them: \"The whole day is spent in fear, and I am unhappy both at the table

and in my bed. For which one of you does not dream of ascending the

throne? I do not doubt your allegiance, but if by some chance your subordinates, seeking wealth and position, were to force the emperor's yellow

robe upon you in turn, how could you refuse it?\" Drunk and fearing for

their lives, the generals proclaimed their innocence and their loyalty. But

Sung had other ideas: \"The best way to pass one's days is in peaceful enjoyment of riches and honor. If you are willing to give up your commands,

I am ready to provide you with fine estates and beautiful dwellings where

you may take your pleasure with singers and girls as your companions.\"

The astonished generals realized that instead of a life of anxiety and

struggle Sung was offering them riches and security. The next day, all of

the generals tendered their resignations, and they retired as nobles to the

estates that Sung bestowed on them.

In one stroke, Sung turned a pack of \"friendly\" wolves, who would

likely have betrayed hirn, into a group of docile lambs, far from all power.

Over the next few years Sung continued his campaign to secure his

rule. In A.D. 971, King Liu of the Southern Han finally surrendered to him

after years of rebellion. To Liu's astonishment, Sung gave hirn a rank in the

imperial court and invited hirn to the palace to seal their newfound friendship with wine. As King Liu took the glass that Sung offered hirn, he hesitated, fearing it contained poison. \"Your subject's crimes certainly merit

death,\" he cried out, \"but I beg Your Majesty to spare your subject's life. Indeed I dare not drink this wine.\" Emperor Sung laughed, took the glass

from Liu, and swallowed it hirnself. There was no poison. From then on

Liu became his �ost trusted and loyal friend.

At the time, China had splintered into many smaller kingdoms. When

Ch'ien Shu, the king of one of these, was defeated, Sung's ministers advised the emperor to lock this rebel up. They presented documents proving that he was still conspiring to kill Sung. When Ch'ien Shu came to visit

the emperor, however, instead of locking hirn up, Sung honored hirn. He

also gave hirn a package, which he told the former king to open when he

was halfway horne. Ch'ien Shu opened the bundle on his return journey

and saw that it contained all the papers documenting his conspiracy. He realized that Sung knew of his murderous plans, yet had spared hirn nonetheless. This generosity won hirn over, and he too became one of Sung's most

loyal vassals.

Interpretation

A Chinese proverb compares friends to the jaws and teeth of a dangerous

animal: If you are not careful, you will find them chewing you up. Emperor

Sung knew the jaws he was passing between when he assumed the throne:

His \"friends\" in the army would chew hirn up like meat, and if he somehow survived, his \"friends\" in the government would have hirn for supper.

There are many who

think therefore that a

wise prince ollght,

when he has the

chance, to foment

astl/tely same enmity,

so that hy suppressillg

it he will augment his

greatness. Princes, and

especially new ones,

have fOllnd more fäith

and more usefulness in

those men, wh om at the

heginning oftheir

power they regarded

with slIspidon, than in

those they at first

con{ided in. Pandolfo

Petrl/cd, prince of

Siena, governed his

state more by those

whom he suspected

than by others.

NICCOLÖ MACHIAVELLI,

1469- 1 527

A brahman, a great

expert in Veda WI10 has

hecome a great archer

as weil, offers his

services to his good

friend, who is now the

king. The hrahmall

cries out when he sees

the king, \"Recognize

me, your friend!\" The

king answers him with

contempl and then

explains: \" Yes, we were

friellds hefore, hut ollr

friendship was hased

Oll what power we

had .... I was friellds

Wilh YOll, good

hrahman, hecause it

served my p\"rpose. No

pauper is friend to the

rich, no fool to (he

wise, 110 ('oward to (he

LAW 2 11

hrave. An old friendwho needs him? It is

two mell of equal

wealth and equal hirth

who (ontract friendship and marriage, not

a rich man and a

pauper .... An old

friend-who needs

him?

THE MAHABHARATA,

C. THIRD CENTlJRY H.C.

Pick up a hee fram

killdlless, and learn the

limitations of killdlless.

SUFI PROVERB

Men are more ready to

repay an illjury thall a

hellefit, because gratilude is a burdell and

revellge a pleasure.

TAcrrus, c. A.D. 55-120

12 LAW 2

Emperor Sung would have no truck with \"friends\" -he bribed his fellow

generals with splendid estates and kept them far away. This was a much

better way to emasculate them than killing them, which would only have

led other generals to seek vengeance. And Sung would have nothing to do

with \"friendly\" ministers. More often than not, they would end up drinking

his famous cup of poisoned wine.

Instead of relying on friends, Sung used his enemies, one after the

other, transforming them into far more reliable subjects. While a friend expects more and more favors, and seethes with jealousy, these former enemies expected nothing and got everything. A man suddenly spared the

guillotine is a gratenIl man indeed, and will go to the ends of the earth for

the man who has pardoned hirn. In time, these former enemies became

Sung's most trusted friends.

And Sung was finally able to break the pattern of coups, violence, and

civil war-the Sung Dynasty ruled China for more than three hundred

years.

In a speech Abraham Lincoln delivered at the height of the Civil War,

he referred to the Southerners as fellow human beings who were in

erroT. An elderly lady chastised him for not calling them irreconcilable

enemies who must be destroyed. \"Why, madam,\" Lincoln replied,

\"do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?\"

KEYS TO POWER

It is natural to want to employ your friends when you find yourself in times

of need. The world is a harsh place, and your friends soften the harshness.

Besides, you know them. Why depend on a stranger when you have a

friend at hand?

The problem is that you often do not know your friends as weIl as you

imagine. Friends often agree on things in order to avoid an argument.

They cover up their unpleasant qualities so as to not offend each other.

They laugh extra hard at each other's jokes. Since honesty rarely strengthens friendship, you may never know how a friend truly feels. Friends will

say that they love your poetry, adore your music, envy your taste in

clothes-maybe they mean it, often they do not.

When you decide to hire a friend, you gradually discover the qualities

he or she has kept hidden. Strangely enough, it is your act of kindness that

unbalances everything. People want to feel they des erve their good fortune. The receipt of a favor can become oppressive: It means you have

been chosen because you are a friend, not necessarily because you are deserving. There is almost a touch of condescension in the act of hiring

friends that secretly afflicts them. The injury will come out slowly: A little

more honesty, flashes of resentment and envy here and there, and before

you know it your friendship fades. The more favors and gifts you supply to

revive the friendship, the less gratitude you receive.

Ingratitude has a long and deep history. It has demonstrated its powers

for so many centuries, that it is truly amazing that people continue to underestimate them. Better to be wary. If you never expect gratitude from a

friend, you will be pleasantly surprised when they do prove grateful.

The problem with using or hiring friends is that it will inevitably limit

your power. The friend is rarely the one who is most able to help you; and

in the end, skill and competence are far more important than friendly feelings. (Michael III had a man right under his no se who would have steered

hirn right and kept hirn alive: That man was Bardas.)

All working situations require a kind of distance between people. You

are trying to work, not make friends; friendliness (real or false) only obscures that fact. The key to power, then, is the ability to judge who is best

able to further your interests in all situations. Keep friends for friendship,

but work with the skilIed and competent.

Your enemies, on the other hand, are an untapped gold mine that you

must learn to exploit. When Talleyrand, Napoleon's foreign minister, decided in 1807 that his boss was leading France to ruin, and the time had

come to turn against hirn, he understood the dangers of conspiring against

the emperor; he needed a partner, a confederate--what friend could he

trust in such a project? He chose Joseph Fouche, head of the secret police,

his most hated enemy, a man who had even tried to have hirn assassinated.

He knew that their former hatred would create an opportunity for an emotional reconciliation. He knew that Fouche would expect nothing from

hirn, and in fact would work to prove that he was worthy of Talleyrand's

choice; a person who has something to prove will move mountains for you.

Finally, he knew that his relationship with Fouche would be based on mutual self-interest, and would not be contaminated by personal feeling. The

selection proved perfect; although the conspirators did not succeed in toppling Napoleon, the union of such powerful but unlikely partners generated much interest in the cause; opposition to the emperor slowly began to

spread. And from then on, Talleyrand and Fouche had a fruitful working

relationship. Whenever you can, bury the hatchet with an enemy, and

make a point of putting hirn in your service.

As Lincoln said, you destroy an enemy when you make a friend of

hirn. In 1971, during the Vietnam War, Henry Kissinger was the target of

an unsuccessful kidnapping attempt, a conspiracy involving, among others,

the renowned antiwar activist priests the Berrigan brothers, four more

Catholic priests, and four nuns. In private, without informing the Secret

Service or the Justice Department, Kissinger arranged a Saturday-morning

meeting with three of the alleged kidnappers. Explaining to his guests that

he would have most American soldiers out of Vietnam by mid-1972, he

completely charmed them. They gave hirn some \"Kidnap Kissinger\" buttons and one of them remained a friend of his for years, visiting hirn on

several occasions. This was not just a onetime ploy: Kissinger made a policy of working with those who disagreed with hirn. Colleagues commented

that he seemed to get along better with his enemies than with his friends.

Without enemies around us, we grow lazy. An enemy at our heels

sharpens our wits, keeping us focused and alert. It is sometimes better,

PHOFITI.\\C ß) Ol J{

1-: \\ 1-:\\11 1-:,

King Riero chanced

llpon a time, speaking

with one of his

enemies, to be 10M in a

reproachful manner

that he had stinking

brealh. Whereupon Ihe

good king, being somewhat dismayed in

hirnself, as soon as he

retumed horne chided

his wife, \"Row does it

happen thai you never

toM me oflhis problern?\" The wonzan,

being a simple, cha,le.

and harmless dame,

said, \"Sir, I had thollghl

all men '05 breath had

smelled so. \" Thus it is

plain that faults thai

are evident 10 the

senses, gross and

corporal, or otherwise

noforiolls to the world,

we know by our

enenzies saoner than

by our friends and

familiars.

PLUTARCII,

c. A.n. 46-120

LAW 2 13

14 LAW 2

then, to use enemies as enemies rather than transforming them into friends

or allies.

Mao Tse-tung saw conflict as key in his approach to power. In 1937 the

Japanese invaded China, interrupting the civil war between Mao's Communists and their enemy, the Nationalists.

Fearing that the Japanese would wipe them out, some Communist

leaders advocated leaving the Nationalists to fight the Japanese, and using

the time to recuperate. Mao disagreed: The Japanese could not possibly

defeat and occupy a vast country like China for long. Once they left, the

Communists would have grown rusty if they had been out of combat for

several years, and would be ill prepared to reopen their struggle with the

Nationalists. To fight a formidable foe like the Japanese, in fact, would be

the perfect training for the Communists' ragtag army. Mao's plan was

adopted, and it worked: By the time the Japanese finally retreated, the

Communists had gained the fighting experience that helped them defeat

the Nationalists.

Years later, a Japanese visitor tried to apologize to Mao for his country's invasion of China. Mao interrupted, \"Should I not thank you instead?\" Without a worthy opponent, he explained, a man or group cannot

grow stronger.

Mao's strategy of constant conflict has several key components. First,

be certain that in the long run you will emerge victorious. Never pick a

fight with someone you are not sure you can defeat, as Mao knew the

Japanese would be defeated in time. Second, if you have no apparent enemies, you must sometimes set up a convenient target, even tuming a friend

into an enemy. Mao used this tactic time and again in politics. Third, use

such enemies to define your cause more clearly to the public, even framing

it as a struggle of good against evil. Mao actually encouraged China's disagreements with the Soviet U nion and the U nited States; without clear-cut

enemies, he believed, his people would lose any sense of what Chinese

Communism meant. A sharply defined enemy is a far stronger argument

for your side than all the words you could possibly put together.

Never let the presence of enemies upset or distress you-you are far

better off with a declared opponent or two than not knowing where your

real enemies lie. The man of power welcomes conflict, using enemies to

enhance his reputation as a surefooted fighter who can be relied upon in

times of uncertainty.

Image : The Jaws of Ingratitude.

Knowing what would happen

Autho rit y :

Know how to use

if you put a finger In

the mouth of a !ion,

you would stay

clear of it.

With fri ends

you will h a ve

no such caution, and

if you hire them, they will

enemies fo r your own

profit. You must learn to grab a

sword not by its blade, which would

cut you, but by the handle, which allows

you to defend YOUfself. The wise man

profits more from his enemies,

than a fool from his friends.

eat you alive with i ngratitude.

(Baltasar Gracian,

1 6 01- 1658 )

REVERSAL

Although it is generally best not to mix work with friendship, there are

times when a friend can be used to greater effect than an enemy. A man of

power, for example, often has dirty work that has to be done, but for the

sake of appearances it is generally preferable to have other people do it for

him; friends often do this the best, since their affection for hirn makes them

willing to take chances. Also, if YOUf plans go awry for some reason, you

can use a friend as a convenient scapegoat. This \"fall of the favorite\" was a

trick often used by kings and sovereigns: They would let their dosest friend

at court take the fall for a mistake, since the public would not believe that

they would deliberately sacrifice a friend for such a purpose. Of course,

after you play that card, you have lost your friend forever. It is best, then, to

reserve the scapegoat role for someone who is dose to you but not too

elose.

Finally, the problem ab out working with friends is that it confuses the

boundaries and distances that working requires. But if both partners in the

arrangement understand the dangers involved, a friend often can be employed to great effect. You must never let YOUf guard down in such a venture, however; always be on the lookout for any signs of emotional

disturbance such as envy and ingratitude. Nothing is stable in the realm of

power, and even the dosest offriends can be transformed into the worst of

enemies.

LAW 2 15

16

L AW

3

C ONCEAL YOUR

INTENTIONS

JUDGMENT

Keep people oJJ-balance and in the dark by never revealing the pur pose behind your actions. If they have no clue

what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide

them far enough down the wrang path, envelop them in

enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.

PART I: USE DECOYED OBJECTS OF DESIRE AND RED

HERRINGS TO THROW PEO PLE OFF THE SCENT

If at any point in the deception you practice people have the slightest suspicion as to your intentions, alt is lost. Do not give them the chance to sense

what you are up to: Throw them off the scent by dragging red herrings

across the path. Use false sincerity, send ambiguous signals, set up misleading objects of desire. Unable to distinguish the genuine Jrom the false,

they cannot pick out your real goal.

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

Over several weeks, Ninon de Lenclos, the most infamous courtesan of

seventeenth-century France, listened patiently as the Marquis de Sevigne

explained his struggles in pursuing a heautiful hut difficult young countess.

Ninon was sixty-two at the time, and more than experienced in matters of

love; the marquis was a lad of twenty-two, handsome, dashing, hut hopelessly inexperienced in romance. At first Ninon was amused to hear the

marquis talk ahout his mistakes, hut finally she had had enough. Unahle to

hear ineptitude in any realm, least of all in seducing a woman, she decided

to take the young man under her wing. First, hE\\ had to und erstand that this

was war, and that the heautiful countess was a Citadel to which he had to

lay siege as carefully as any general. Every step had to he planned and executed with the utmost attention to detail and nuance.

Instructing the marquis to start over, Ninon told him to approach the

countess with a hit of distance, an air of nonchalance. The next time the

two were alone together, she said, he would confide in the countess as

would a friend hut nota potential lover. This was to throw her off the scent.

The countess was no longer to take his interest in her for granted-perhaps

he was only interested in friendship.

Ninon planned ahead. Once the countess was confused, it would he

time to make her jealous. At the next encounter, at a major fete in Paris, the

marquis would show up with a heautiful young woman at his side. This

heautiful young woman had equally heautiful friends, so that wherever the

countess would now see the marquis, he would he surrounded hy the most

stunning young women in Paris. Not only would the countess he seething

with jealousy, she would come to see the marquis as someone who was desired hy others. It was hard far Ninon to make the marquis understand, hut

she patiently explained that a woman who is interested in a man wants to

see that other women are interested in him, to�. Not only does that give

him instant value, it makes it all the more satisfying to snatch him from

their clutches.

Once the countess was jealous hut intrigued, it would he time to heguile her. On Ninon's instructions, the marquis would fail to show up at affairs where the countess expected to see him. Then, suddenly, he would

appear at salons he had never frequented hefore, hut that the countess atLAW 3 17

18 LAW 3

tended often. She would be unable to predict his moves. All of this would

push her into the state of emotional confusion that is a prerequisite for successful seduction.

These moves were executed, and took several weeks. Ninon monitored the marquis's progress: Through her network of spies, she heard how

the countess would laugh a litde harder at his witticisms, listen more

closely to his stories. She heard that the countess was suddenly asking questions about hirn. Her friends told her that at social affairs the countess

would often look up at the marquis, following his steps. Ninon feJt certain

that the young woman was falling under his spell. It was a matter of weeks

now, maybe a month or two, but if all went smoothly, the citadel would

fall.

A few days later the marquis was at the countess's horne. They were

alone. Suddenly he was a different man: This time acting on his own impulse, rather than following Ninon's instructions, he took the countess's

hands and told her he was in love with her. The young woman seemed

confused, a reaction he did not expect. She became polite, then excused

herself. For the rest of the evening she avoided his eyes, was not there to

say good-night to hirn. The next few times he visited he was told she was

not at horne. When she finally admitted hirn again, the two feIt awkward

and uncomfortable with each other. The spell was broken.

Interpretation

Ninon de Lenclos knew everything about the art of love. The greatest writers, thinkers, and politicians of the time had been her lovers-men like La

Rochefoucauld, Moliere, and Richelieu. Seduction was a game to her, to be

practiced with skill. As she got older, and her reputation grew, the most important families in France would send their sons to her to be instructed in

matters of love.

Ninon knew that men and women are very different, but when it

comes to seduction they feel the same: Deep down inside, they often sense

when they are being seduced, but they give in because they enjoy the feeling of being led along. It is a pleasure to let go, and to allow the other person to detour you into a strange country. Everything in seduction,

however, depends on suggestion. You cannot announce yOUf intentions or

reveal them direcdy in words. Instead you must throw your targets off the

scent. To surrender to YOUf guidance they must be appropriately confused.

You have to scramble your signals-appear interested in another man or

woman (the decoy), then hint at being interested in the target, then feign

indifference, on and on. Such patterns not only confuse, they excite.

Imagine this story from the countess's perspective: After a few of the

marquis's moves, she sensed the marquis was playing some sort of game,

but the game delighted her. She did not know where he was leading her,

but so much the better. His moves intrigued her, each of them keeping her

waiting for the next one--she even enjoyed her jealousy and confusion, for

sometimes any emotion is better than the boredom of security. Perhaps the

marquis had uIterior motives; most men do. But she was willing to wait and

see, and probably if she had been made to wait long enough, what he was

up to would not have mattered.

The moment the marquis uttered that fatal word \"love,\" however, all

was changed. This was no longer a game with moves, it was an artless show

of passion. His intention was revealed: He was seducing her. This put

everything he had done in a new light. All that before had been charming

now seemed ugly and conniving; the countess feit embarrassed \"and used.

A door closed that would never open again.

Do not be held a cheat, even though it is impossible to live today without being one.

Let your greatest cunning lie in covering up what looks like cunning.

BaltaSflT Graritin. 1 601-1658

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

In 1850 the young Otto von Bismarck, then a thirty-five-year-old deputy in

the Prussian parliament, was at a turning point in his career. The issues of

the day were the unification of the many states (including Prussia) into

which Germany was then divided, and a war against Austria, the powerful

neighbor to the south that hoped to keep the Germans weak and at odds,

even threatening to intervene if they tried to unite. Prince William, next in

line to be Prussia's king, was in favor of going to war, and the parliament

rallied to the cause, prepared to back any mobilization of troops. The only

ones to oppose war were the present king, Frederick William IV, and his

ministers, who preferred to appease the powerful Austrians.

Throughout his career, Bismarck had been a loyal, even passionate

supporter of Prussian might and power. He dreamed of German unification, of going to war against Austria and humiliating the country that for so

long had kept Germany divided. A former soldier, he saw warf are as a glorious business.

This, after all, was the man who years later would say, \"The great

questions of the time will be decided, not by speeches and resolutions, but

by iron and blood.\"

Passionate patriot and lover of military glory, Bismarck nevertheless

gave a speech in parliament at the height of the war fever that astonished

all who heard it. \"Woe unto the statesman,\" he said, \"who makes war without a reason that will still be valid when the war is over! After the war, you

will all look differently at these questions. Will you then have the courage

to turn to the peasant contemplating the ashes of his farm, to the man who

has been crippled, to the father who has lost his children?\" Not only did

Bismarck go on to talk of the madness of this war, but, strangest of all, he

praised Austria and defended her actions. This went against everything he

had stood for. The consequences were immediate. Bismarck was against

the war-what could this possibly mean? Other deputies were confused,

and several of them changed their votes. Eventually the king and his ministers won out, and war was averted.

A few weeks after Bismarck's infamous speech, the king, grateful that

LAW 3 19

20 LAW 3

he had spoken for peace, made hirn a cabinet minister. A few years later he

became the Prussian premier. In this role he eventuaIly led his country and

a peace-loving king into a war against Austria, crushing the former empire

and establishing a mighty German state, with Prussia at its head.

Interpretation

At the time of his speech in 1850, Bismarck made several calculations.

First, he sensed that the Prussian military, which had not kept pace with

other European armies, was unready for war-that Austria, in fact, might

very weIl win, a disastrous result for the future. Second, if the war were lost

and Bismarck had supported it, his career would be gravely jeopardized.

The king and his conservative ministers wanted peace; Bismarck wanted

power. The answer was to throw people off the scent by supporting a cause

he detested, saying things he would laugh at if said by another. A whole

country was fooled. It was because of Bismarck's speech that the king made

hirn a minister, a position from which he quickly rose to be prime minister,

attaining the power to strengthen the Prussian military and accomplish

what he had wanted all along: the humiliation of Austria and the unification of Germany under Prussia's leadership.

Bismarck was certainly one of the cleverest statesman who ever lived,

a master of strategy and deception. No one suspected what he was up to in

this case. Had he announced his real intentions, arguing that it was better

to wait now and fight later, he would not have won the argument, since

most Prussians wanted war at that moment and mistakenly believed that

their army was superior to the Austrians. Had he played up to the king,

asking to be made a minister in exchange for supporting peace, he would

not have succeeded either: The king would have distrusted his ambition

and doubted his sincerity.

By being completely insincere and sending misleading signals, however, he deceived everyone, concealed his purpose, and attained everything he wanted. Such is the power of hiding your intentions.

KEYS TO P OWER

Most people are open books. They say what they feel, blurt out their opinions at every opportunity, and constantly reveal their plans and intentions.

They do this for several reasons. First, it is easy and natural to always want

to talk about one's feelings and plans for the future. It takes effort to control

your tongue and monitor what you reveal. Second, many believe that by

being honest and open they are winning people's hearts and showing their

good nature.They are greatly deluded. Honesty is actually a blunt instrument, which bloodies more than it cuts. Your honesty is likely to offend

people; it is much more prudent to tailor your words, telling people what

they want to hear rather than the coarse and ugly truth of what you feel or

think. More important, by being unabashedly open you make yourself so

predictable and familiar that it is almost impossible to respect or fear you,

and power will not accrue to a person who cannot inspire such emotions.

If you yearn for power, quickly lay honesty aside, and train yourself in

the art of concealing your intentions. Master the art and you will always

have the upper hand. Basic to an ability to conceal one's intentions is a

simple truth about human nature: Our first instinct is to always trust appearances. We cannot go around doubting the reality of what we see and

hear-constantly imagining that appearances concealed something else

would exhaust and terrify uso This fact makes it relatively easy to conceal

one's intentions. Simply dangle an object you seem to desire, a goal you

seem to aim for, in front of people's eyes and they will take the appearance

for reality. Once their eyes foeus on the decoy, they will fail to notice what

you are really up to. In seduction, set up conflictin signal , such as desire

and indifference, and you not only throw them off the scent, you inflame

their desire to possess you.

A tactic that is often effective in setting up a red herring is to appear to

support an idea or cause that is actually contrary to your own sentiments.

(Bismarck used this to great effect in his speech in 1850.) Most people will

believe you have experienced a change of heart, since it is so unusual to

play so lightly with something as emotional as one's opinions and values.

The same applies for any decoyed object of desire: Seem to want something in which you are actually not at all interested and your enemies will

be throWll off the scent, making all kinds of errors in their calculations.

During the War of the Spanish Succession in 1711, the Duke of Marlborough, head of the English army, wanted to destroy a key French fort,

because it proteeted a vital thoroughfare into Franee. Yet he knew that if he

destroyed it, the French would realize what he wanted-to advance down

that road. Instead, then, he merely captured the fort, and garrisoned it with

some of his troops, making it appear as if he wanted it for some purpose of

his OWll. The French attaeked the fort and the duke let them reeapture it.

Once they had it back, though, they destroyed it, figuring that the duke had

wanted it for some important reason. Now that the fort was gone, the road

was unprotected, and Marlborough could easily march into France.

Use this tactie in the following manner: Hide your intentions not by

closing up (with the risk of appearing secretive, and making people suspicious) but by talking endlessly about your desires and goals-just not yOUf

real ones. You will kill three birds with one stone: You appear friendly,

open, and trusting; you conceal YOUf intentions; and you send YOUf rivals

on time-consuming wild-goose ehases.

Another powerful tool in throwing people off the scent is false sineerity. People easily mistake sincerity for honesty. Remember-their first instinet is to trust appearances, and sinee they value honesty and want to

believe in the honesty of those around them, they will rarely doubt you or

see through YOUf aet. Seeming to believe what you say gives your words

great weight. This is how Iago deceived and destroyed Othello: Given the

depth of his emotions, the apparent sincerity of his coneems about Desdemona's supposed infidelity, how eould Othello distrust hirn? This is also

how the great con artist Yellow Kid Weil pulled the wool over suckers'

eyes: Seeming to believe so deeply in the deeoyed object he was dangling

LAW 3 21

22 LAW 3

in front of them (a phony stock, a touted racehorse), he made its reality

hard to doubt. It is important, of course, not to go too far in this area. Sincerity is a tricky tool: Appear overpassionate and you raise suspicions. Be

measured and believable or your ruse will seem the put-on that it iso

To make your false sincerity an effective weapon in concealing your

intentions, espouse a belief in honesty and forthrightness as important social values. Do this as publicly as possible. Emphasize your position on this

subject by occasionally divulging some heartfelt thought-though only one

that is actually meaningless or irrelevant, of course. Napoleon's minister

Talleyrand was a master at taking people into his confidence by revealing

some apparent secret. This feigned confidence-a decoy-would then

elicit a real confidence on the other person's part.

r Remember: The best deceivers do everything they can to cloak their

roguish qualities. They cultivate an air of honesty in one area to disguise

I their dishonesty in others. Honesty is merely another decoy in their arsenal

) of weapons.

J....

PART II: USE SMOKE SCREENS TO

DISGUISE YOUR ACTIONS

Deception is always the best strategy, but the best deceptions require a screen

of smoke to distract people's attention from your real pur pose. The bland

exterior-like the unreadable poker face-is often the perfect smoke screen,

hiding your intentions behind the comfortable and familiar. If you lead the

sucker down a familiar path, he won 't catch on when you lead him into a

trap.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW I

In 1910, a Mr. Sam Geezil of Chicago sold his warehouse business for close

to $1 million. He settled down to semiretirement and the managing of his

many properties, but deep inside he itched for the old days of deal-making.

One day a young man namedJoseph Weil visited his office, wanting to buy

an apartment he had up for sale. Geezil explained the terms: The price was

$8,000, but he only required a down payment of $2,000. Weil said he

would sleep on it, but he came back the following day and offered to pay

the full $8,000 in cash, if Geezil could wait a couple of days, until a deal

Weil was working on came through. Even in semiretirement, a clever businessman like Geezil was curious as to how Weil would be able to come up

with so much cash (roughly $ 150,000 today) so quickly. Weil seemed reluctant to say, and quickly changed the subject, but Geezil was persistent. Finally, after assurances of confidentiality, Weil told Geezil the following

story.

Weil's uncle was the secretary to a coterie of multimillionaire financiers. These wealthy gentlemen had purchased a hunting lodge in

Michigan ten years ago, at a cheap price. They had not used the lodge for a

few years, so they had decided to seIl it and had asked Weil's uncle to get

whatever he could for it. For reasons-good reasons-of his own, the uncle

had been nursing a grudge against the millionaires for years; this was his

chance to get back at them. He would seIl the property for $35,000 to a setup man (whom it was Weil's job to find). The financiers were too wealthy to

worry about this low price. The set-up man would then turn around and

seIl the property again for its real price, around $155,000. The uncle, Weil,

and the third man would split the profits from this second sale. It was all

legal and for a good cause-the uncle's just retribution.

Geezil had heard enough: He wanted to be the set-up buyer. Weil was

reluctant to involve hirn, but Geezil would not back down: The idea of a

large profit, plus a little adventure, had hirn champing at the bit. Weil explained that Geezil would have to put up the $35,000 in cash to bring the

deal off. Geezil, a millionaire, said he could get the money with a snap of

his fingers. Weil finally relented and agreed to arrange a meeting between

the uncle, Geezil, and the financiers, in the town of Galesburg, Illinois.

On the train ride to Galesburg, Geezil met the uncle-an impressive

.1 1\"111 r \"I\"<: OF ISHAE I ..

H·:IC\\S \\\\ OHSIlIP Oie

Tl f l·: IDOL BA·A L

Then fehu assembled

all the people, and said

to them, \"Ahab served

Ba ' al a fittle; but fehu

will serve hirn much

more. Now therefore

call to me a/l th e

prophets of Ba 'al, all

his worshippers and all

his priests; let none be

missing, for I have a

greal sacrifice to olIer

to Ba 'al; whoever is

missing shall not live. \"

But fehu did it with

cunning in order to

destroy the worshippers of Ba 'al.

And fehu ordered,

\"Sanctify a solemn

assembly for Ba 'al. \" So

Ihey proclaimed it. And

.fehu sent throughout

all Israel; and all the

worshippers of Ba 'al

came, so thaI there was

not a man Icft who did

not come. And they

entered the house of

Ba 'al, and the house of

Ba 'al was filled from

one end to the other ....

Then fehu went inlo

the house of Ba 'al ...

and he said to the

worshippers of Ba 'al,

\"Search, and see

that there is no servant

ofthe LORD here

LAW 3 23

among you, but only

the worshippers of

Ba 'al. \" Then he went in

to offer sacrifices and

burnt offerings.

Now Jehu had

stationed eighty men

outside, and said, \" The

man who allows any of

those whom I give into

your hands to escape

shall forfeit his life. \" So

as soon as he had made

an end of offering the

burnt offering, Jehu

said to the guard and to

the officers, \"Go in and

slay them; let not a man

escape. \"

So when they put them

to the sword, the guard

and the officers cast

them out and went into

the inner room of the

house of Ba'al and they

brought out the pillar

that was in the house of

Ba'al and burned it.

And they demolished

the pillar of Ba'al and

demolished the house

of Ba 'al, and made it a

latrine to this day.

Thus Jehu wiped out

Ba'al from Israel.

OLD TESTAMENT,

2 KINGS 10:18-28

24 LAW 3

man, with whom he avidly discussed business, Weil also brought along a

companion, a somewhat paunchy man named George Gross. Weil explained to Geezil that he hirnself was a boxing trainer, that Gross was one

of the promising prizefighters he trained, and that he had asked Gross to

come along to make sure the fighter stayed in shape. For a promising

fighter, Gross was unimpressive looking-he had gray hair and a beer

belly-but Geezil was so excited about the deal that he didn't really think

ab out the man's flabby appearance.

Once in Galesburg, Weil and his uncle went to fetch the financiers

while Geezil waited in a hotel room with Gross, who promptly put on his

boxing trunks. As Geezil half watched, Gross began to shadowbox. Distracted as he was, Geezil ignored how badly the boxer wheezed after a few

minutes of exercise, although his style seemed real enough. An hour later,

Weil and his uncle reappeared with the financiers, an impressive, intimidating group of men, all wearing fancy suits. The meeting went well and the financiers agreed to sell the lodge to Geezil, who had already had the

$35,000 wired to a local bank.

This minor business now settled, the financiers sat back in their chairs

and began to banter about high finance, throwing out the name 'j. P. Morgan\" as if they knew the man. Finally one of them noticed the boxer in the

corner of the room. Weil explained what he was doing there. The financier

countered that he too had a boxer in his entourage, whom he named. Weil

laughed brazenly and exclaimed that his man could easily knock out their

man. Conversation escalated into argument. In the heat of passion, Weil

challenged the men to a bet. The financiers eagerly agreed and left to get

their man ready for a fight the next day.

As soon as they had left, the uncle yelled at Weil, right in front of

Geezil: They did not have enough money to bet with, and once the financiers discovered this, the uncle would be fired. Weil apologized for getting hirn in this mess, but he had a plan: He knew the other boxer well, and

with a little bribe, they could fix the fight. But where would the money

come from for the bet? the uncle replied. Without it they were as good as

dead. Finally Geezil had heard enough. Unwilling to jeopardize his deal

with any ill will, he offered his own $35,000 cash for part of the bet. Even if

he lost that, he would wire for more money and still make a profit on the

sale of the lodge. The uncle and nephew thanked hirn. With their own

$15,000 and Geezil's 1$35,000 they would manage to have enough for the

bet. That evening, as Geezil watched the two boxers rehearse the fix in

the hotel room, his mind reeled at the killing he was going to make from both

the boxing match and the sale of the lodge.

The fight took place in a gym the next day. Weil handled the cash,

which was placed for security in a locked box. Everything was proceeding as planned in the hotel room. The financiers were looking glum at

how badly their fighter was doing, and Geezil was dreaming about the easy

money he was about to make. Then, suddenly, a wild swing by the financier's fighter hit Gross hard in the face, knocking hirn down. When he

hit the canvas, blood spurted from his mouth. He coughed, then lay still.

One of the financiers, a former doctor, checked his pulse; he was dead. The

millionaires panicked: Everyone had to get out before the police arrivedthey could all be charged with murder.

Terrified, Geezil hightailed it out of the gym and back to Chicago, leaving behind his $35,000 which he was only too glad to forget, for it seemed

a small price to pay to avoid being implicated in a crime. He never wanted

to see Weil or any of the others again.

After Geezil scurried out, Gross stood up, under his own steam. The

blood that had spurted from his mouth came from a ball filled with chicken

blood and hot water that he had hidden in his cheek. The whole affair had

been masterminded by Weil, better known as \"the Yellow Kid,\" one of the

most creative con artists in history. Weil split the $35,000 with the financiers and the boxers (all fellow con artists)-a nice little profit for a few

days' work.

SI\\E.�K AC ROSS 'j'1 J f:

0(:1-:,\\:\\ L\\ BHOAD

DAYL!CllT

This means to create a

front that eventually

becomes imbued with

an atmosphere or

impression of familiarity, within wh ich the

strategist may maneuver unseen while all

eyes are trained to see

obvious familiarities.

\"THE THIRTY-SIX

STRATEGIES,\" QUOTED IN

THE JAPANESE ART OF

WAR,

Interpretation THOMAS CLEARY, 1 991

The Yellow Kid had staked out Geezil as the perfect sucker long before he

set up the con. He knew the boxing-match scam would be the perfect ruse

to separate Geezil from his money quickly and definitively. But he also

knew that if he had begun by trying to interest Geezil in the boxing match,

he would have failed miserably. He had to conceal his intentions and

switch attention, create a smoke screen-in this case the sale of the lodge.

On the train ride and in the hotel room Geezil's mind had been completely occupied with the pending deal, the easy money, the chance to

hobnob with wealthy men. He had failed to notice that Gross was out of

shape and middle-aged at best. Such is the distracting power of a smoke

screen. Engrossed in the business deal, Geezil's attention was easily diverted to the boxing match, but only at a point when it was already too late

for hirn to notice the details that would have given Gross away. The match,

after all, now depended on a bribe rather than on the boxer's physical condition. And Geezil was so distracted at the end by the illusion of the boxer's death

that he completely forgot about his money.

Learn from the Yellow Kid: The familiar, inconspicuous front is the

perfect smoke screen. Approach your mark with an idea that seems ordinary enough-a business deal, financial intrigue. The sucker's mind is distracted, his suspicions allayed. That is when you gently guide hirn onto the

second path, the slippery slope down which he slides helplessly into your

trap.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW 11

In the mid-1920s, the powerful warlords of Ethiopia were coming to the realization that a young man of the nobility named Haile Selassie, also

known as Ras Tafari, was outcompeting them all and nearing the point

where he could prodaim hirnself their leader, unifying the country for the

first time in decades. Most of his rivals could not understand how this

wispy, , quiet, mild-mannered man had been able to take control. Yet in

LAW 3 25

26 LAW 3

1927, Selassie was able to summon the warlords, one at a time, to come to

Addis Ababa to declare their loyalty and recognize bim as leader.

Some hurried, some hesitated, but only one, Dejazmach Balcha of

Sidamo, dared defy Selassie totally. A blustery man, Balcha was a great

warrior, and he considered the new leader weak and unworthy. He pointedly stayed away from the capital. Finally Selassie, in his gentle but stern

way, commanded Balcha to come. The warlord decided to obey, but in

doing so he would turn the tables on this pretender to the Ethiopian

throne: He would come to Addis Ababa at his own speed, and with an

army of 10,000 men, a force large enough to defend hirnself, perhaps even

start a civil war. Stationing this formidable force in a valley three rniles

from the capital, he waited, as a king would. Selassie would have to come

to bim.

Selassie did indeed send emissaries, asking Balcha to attend an afternoon banquet in his honor. But Balcha, no fool, knew history-he knew

that previous kings and lords of Ethiopia had used banquets as a trap.

Once he was there and full of drink, Selassie would have hirn arrested or

murdered. To signal his understanding of the situation, he agreed to come

to the banquet, but only if he could bring his personal bodyguard-600 of

bis best soldiers, all armed and ready to defend hirn and themselves. To

Balcha's surprise, Selassie answered with the utmost politeness that he

would be honored to play host to such warriors.

On the way to the banquet, Balcha warned his soldiers not to get

drunk and to be on their guard. When they arrived at the palace, Selassie

was his charrning best. He deferred to Balcha, treated hirn as if he desperately needed his approval and cooperation. But Balcha refused to be

charmed, and he warned Selassie that if he did not return to his camp by

nightfall, his army had orders to attack the capital. Selassie reacted as if

hurt by his mistrust. Over the meal, when it came time for the traditional

singing of songs in honor of Ethiopia's leaders, he made a point of allowing

only songs honoring the warlord of Sidamo. It seemed to Balcha that Selassie was scared, intimidated by this great warrior who could not be outwitted. Sensing the change, Balcha believed that he would be the one to

call the shots in the days to come.

At the end of the afternoon, Balcha and his soldiers began their march

back to camp arnidst cheers and gun salutes. Looking back to the capital

over his shoulder, he planned his strategy-how his own soldiers would

march through the capital in triumph within weeks, and Selassie would be

put in his place, his place being either prison or death. When Balcha came

in sight of bis camp, however, he saw that something was terribly wrong.

Where before there had been colorful tents stretching as far as the eye

could see, now there was nothing, only smoke from doused fires. What

devil's magie was this?

A witness told Balcha what had happened. During the banquet, a large

army, commanded by an ally of Selassie's, had stolen up on Balcha's encampment by a side route he had not seen. This army had not come to

fight, however: Knowing that Balcha would}lave heard a noisy battle and

/

hurried back with his 600-man bodyguard, Selassie had ,armed his own

troops with baskets of gold and cash. They had sUITounded Balcha's army

and proceeded to purchase every last one of their weapons. Those who refused were easily intimidated. Within a few hours, Balcha's entire force had

been disarmed and scattered in all directions.

Realizing his danger, Balcha decided to march south with his 600 soldiers to regroup, but the same army that had disarmed his soldiers blocked

his way. The other way out was to march on the capital, but Selas sie had set

a large army to defend it. Like a chess player, he had predicted Balcha's

moves, and had checkrnated hirn. For the first time in his life, Balcha surrendered. To repent his sins of pride and ambition, he agreed to enter a

monastery.

Interpretation

Throughout Selassie's long reign, no one could quite figure hirn out.

Ethiopians like their leaders fierce, but Selassie, who wore the front of a

gentle, peace-loving man, lasted longer than any of them. Never angry or

impatient, he lured his victims with sweet smiles, lulling them with charm

and obsequiousness before he attacked. In the case of Balcha, Selassie

played on the man's wariness, his suspicion that the banquet was a trap-­

which in fact it was, but not the one he expected. Selassie's way of allaying

Balcha's fears-letting him bring his bodyguard to the banquet, giving hirn

top billing there, making him feel in control--created a thick smoke screen,

concealing the real action three miles away.

Remember: The paranoid and wary are often the easiest to deceive.

Win their trust in one area and you have a smoke screen that blinds their

view in another, letting you creep up and level them with a devastating

blow. A helpful or apparently honest ge sture, or one that implies the other

person's superiority-these are perfect diversionary devices.

Properly set up, the smoke screen is a weapon of great power. It enabled the gentle Selassie to totally destroy his enemy, without firing a single

bullet.

Do not underestimate the power of Tafari. He creeps

like a mouse hut he has jaws like a lion.

B([ll'!t([ ur Sidaillu 's last wards bejiJre entering the rnanastery

KEYS TO POWER

If you believe that deceivers are colorful folk who mislead with elaborate

lies and tall tales, you are greatly mistaken. The best deceivers utilize a

bland and inconspicuous front that calls no attention to themselves. They

know that extravagant words and ge stures immediately raise suspicion. Instead, they envelop their mark in the familiar, the banal, the harmless. In

Yellow Kid Weil's dealings with Sam Geezil, the familiar was a business

deal. In the Ethiopian case, it was Selassie's misleading obsequiousnessexactly what -Balcha would have expected from a weaker warlord.

LAW 3 27

28 LAW 3

Once you have lulled your suckers' attention with the familiar, they

will not notice the deception being perpetrated behind their backs. This

derives from a simple truth: people can only focus on one thing at a time. It

is really too difficult for them to imagine that the bland and harmless person they are dealing with is simultaneously setting up something else. The

grayer and more uniform the smoke in your smoke screen, the better it

conceals your intentions. In the decoy and red herring devices discussed in

Part I, you actively distract people; in the smoke screen, you lull your victims, drawing them into your web. Because it is so hypnotic, this is often

the best way of concealing your intentions.

The simplest form of smoke screen is facial expression. Behind a bland,

unreadable exterior, all sorts of mayhem can be planned, without detection.

This is a weapon that the most powerful men in history have learned to perfect. It was said that no one could read Franklin D. Roosevelt's face. Baron

James Rothschild made a lifelong practice of disguising his real thoughts behind bland smiles and nondescript looks. Stendhal wrote of Talleyrand,

\"Never was a face less of a barometer.\" Henry Kissinger would bore his opponents around the negotiating table to tears with his monotonous voice,

his blank look, his endless recitations of details; then, as their eyes glazed

over, he would suddenly hit them with a list of bold terms. Caught offguard, they would be easily intimidated. As one poker manual explains it,

\"While playing his hand, the good player is seldom an actor. Instead he

practices a bland behavior that minimizes readable patterns, frustrates and

confuses opponents, permits greater concentration.\"

An adaptable concept, the smoke screen can be practiced on a number of levels, all playing on the psychological principles of distraction and

misdirection. One of the most effective smoke screens is the noble gesture.

People want to believe apparently noble gestures are genuine, for the belief

is pleasant. They rarely notice how deceptive these gestures can be.

The art dealer Joseph Duveen was once confronted with a terrible problem. The millionaires who had paid so dearly for Duveen's paintings were

running out of wall space, and with inheritance taxes getting ever higher, it

seemed unlikely that they would keep buying. The solution was the National

Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., which Duveen helped create in 1937 by

getting Andrew Mellon to donate his collection to it. The National Gallery

was the perfect front for Duveen. In one gesture, his clients avoided taxes,

cleared wall space for new purchases, and reduced the number of paintings

on the market, maintaining the upward pressure on their prices. All this

while the donors created the appearance of being public benefactors.

Another effective smoke screen is the pattern, the establishment of a series of actions that seduce the victim into believing you will continue in the

same way. The pattern plays on the psychology of anticipation: Our behavior conforms to patterns, or so we like to think.

In 1878 the American robber baronJay Gould created a company that

began to threaten the monopoly of the telegraph company Western Union.

The directors of Western Union decided to buy Gould's company up-

they had to spend a hefty sum, but they figured they had managed to rid

themselves of an irritating competitor. A few months later, though, Gould

was it at again, complaining he had been treated unfairly. He started up a

second company to compete with Western Union and its new acquisition.

The same thing happened again: Western Union bought hirn out to shut

hirn up. Soon the pattern began for the third time, but now Gould went for

the jugular: He suddenly staged a bloody takeover struggle and managed

to gain complete control of Western Union. He had established a pattern

that had tricked the company's directors into thinking his goal was to be

bought out at a handsome rate. Once they paid hirn off, they relaxed and

failed to notice that he was actually playing for higher stakes. The pattern is

powerful in that it deceives the other person into expecting the opposite of

what you are really doing.

Another psychological weakness on which to construct a smoke screen

is the tendency to mistake appearances for reality-the feeling that if someone seems to belong to your group, their belonging must be real. This habit

makes the seamless blend a very effective front. The trick is simple: You simply blend in with those around you. The better you blend, the less suspicious you become. During the Cold War of the 1950s and '60s, as is now

notorious, a slew of British civil servants passed secrets to the Soviets. They

went undetected for years because they were apparently decent chaps, had

gone to all the right schools, and fit the old-boy network perfectly. Blending in is the perfect smoke screen for spying. The better you do it, the better you can conceal your intentions.

Remember: It takes patience and humility to dull your brilliant colors,

to put on the mask of the inconspicuous. Do not despair at having to wear

such a bland mask-it is often your unreadability that draws people to you

and makes you appear a person of power.

Image: A Sheep's Skin.

A sheep never marauds,

a sheep never deceives,

a sheep is magnificently

dumb and docile. With a

sheepskin on his back,

a fox can p ass right

into the chicken coop.

Authority: Have you ever heard of a skillful general, who intends to

surprise a citadel, announcing his plan to his enemy? Conceal your

purpose and hide your progress; do not disclose the extent of your

designs until they cannot be opposed, until the combat is over. Win

the victory before you declare the war. In a word, imitate those warlike people whose designs are not known except by the ravaged country through which they have passed. (Ninon de Lenclos, 1623-1706)

LAW 3 29

I

I

30 LAW 3

REVERSAL

No s moke sc reen, red herring, fals e s inc erity, or any other divers ionary device will s ucc eed in c onc ealing y our intentions if y ou already have an establis hed reputation for dec eption. And as y ou get older and ac hieve

s ucc ess, it often bec omes inc reas ingly diffic ult to dis guis e y our c unning.

Every one knows y ou prac tic e dec eption; pers is t in play ing naive a nd y ou

run the ris k of s eeming the rankes t hy poc rite, which will s everely limit

y our room to maneuver. In s uch c as es it is better to own up, to appear the

hones t rogue, or, better, the repentant rogue. N ot only will y ou be admired

for y our frankness, but, mos t wonderf ul and str ange of all, y ou will be able

to c ontinue y our str atagems.

As P. T. Barn um, the nineteenth-c entury king of humbuggery, grew

older, he learned to embrac e his reputation as a grand dec eiver. At one

point he organized a buffalo hunt in N ew Jers ey, c omplete with I ndians

and a few imported buffalo. He public ized the hunt as genuine, but it c ame

off as so c ompletely fak e that the c rowd, ins tead of getting a ngry and as king for their money bac k, was greatly amus ed. They knew Barnum pulled

tr ic ks all the time; that was the s ec ret of his s ucc ess, and they loved him for

it. Learning a less on from this affair, Barnum s topped c onc ealing all of his

devic es, even revealing his dec eptions in a tell- all autobiography. As

K ierkegaard wrote, \" The world wants to be dec eived.\"

Finally, although it is wis er to divert attention from y our purpos es by

pres enting a bland, familiar exterior, there are times when the c olorful,

c ons pic uous ges ture is the right divers ionary tac tic . The great c harlatan

mountebanks of s eventeenth- and eighteenth-c entury Europe us ed humor

and entertai nment to dec eive their audienc es . Dazzled by a great s how, the

public would not notic e the c harlatans ' real intentions. Thus the s tar c harlatan hims elf would appea r in town in a night- blac k c oac h drawn by black

hors es . Clowns, tightrope walkers, and s tar entertainers would acc ompany

him, pulling people in to his demonstr ations of elixirs and quac k potions .

The c harlatan made enterta inment s eem like the bus iness of the day ; the

bus iness of the day was ac tually the s ale of the elixirs and quac k potions.

Spec tac le and entertainment, c learly, are exc ellent devic es to c onc eal

y our intentions, but they c annot be us ed indefi nitely. The public grows

tired and s us pic ious, and eventually c atc hes on to the tric k. And indeed the

c harlatans had to move quic kly from town to town, before word s pread

that the potions were us eless a nd the entertai nment a tr ick. Powerful peopI e with bland exteriors, on the other hand- the Talley rands, the Rothsc hilds, the Selass ies -c an prac tic e their dec eptions in the s ame plac e

throughout their lifetimes . Their ac t never wea rs thin, a nd rarely c aus es

s us pic ion. The c olorful s moke sc reen s hould be us ed c autious ly, then, and

only when the occ as ion is right.

\\

LAW

4

ALWAYS SAY LESS

TRAN NECESSARY

JUDGMENT

When you are trying to impress people with words, the

more you say, the more common you appear, and the less

in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will

seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and

sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by

saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to

say something foolish.

31

Down on his luck, [the

screenwriterJ Michael

Arien went to New

York in 1 944. To drown

his sorrows he paid a

visit to the famous

restaurant \"21.\" In the

lobby, he ran into Sam

Goldwyn, who affe red

the somewhat impractical advice that he

should buy racehorses.

At the bar Arien met

Louis B. Mayer, an old

acquaintance, who

asked him what were

his plans for the future.

\"I was just talking to

Sam Goldwyn ... \"

began Arien. \"How

much did he offer

you?\" in terrup ted

Mayer. \"Not enough, \"

he replied evasively.

\" Would you take fifteen

thousand for thirty

weeks?\" asked Mayer.

No hesitation this time.

\" Yes, \" said Arien.

THE L1TTLE, BROWN

BOOK Or ANECDOTES,

CLIFTON FAD IMAN,

FD., 1 985

One oft-told tale about

Kissinger ...

involved a report that

Winston Lord had

worked on for days.

After giving it to

Kissinger, he got it

back with the notation,

\"Is this the best you

can da? \" Lord rewrote

and polished and

finally resubmitted it;

back it came with the

same curt question.

After redrafting it one

more time-and on ce

again getring the same

32 LAW 4

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

Gnaeus Marcius, also known as Coriolanus, was a great military hero of

ancient Rome. In the first half of the fifth century B.C. he won many important battles, saving the city from calamity time and time again. Because he

spent most of his time on the battlefield, few Romans knew him personally,

making him something of a legendary figure.

In 454 B.C., Coriolanus decided it was time to exploit his reputation

and enter politics. He stood for election to the high rank of consul. Candidates for this position traditionally made a public address early in the race,

and when Coriolanus came before the people, he began by displaying the

dozens of scars he had accumulated over seventeen years of fighting for

Rome. Few in the crowd really heard the lengthy speech that followed;

those scars, proof of his valor and patriotism, moved the people to tears.

Coriolanus's election seemed certain.

When the polling day arrived, however, Coriolanus made an entry

into the forum escorted by the entire senate and by the city's patricians, the

aristocracy. The common people who saw this were disturbed by such a

blustering show of confidence on election day.

And then Coriolanus spoke again, mostly addressing the wealthy citizens who had accompanied him. His words were arrogant and insolent.

Claiming certain victory in the vote, he boasted of his battlefield exploits,

made sour jokes that appealed only to the patricians, voiced angry accusations against his opponents, and speculated on the riches he would bring to

Rome. This time the people listened: They had not realized that this legendary soldier was also a common braggart.

News of Coriolanus's second speech spread quickly through Rome,

and the people turned out in great numbers to make sure he was not

elected. Defeated, Coriolanus returned to the battlefield, bitter and vowing

revenge on the common folk who had voted against him. Same weeks later

a large shipment of grain arrived in Rome. The senate was ready to distribute this food to the people, for free, but just as they were preparing to vote

on the question Coriolanus appeared on the scene and took the senate

floor. The distribution, he argued, would have a harmful effect on the city

as a whole. Several senators appeared won over, and the vote on the distribution fell into doubt. Coriolanus did not stop there: He went on to condemn the concept of democracy itself. He advocated getting rid of the

people's representatives-the tribunes-and turning over the governing of

the city to the patricians.

When word of Coriolanus's latest speech reached the people, their

anger knew no bounds. The tribunes were sent to the senate to demand

that Coriolanus appear before them. He refused. Riots broke out all over

the city. The senate, fearing the people's wrath, finally voted in favor of the

grain distribution. The tribunes were appeased, but the people still demanded that Coriolanus speak to them and apologize. If he repented, and

agreed to keep his opinions to himself, he would be allowed to return to

the battlefield.

Coriolanus did appear one last time before the people, who listened to

hirn in rapt silence. He started slowly and softly, but as the speech went on,

he became more and more blunt. Yet again he hurled insults! His tone was

arrogant, his expression disdainful. The more he spoke, the angrier the

people became. Finally they shouted hirn down and silenced hirn.

The tribunes conferred, condemned Coriolanus to death, and ordered

the magistrates to take hirn at once to the top of the Tarpeian rock and

throw hirn over. The delighted crowd seconded the decision. The patricians, however, managed to intervene, and the sentence was commuted to

a lifelong banishment. When the people found out that Rome's great military hero would never return to the city, they celebrated in the streets. In

fact no one had ever seen such a celebration, not even after the defeat of a

foreign enemy.

Interpretation

Before his entrance into politics, the name of Coriolanus evoked awe.

His battlefield accomplishments showed hirn as a man of great bravery. Since the citizens knew little about hirn, all kinds of legends became attached to his name. The moment he appeared before the Roman citizens,

however, and spoke his mind, all that grandeur and mystery vanished. He

bragged and blustered like a common soldier. He insulted and slandered

people, as if he felt threatened and insecure. Suddenly he was not at all

what the people had imagined. The discrepancy between the legend and

the reality proved immensely disappointing to those who wanted to believe in their hero. The more Coriolanus said, the less powerful he appeared-a person who cannot control his words shows that he cannot

control hirnself, and is unworthy of respect.

Had Coriolanus said less, the people would never have had cause to

be offended by hirn, would never have known his true feelings. He would

have maintained his powerful aura, would certainly have been elected consul, and would have been able to accomplish his antidemocratic goals. But

the human tongue is a beast that few can master. It strains constantly to

break out of its cage, and if it is not tamed, it will run wild and cause you

grief. Power cannot accrue to those who squander their treasure of words.

Oysters open completely when the moon is JuZZ; and when the crab sees one

it throws a piece oJ stone or seaweed into it and the oyster cannot close

again so that it serves the crab Jor meat. Such is the Jate oJ him who opens

his mouth too much and thereby puts himself at the mercy oJ the listener.

I,eonardo da Vinci, 1 452-151 9

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

In the court of Louis XIV, nobles and ministers would spend days and

nights debating issues of state. They would confer, argue, make and break

alliances, and argue again, until finally the critical moment arrived: Two of

them would be chosen to represent the different sides to Louis hirnself,

who would decide what should be done. After these persons were chosen,

question from

Kissinger-Lord

snapped, \"Damn it, yes,

it's the best I can do. \"

To wh ich Kissinger

replied: \"Fine, then I

guess I'll read it this

time. \"

KISSINGER,

WALTER ISAACSON,

1992

The King [Louis XIV;

maintains the most

impenetrable secrecy

about affairs of State.

The ministers attend

council meetings, but

he confides his plans to

them only when he has

reflected at length upon

them and has come to

a definite decision.

I wish you might see

the King. His expression is inscrutable; his

eyes like those of a fox.

He never discusses

State affairs except with

his ministers in Couneil. When he ,peaks to

courtiers he refers only

to their respective

prerogatives or duties.

Even the most frivolous of his utterances

has the air of being the

pronouncement of an

orude.

PRIMI VISCONTI,

QUOl'ED IN

LOUIS XIV.

LOUIS BERTRAND,

1 928

LAW 4 33

Unduliji,l words ofa

subjecl do oflen lake

deeper rool than Ihe

memory of ill deeds, , , ,

The late Earl of Essex

lolt! Queen Elizabeth

that her condition.l'

were as cTOoked a,l' her

carcass; but il cosl hirn

his head, which his

insurrection had nol

COsl hirn butfor thai

speech.

SIR WAU'ER RALE.IGH,

1554-1618

34 LAW 4

everyone would argue some more: How should the issues be phrased?

What would appeal to Louis, what would annoy him? At what time of day

should the representatives approach him, and in what part of the Versailles

palace? What expression should they have on their faces?

Finally, after all this was settled, the fatend moment would finally arrive. The two men would approach Louis-always a delicate matter-and

when they finally had his ear, they would talk about the issue at hand,

spelling out the options in detail.

Louis would listen in silence, a most enigmatic look on his face. Finally, when each had finished his presentation and had asked for the king's

opinion, he would look at them both and say, \"I shall see.\" Then he would

walk away.

The ministers and courtiers would never hear another word on this

subject from the king-they would simply see the result, weeks later, when

he would come to a decision and act. He would never bother to consult

them on the matter again.

Interpretation

Louis XIV was a man of very few words. His most famous remark is

\"L'Uat, c'est moi\" (\"I am the state\"); nothing could be more pithy yet more

eloquent. His infamous \"I shall see\" was one of several extremely short

phrases that he would apply to all manner of requests.

Louis was not always this way; as a young man he was known for talking at length, delighting in his own eloquence. His later tacitumity was selfimposed, an act, a mask he used to keep everybody below him off-balance.

No one knew exactly where he stood, or could predict bis reactions. No

one could try to deceive him by saying what they thought he wanted to

hear, because no one knew what he wanted to hear. As they talked on and

on to the silent Louis, they revealed more and more about themselves, information he would later use against them to great effect.

In the end, Louis's silence kept those around him terrified and under

his thumb. It was one of the foundations of his power. As Saint-Simon

wrote, \"No one knew as weIl as he how to seIl his words, his smile, even his

glances. Everything in him was valuable because he created differences,

and his majesty was enhanced by the sparseness of his words.\"

It is even more damaging for a minister to say foolish things than to do them.

Cardinal de Retz, 1 61 3-16 79

KEYS TO POWER

Power is in many ways a game of appearances, and when you say less than

necessary, you inevitably appear greater and more powerful than you are.

YOUf silence will make other people uncomfortable. Humans are machines

of interpretation and explanation; they have to know what you are thinking. When you carefully control what you reveal, they cannot pierce yOUf

intentions or your meaning.

YOUf short answers and silences will put them on the defensive, and

they will jump in, nervously filling the silence with all kinds of comments

that will reveal valuable information about them and their weaknesses.

They will leave a meeting with you feeling as if they had been robbed, and

they will go horne and ponder YOUf every word. This extra attention to

YOUf brief comments will only add to your power.

Saying less than necessary is not for kings and statesmen only. In most

areas of life, the less you say, the more profound and mysterious you appear. As a young man, the artist Andy Warhol had the revelation that it was

generally impossible to get people to do what you wanted them to do by

talking to them. They would turn against you, subvert YOUf wishes, disobey

you out of sheer perversity. He once told a friend, \"I leamed that you actually have more power when you shut up.\"

In his later life Warhol employed this strategy with great success. His

interviews were exercises in oracular speech: He would say something

vague and ambiguous, and the interviewer would twist in circles trying to

figure it out, imagining there was something prafound behind his often

meaningless phrases. Warhol rarely talked ab out his work; he let others do

the interpreting. He claimed to have leamed this technique from that master of enigma Marcel Duchamp, another twentieth-century artist who realized early on that the less he said about his work, the more people talked

about it. And the more they talked, the more valuable his work became.

By saying less than necessary you create the appearance of meaning

and power. Also, the less you say, the less risk you run of saying something

foolish, even dangeraus. In 1825 a new czar, Nicholas I, ascended the

throne of Russia. A rebellion immediately broke out, led by liberals demanding that the country modernize-that its industries and civil structures catch up with the rest of Europe. Brutally crushing this rebellion (the

Decembrist Uprising), Nicholas I sentenced one of its leaders, Kondraty

Ryleyev, to death. On the day of the execution Ryleyev stood on the gallows, the noose around his neck. The trapdoor opened-but as Ryleyev

dangled, the rape brake, dashing hirn to the ground. At the time, events

like this were considered signs of providence or heavenly will, and a man

saved from execution this way was usually pardoned. As Ryleyev got to his

feet, bruised and dirtied but believing his neck had been saved, he called

out to the crowd, \"You see, in Russia they don't know how to do anything

properly, not even how to make rape!\"

A messenger immediately went to the Winter Palace with news of the

failed hanging. Vexed by this disappointing turnabout, Nicholas I nevertheless began to sign the pardon. But then: \"Did Ryleyev say anything after

this miracle?\" the czar asked the messenger. \"Sire,\" the messenger replied,

\"he said that in Russia they don't even know how to make rope.\"

\"In that case,\" said the Czar, \"let us prove the contrary,\" and he tore

up the pardon. The next day Ryleyev was hanged again. This time the

rope did not break.

Learn the lesson: Once the words are out, you cannot take them back.

Keep them under control. Be particularly careful with sarcasm: The moLAW 4 35

36 LAW 4

mentary satisfaction you gain with your biting words will be outweighed by

the price you pay.

Ima g e :

The Orade at Delphi.

When vi si tors consulted the

Orade, the priestess would utter

a few enigmatic words that seemed

full of meaning and import. No one

disobeyed the words of the Oraclethey held p ower over life and death.

Authority: Never start moving your own lips and teeth before

the subordinates do. The longer I keep quiet, the sooner others

move their lips and teeth. As they move their lips and teeth, I

can thereby understand their real intentions .... If the sovereign

is not mysterious, the ministers will find opportunity to take

and take. (Han-fei-tzu, Chinese philosopher, third century B.C.)

REVERSAL

There are times when it is unwise to be silent. Silence can arouse suspicion

and even insecurity, especially in your superiors; a vague or ambiguous

comment can open you up to interpretations you had not bargained for. Silence and saying less than necessary must be practiced with caution, then,

and in the right situations. It is occasionally wiser to imitate the court jester,

who plays the fool but knows he is smarter than the king. He talks and talks

and entertains, and no one suspects that he is more than just a foo1.

Also, words can sometimes act as a kind of smoke screen for any deception you might practice. By bending your listener's ear with talk, you

can distract and mesmerize them; the more you talk, in fact, the less suspicious of you they become. The verbose are not perceived as sly and manipulative but as helpless and unsophisticated. This is the reverse of the

silent policy employed by the powerful: By talking more, and making

yourself appear weaker and less intelligent than your mark, you can practice deception with greater ease.

LAW

5

SO MUCH DEPENDS ON

REPUTATION-GUARD IT

WITH YOUR LIFE

JUDGMENT

Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once it slips,

however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on alt

sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be

alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they

happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by

opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand

aside and let public opinion hang them.

37

'1 111, ,1 ,111 1 1 ,

'I HI<:�I'_ , 11 111 1 II IL

I'i ILI IA frighllili �pidemic

sOll

To earlh hy lIeaven

intenf io vent

Ils lilrY on a sinflll

world, 10 eall

lt hy its righttili name,

the pestilence,

ThaI A cheron-fil!ing

vial of virulence

Had fallen on every

anirnll/.

Not al! were dead, hlll

al! lay near to dying,

Ami none was any

[onger Irying

To find new fllcl 10 feed

life 's f/ickering fires.

No l')()ds exciled Iheir

desire:·;;

No more did wo[w's

and foxes rove

In seareh oI harmless,

helples,- prey;

Ami d(lve wOlild nol

consort with doV(',

Fi\" love ami joy hud

f/own away.

Thc Lion a\"slImed Ihe

chair to say: \"Dear

friends,

I do\"ht nol it 's fi\"

heaven :, high ends

That on lIS sinners woe

mustf\"II.

Lei him of lIS WllO 's

sinned the mosl

filii viclim 10 the

avcnging heavenly

host,

Anti may he win salvalion for lIS all;

For history leaches lIS

that in thesc erises

We mllst lIlilke

sacrifices.

Undeceived and sterncyed, 11'1\\' inspect

GlIr conscience. As I

recolled,

To pllt In Y greedy

appetite to sleep,

f 've hanljllctcd on

38 LAW 5

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW I

During China's War of the Three Kingdoms (A,D, 207-265), the great general Chuko Liang, leading the forces of the Shu Kingdom, dispatched his

vast army to a distant camp while he rested in a small town with a handful

of soldiers, Suddenly sentineIs hurried in with the alarming news that an

enemy force of over 150,000 troops under Sima Yi was approaching, With

only a hundred men to defend hirn, Chuko Liang's situation was hopeless,

The enemy would finally capture this renowned leader,

Without lamenting his fate, or wasting time trying to figure out how he

had been caught, Liang ordered his troops to take down their flags, throw

open the eity gates, and hide, He hirnself then took a seat on the most visible part of the city's wall, wearing a Taoist robe. He lit some incense,

strummed his lute, and began to chant. Minutes later he could see the vast

enemy army approaching, an endless phalanx of soldiers. Pretending not

to notice them, he continued to sing and play the lute.

Soon the army stood at the town gates, At its head was Sima Yi, who

instantly recognized the man on the wall.

Even so, as his soldiers itched to enter the unguarded town through its

open gates, Sima Yi hesitated, held them back, and studied Liang on the

wall. Then, he ordered an immediate and speedy retreat.

Interpretation

Chuko Liang was commonly known as the \"Sleeping Dragon.\" His exploits in the War of the Three Kingdoms were legendary. Once a man

daiming to be a disaffected enemy lieutenant came to his camp, offering

help and information. Liang instantly recognized the situation as a setup;

this man was a false deserter, and should be beheaded. At the last minute,

though, as the ax was about to fall, Liang stopped the execution and offered to spare the man's life if he agreed to become a double agent. Grateful and terrified, the man agreed, and began supplying false information to

the enemy. Liang won battle after battle.

On another occasion Liang stole a military seal and created false documents dispatching his enemy's troops to distant locations. Once the troops

had dispersed, he was able to capture three eities, so that he controlled an

entire corridor of the enemy's kingdom. He also once tricked the enemy

into believing one of its best generals was a traitor, forcing the man to escape and join forces with Liang. The Sleeping Dragon carefully cultivated

his reputation of being the deverest man in China, one who always had a

trick up his sleeve. As powerful- as any weapon, this reputation struck fear

into his enemy.

Sima Yi had fought against Chuko Liang dozens of times and knew

hirn weIl. When he came on the empty city, with Liang praying on the

wall, he was stunned. The Taoist robes, the chanting, the incense--this had

to be a game of intimidation. The man was obviously taunting hirn, daring

hirn to walk into a trap. The game was so obvious that for one moment it

crossed Yi's mind that Liang actually was alone, and desperate. But so

great was his fear of Liang that he dared not risk finding out. Such is the

power of reputation. It can put a vast army on the defensive, even force

them into retreat, without a single arrow being fired.

FoT, as Cicero says, even those who argue against fame still want the books they

write against it to bear their name in the title and hope to become famous for

despising it. Ever ything else is subject to barter: we will let our Jriends have

our goods and our lives if need be; but a case of sharing our fame and

making someone else the gift of our reputation is hardly to be found.

Montaigne, 1533-1592

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW II

In 1841 the young P. T. Barnum, trying to establish his reputation as America's premier showman, decided to purchase the American Museum in

Manhattan and turn it into a collection of curiosities that would secure his

farne. The problem was that he had no money. The museum's asking price

was $15,000, but Barnum was able to put together a proposal that appealed

to the institution's owners even though it replaced cash up front with

dozens of guarantees and references. The owners came to a verbal agreement with Barnum, but at the last minute, the principal partner changed

his mind, and the museum and its collection were sold to the directors of

Peale's Museum. Barnum was infuriated, but the partner explained that

business was business-the museum had been sold to Peale's because

Peale's had a reputation and Barnum had none.

Barnum immediately decided that if he had no reputation to bank on,

his only recourse was to ruin the reputation of Peale's. Accordingly he

launched a letter-writing campaign in the newspapers, calling the owners a

bunch of \"broken-down bank directors\" who had no idea how to run a museum or entertain people. He warned the public against buying Peale's

stock, since the business's purchase of another museum would invariably

spread its resources thin. The campaign was effective, the stock plummeted, and with no more confidence in Peale's track record and reputation, the owners of the American Museum reneged on their deal and sold

the whole thing to Barnum.

It took years for Peale's to recover, and they never forgot what Barnum had done. Mr. Peale hirnself decided to attack Barnum by building a

reputation for \"high-brow entertainment,\" promoting his museum's programs as more scientific than those of his vulgar competitor. Mesmerism

(hypnotism) was one of Peale's \"scientific\" attractions, and for a while it

drew big crowds and was quite successful. To fight back, Barnum decided

to attack Peale's reputation yet again.

Barnum organized a riyal mesmeric performance in which he hirnself

apparently put a little girl into a trance. Once she seemed to have fallen

deeply under, he tried to hypnotize members of the audience--but no matter how hard he tried, none of the spectators fell under his speIl, and many

of them began to laugh. A frustrated Barnum finally announced that to

prove the little girl's trance was real, he would cut off one of her fingers

many a sheep

Who'd injured me in

no re.\\'pect,

And even in my time

been known to try

Shepherd pie.

lf need be, then, f 'll die.

Yet I suspect

That others also ought

to own their \" ins.

It's only fair that all

should do their hest

To single out the

guiltiest. \"

\"Sire, you 're too good

a king, \" the Fox hegins;

\"Such scruples are too

delicate. My word,

To eat sheep, that

profane and vulgar

herd,

That's sin? Nay, Sire,

enough for such a crew

To be devoured by

such as you;

While of the shepherds

we may say

That they deserved the

worst they got,

Theirs heing the lot

that over us heasts plot

A jiimsy dreambegotten sway. \"

Thus spake the Fox,

and toady cheers rose

high,

While none da red cast

too cold an eye

On Tigers, Bears, and

other eminences '

Most unpardonable

offences.

Each, ofnever mind

what currish breed,

Was really a saint, they

all agreed.

Then came the Ass, to

say: \"1 do recall

How once I crossed an

ahhey-mead

Where hllnger, grass in

plenty, and wilhal,

I have no doubt, some

imp of greed,

Assailed me, ami I

shaved a tongue 'sbreadth wide

Where frankly f'd no

right to any grass. \"

LAW 5 39

All forthwith fell full

cry upon the Ass:

A Wolf of some booklearning testified

That that curst beast

must suffer their

despite,

That gallskinned

author of their piteous

plight.

They judged him fit

for nought but

gallows-bait:

How vile, another's

grass to sequestrate!

His death alone could

expiate

A crime so heinuus, as

juli weil he learns.

The court, as you 're of

great or poor estate,

Will paint you either

white or black by turns.

THF BEST FABLES

OF LA FON'I AINE,

JEAN DE LA FONTAINE,

162 1-1095

40 LAW 5

without her noticing. But as he sharpened the knife, the little girl's eyes

popped open and she ran away, to the audienee's delight. He repeated this

and other parodies for several weeks. Soon no one eould take Peale's show

seriously, and attendanee went way down. Within a few weeks, the show

dosed. Over the next few years Barnum established a reputation for audaeity and eonsummate showmanship that lasted his whole life. Peale's reputation, on the other hand, never reeovered.

Interpretation

Barnum used two different taeties to ruin Peale's reputation. The first was

simple: He sowed doubts about the museum's stability and solveney.

Doubt is a powerful weapon: Onee you let it out of the bag with insidious

rumors, YOUf opponents are in a horrible dilemma. On the one hand they

ean deny the rumors, even prove that you have slandered them. But a

layer of suspieion will remain: Why are they defending themselves so desperately? Maybe the rumor has some truth to it? If, on the other hand, they

take the high road and ignore you, the doubts, unrefuted, will be even

stronger. If done eorreetly, the sowing of rumors ean so infuriate and unsettle YOUf rivals that in defending themselves they will make numerous mistakes. This is the perfeet weapon for those who have no reputation of their

own to work from.

Onee Barnum did have a reputation of his own, he used the seeond,

gentler taetie, the fake hypnotism demonstration: He ridieuled his rivals'

reputation. This too was extremely sueeessful. Onee you have a solid base

of respeet, ridieuling YOUf opponent both puts hirn on the defensive and

draws more attention to you, enhancing your own reputation. Outright

slander and insult are too strong at this point; they are ugly, and may hurt

you more than help you. But gentle barbs and moekery suggest that you

have a strong enough sense of your own worth to enjoy a good laugh at

your rival's expense. A humorous front ean make you out as a harmless entertainer while poking holes in the reputation of YOUf rival.

It is easier to cope with a bad conscience than with a bad reputation.

Friedrich Nietzsehe, 1 844-1900

KEYS TO POWER

The people around us, even OUf dosest friends, will always to some extent

remain mysterious and unfathomable. Their eharaeters have seeret reeesses

that they never reveal. The unknowableness of other people eould prove

disturbing if we thought about it long enough, sinee it would make it impossible for us really to judge other people. So we prefer to ignore this fact,

and to judge people on their appearanees, on what is most visible to OUf

eyes-clothes, gestures, words, aetions. In the social realm, appearanees are

the barometer of almost all of OUf judgments, and you must never be misled into believing otherwise. One false slip, one awkward or sudden change

in YOUf appearanee, ean prove disastrous.

This is the reason for the supreme importance of making and maintaining a reputation that is of your own creation.

That reputation will protect you in the dangerous game of appearances, distracting the probing eyes of others from knowing what you are

really like, and giving you a degree of control over how the world judges

you-a powerful position to be in. Reputation has a power like magic:

With one stroke of its wand, it can double your strength. It can also send

people scurrying away from you. Whether the exact same deeds appear

brilliant or dreadful can depend entirely on the reputation of the doer.

In the aneient Chinese court of the Wei kingdom there was a man

named Mi Tzu-hsia who had a reputation for supreme eivility and graeiousness. He became the mler's favorite. It was a law in Wei that \"whoever

rides secretly in the mler's coach shall have his feet cut off,\" but when Mi

Tzu-hsia's mother fell ill, he used the royal coach to visit her, pretending

that the mler had given hirn permission. When the mler found out, he said,

\"How dutiful is Mi Tzu-hsia! For his mother's sake he even forgot that he

was committing a crime making hirn liable to lose his feet!\"

Another time the two of them took a stroll in an orchard. Mi Tzu-hsia

began eating a peach that he could not finish, and he gave the mler the

other half to eat. The mler remarked, \"You love me so much that you would

even forget your own saliva taste and let me eat the rest of the peach!\"

Later, however, envious fellow courtiers, spreading word that Mi Tzuhsia was actually devious and arrogant, succeeded in damaging his reputation; the mler came to see his actions in a new light. \"This fellow once rode

in my coach under pretense of my order,\" he told the courtiers angrily,

\"and another time he gave me a half-eaten peach.\" For the same actions

that had charmed the mler when he was the favorite, Mi Tzu-hsia now had

to suffer the penalties. The fate of his feet depended solely on the strength

of his reputation.

In the beginning, you must work to establish a reputation for one outstanding quality, whether generosity or honesty or cunning. This quality

sets you apart and gets other people to talk ab out you. You then make your

reputation known to as many people as possible (subtly, though; take care

to build slowly, and with a firm foundation), and watch as it spreads like

wildfire.

A solid reputation increases your presence and exaggerates your

strengths without your having to spend much energy. It can also create an

aura around you that will instill respect, even fear. In the fighting in the

North African desert during World War II, the German general Erwin

Rommel had a reputation for cunning and for deceptive maneuvering that

struck terror into everyone who faced hirn. Even when his forces were depleted, and when British tanks outnumbered his by five to one, entire eities

would be evacuated at the news of his approach.

As they say, your reputation inevitably precedes you, and if it inspires

respect, a lot of your work is done for you before you arrive on the scene,

or utter a single word.

Your success seems destined by your past triumphs. Much of the sucLAW 5 41

42 LAW 5

cess of Henry Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy rested on bis reputation for

ironing out differences; no one wanted to be seen as so unreasonable that

Kissinger could not sway hirn. A peace treaty seemed a fait accompli as

soon as Kissinger's name became involved in the negotiations.

Make your reputation simple and base it on one sterling quality. This

single quality--efficiency, say, or seductiveness-becomes a kind of calling

card that announces your presence and places others under a speIl. A reputation for honesty will allow you to practice all manner of deception.

Casanova used bis reputation as a great seducer to pave the way for his future conquests; women who had heard of his powers became immensely

curious, and wanted to discover for themselves what had made hirn so romantically successful.

Perhaps you have already stained your reputation, so that you are prevented from establishing a new one. In such cases it is wise to associate

with someone whose image counteracts your own, using their good name

to whitewash and elevate yours. It is hard, for example, to erase a reputation for dishonesty by yourself; but a paragon of honesty can help. When

P. T. Barnum wanted to dean up a reputation for promoting vulgar entertainment, he brought the singer Jenny Lind over from Europe. She had a

stellar, high-dass reputation, and the American tour Bamum sponsored for

her greatly enhanced his own image. Similarly the great robber barons of

nineteenth-century America were long unable to rid themselves of a reputation for cruelty and mean-spiritedness. Only when they began collecting

art, so that the names of Morgan and Frick became permanently associated

with those of da Vinci and Rembrandt, were they able to soften their unpleasant image.

Reputation is a treasure to be carefully collected and hoarded. Especially when you are first establishing it, you must protect it strictly, anticipating all attacks on it. Once it is solid, do not let yourself get angry or

defensive at the slanderous comments of your enemies-that reveals insecurity, not confidence in your reputation. Take the high road instead, and

never appear desperate in your self-defense. On the other hand, an attack

on another man's reputation is a potent weapon, particularly when you

have less power than he does. He has much more to lose in such a battle,

and your own thus-far-small reputation gives hirn a small target when he

tries to return your fire. Bamum used such campaigns to great effect in his

early career. But this tactic must be practiced with skill; you must not seem

to engage in petty vengeance. If you do not break your enemy's reputation

deverly, you will inadvertently ruin your own.

Thomas Edison, considered the inventor who hamessed electricity,

believed that a workable system would have to be based on direct current (DC). When the Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla appeared to have succeeded in creating a system based on alternating current (AC), Edison was

furious. He determined to ruin Tesla's reputation, by making the public believe that the AC system was inherently unsafe, and Tesla irresponsible in

promoting it.

To this end he captured all kinds of household pets and electrocuted

them to death with an AC current. When this wasn't enough, in 1890 he got

New York State prison authorities to organize the world's first execution by

electrocution, using an AC current. Eut Edison's electrocution experiments

had all been with small creatures; the charge was too weak, and the man

was only half killed. In perhaps the country's cruelest state-authorized execution, the procedure had to be repeated. It was an awful spectacle.

Although, in the long run, it is Edison's name that has survived, at the

time his campaign damaged his own reputation more than Tesla's. He

backed off. The lesson is simple-never go too far in attacks like these, for

that will draw more attention to your own vengefulness than to the person

you are slandering. When your own reputation is solid, use subtIer tactics,

such as satire and ridicule, to weaken YOUf opponent while making you out

as a charming rogue. The mighty lion toys with the mouse that crosses his

path-any other reaction would mar his fearsome reputation.

Image:

A Mine Full of

Diamonds and Rubies.

You dug for it, you found it,

and your wealth is now assured.

Guard it with YOUf life. Robbers and thieves

will appear from all sides. Never take YOUf wealth

for granted, and constantly renew it-time

will diminish the j ewels' luster,

and bury them from sight.

Authority: Therefore I should wish OUf courtier to bolster up his inherent

worth with skill and cunning, and ensure that whenever he has to go where

he is a stranger, he is preceded by a good reputation .... For the fame

which appears to rest on the opinions of many fosters a certain unshakable belief in a man's worth which is then easily strengthened in minds

already thus disposed and prepared. (Baldassare Castiglione, 1478-1529)

REVERSAL

There is no possible Reversal. Reputation is critical; there are no exceptions to this law. Perhaps, not caring what others think of you, you gain a

reputation for insolence and arrogance, but that can be a valuable image in

itself-Oscar Wilde used it to great advantage. Since we must live in society and must depend on the opinions of others, there is nothing to be

gained by neglecting your reputation. By not caring how you are perceived, you let others decide this for you. Be the master of your fate, and

also of your reputation.

LAW 5 43

44

L AW

6

C OURT ATTENTION

AT ALL C OST

JUDGMENT

Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen

counts for nothing. Never Zet yourseif get lost in the

crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourseif a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious

than the bland and timid masses.

PART I: SURROUND YOUR NAME WITH THE

SENSATIO NAL AND SCANDALOUS

Draw attention to yourself by creating an unforgettable, even controversial

image. Court scandal. Do anything to make yourself seem larger than life

and shine more brightly than those around you. Make no distinction between kinds 0/ attention-notoriety 0/ any sort will bring you power. Better

to be slandered and attacked than ignored.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

P. T. Barnum, America's premier nineteenth-century showman, started his

career as an assistant to the owner of a circus, Aaron Turner. In 1836 the

circus stopped in Annapolis, Maryland, for a series of performances. On

the morning of opening day, Bamum took a stroll through town, wearing a

new black suit. People started to follow hirn. Someone in the gathering

crowd shouted out that he was the Reverend Ephraim K. Avery, infamous

as a man acquitted of the charge of murder but still believed guilty by most

Americans. The angry mob tore off Barnum's suit and was ready to lynch

hirn. After desperate appeals, Barnum finally convinced them to follow

hirn to the circus, where he could verify his identity.

Once there, old Turner confirmed that this was all a practical joke-he

hirnself had spread the rumor that Barnum was Avery. The crowd dispersed, but Barnum, who had nearly been killed, was not amused. He

wanted to know what could have induced his boss to play such a trick. \"My

dear Mr. Barnum,\" Turner replied, \"it was all for our good. Remember, all

we need to ensure success is notoriety.\" And indeed everyone in town was

talking about the joke, and the circus was packed that night and every night

it stayed in Annapolis. Barnum had learned a lesson he would never forget.

Barnum's first big venture of his own was the American Museum-a

collection of curiosities, located in New York. One day a beggar approached Barnum in the street. Instead of giving hirn money, Barnum decided to employ hirn. Taking hirn back to the museum, he gave the man

five bricks and told hirn to make a slow circuit of several blocks. At certain

points he was to lay down a brick on the sidewalk, always keeping one

brick in hand. On the return journey he was to replace each brick on the

street with the one he held. Meanwhile he was to remain serious of countenance and to answer no questions. Once back at the museum, he was to

enter, walk around inside, then leave through the back door and make the

same bricklaying circuit again.

On the man's first walk through the streets, several hundred people

watched his mysterious movements. By his fourth circuit, onlookers

swarmed around hirn, debating what he was doing. Every time he entered

the museum he was followed by people who bought tickets to keep watching hirn. Many of them were distracted by the museum's collections, and

stayed inside. By the end of the first day, the brick man had drawn over a

THE WASP y'm TIW

PHI\\CE

A wasp named Pin TaU

was long in quest of

some deed that would

make hirn forever

famous. So one day he

entered the king's

palace and stung the

little prince, who was in

bed. The prince awoke

with loud cries. The

king and his courtiers

rushed in to see what

had happened. The

prince was yelling as

the wasp stung hirn

again and again. The

courtiers tried to catch

the wasp, and each in

turn was stung. The

whole royal household

rushed in, the news

so on spread, and

people flocked to the

palace. The city was in

an uproar, all business

suspended. Said the

wasp to itself, before it

expired from its efforts,

\"A name without farne

is like fire without

flame. There is nothing

like attracting notice at

any cost. \"

INDIAN FABLE

LAW 6 45

Even ,,,hen Fm miled

al, I Rel my if\"ola or

reflOlVfl.

PWI'I{() ARErlNO,

1 4'!2-1 550

A work Ihal was VOllllllarily presenl<,d [0 a

prinee was hound to

secm in some way

special. The artisl

himself miRhl also try

10 atlract the attenlion

0.1' the cOllrl throuRh his

hehaviollr, In Vasari's

judRmenl Sodoma was

\"weil known hoth for

his pen,'ollal eccentrlcities am/ for his replllation as a Rood painter. \"

Because Pope I\"eo X

\"found pleasure in

such stranRe, harehrained individuals, \"

he made SOl/oma a

krtiRhl, callsinR the

artist 10 RO completelv

out ofhis mind. Van

Mander found it odd

Ihal the produCls of

Cornelis Kelel's experiments in mouth and

fool paintillR were

hOURht hy notable

persons \"hecallse of

their oddity, \" yet Ketel

was only addinR a variation to similar experiments hy Titian, URO

da Carpi ami I'alma

Giovane, who, ilccordinR (0 Boschini [Jainted

with their finRers

\"hecause (hey wished

to imitate the method

1/sed hy the SuprCllJe

Creator. \" ValJ Mander

46 LAW 6

thousand people into the museum. A few days later the police ordered hirn

to cease and desist from his walks-the crowds were blocking traffic. The

bricklaying stopped but thousands of New Yorkers had entered the museum, and many of those had become P. T. Barnum converts.

Barnum would put a band of musicians on a balcony overlooking the

street, beneath a huge banner proclaiming FREE MUSIC FOR THE MILLIONS.

What generosity, New Yorkers thought, and they flocked to hear the free

concerts. But Barnum took pains to hire the worst musicians he could find,

and soon after the band struck up, people would hurry to buy tickets to the

museum, where they would be out of earshot of the band's noise, and of

the booing of the crowd.

One of the first oddities Barnum toured around the country was Joice

Heth, a woman he claimed was 161 years old, and whom he advertised as a

slave who had once been George Washington's nurse. After several

months the crowds began to dwindle, so Barnum sent an anonymous letter

to the papers, claiming that Heth was a clever fraud. joice Heth,\" he

wrote, \"is not a human being but an automaton, made up of whalebone,

india-rubber, and numberless springs.\" Those who had not bothered to see

her before were immediately curious, and those who had already seen her

paid to see her again, to find out whether the rumor that she was a robot

was true.

In 1842, Barnum purchased the carcass of what was purported to be a

mermaid. This creature resembled a monkey with the body of a fish, but

the head and body were perfectly joined-it was truly a wonder. After

some research Barnum discovered that the creature had been expertly put

together in Japan, where the hoax had caused quite a stir.

He nevertheless planted articles in newspapers around the country

claiming the capture of a mermaid in the Fiji Islands. He also sent the papers woodcut prints of paintings showing mermaids. By the time he showed

the specimen in his museum, a national debate had been sparked over the

existence of these mythical creatures. A few months before Barnum's campaign, no one had cared or even known about mermaidsj now everyone

was talking about them as if they were real. Crowds flocked in record numbers to see the Fiji Mermaid, and to hear debates on the subject.

A few years later, Barnum toured Europe with General Tom Thumb, a

five-year-old dwarf from Connecticut whom Barnum claimed was an

eleven-year-old English boy, and whom he had trained to do many remarkable acts. During this tour Barnum's name attracted such attention

that Queen Victoria, that paragon of sobriety, requested a private audience

with hirn and his talented dwarf at Buckingham Palace. The English press

may have ridiculed Bamum, but Victoria was royally entertained by hirn,

and respected hirn ever after.

Interpretation

Barnum understood the fundamental truth about attracting attention:

Once people's eyes are on you, you have a special legitimacy. For Barnum,

creating interest meant creating a crowd; as he later wrote, \"Every crowd

has a silver lining.\" And crowds tend to act in conjunction. If one person

stops to see your beggarman laying bricks in the street, more will do the

sarne. They will gather like dust bunnies. Then, given a gentle push, they

will enter your museum or watch your show. To create a crowd you have to

do something different and odd. Any kind of curiosity will serve the purpose, for crowds are magnetically attracted by the unusual and inexplicable. And once you have their attention, never let it go. If it veers toward

other people, it does so at your expense. Barnum would ruthlessly suck attention from his competitors, knowing what a valuable commodity it iso

At the beginning of your rise to the top, then, spend all your energy on

attracting attention. Most important: The quality of the attention is irrelevant. No matter how badly his shows were reviewed, or how slanderously

personal were the attacks on his hoaxes, Barnum would never complain. If

a newspaper critic reviled hirn particularly badly, in fact, he made sure to

invite the man to an opening and to give hirn the best seat in the house. He

would even write anonymous attacks on his own work, just to keep his

name in the papers. From Barnum's vantage, attention-whether negative

or positive-was the main ingredient of his success. The worst fate in the

world for a man who yearns farne, glory, and, of course, power is to be

ignored.

If the courtier happens to engage in arms in some public spectacle

such as jousting ... he will ensure that the horse he has is beautifully

caparisoned, that he himself is suitably attired, with appropriate

mottoes and ingenious devices to attract the eyes 0/ the onlookers

in his direction as surely as the lodestone attracts iron.

Raidassare Castiglione, 1478-1529

KEYS TO POWER

Burning more brightly than those around you is a skill that no one is born

with. You have to team to attract attention, \"as surely as the lodestone attracts iron.\" At the start of your career, you must attach your narne and reputation to a quality, an image, that sets you apart from other people. This

image can be something like a characteristic style of dress, or a personality

quirk that amuses people and gets talked about. Once the image is established, you have an appearance, a place in the sky for your star.

It is a common mistake to imagine that this peculiar appearance of

yours should not be controversial, that to be attacked is somehow bad.

Nothing could be further from the truth. To avoid being a flash in the pan,

and having your notoriety eclipsed by another, you must not discriminate

between different types of attention; in the end, every kind will work in

your favor. Barnum, we have seen, welcomed personal attacks and feIt

no need to defend hirnself. He deliberately courted the image of being a

humbug.

reports Ihal C;ossaerl

allraeled Ihe alIenIion

o[ Emperor Chartes V

by wearing a [anlaslic

paper coslume. In

doing so he was adopling Ihe laclies IIsed by

Dinoerales, who, in

order 10 gain aecess to

A lexander Ihe Greal. is

said 10 have appearet!

disguised as Ihe naked

Hereules when Ihe

monarch was silling in

judgmenl.

THE COURT ARTIST,

M ARTIN WA RNKE.

1993

LAW 6 47

48 LAW 6

The court of Louis XIV contained many talented writers, artists, great

beauties, and men and women of impeccable virtue, but no one was more

talked about than the singular Duc de Lauzun. The duke was short, almost

dwarfish, and he was prone to the most insolent kinds of behavior-he

slept with the king's mistress, and openly insulted not only other courtiers

but the king hirnself. Louis, however, was so beguiled by the duke's eccentricities that he could not bear his absences from the court. It was simple:

The strangeness of the duke's character attracted attention. Once people

were enthralled by hirn, they wanted hirn around at any cost.

Society craves larger-than-life figures, people who stand above the

general mediocrity. Never be afraid, then, of the qualities that set you apart

and draw attention to you. Court controversy, even scandal. It is better to

be attacked, even slandered, than ignored. All professions are ruled by this

law, and all professionals must have a bit of the showman about them.

The great scientist Thomas Edison knew that to raise money he had to

remain in the public eye at any cost. Almost as important as the inventions

themselves was how he presented them to the public and courted attention.

Edison would design visually dazzling experiments to display his discoveries with electricity. He would talk of future inventions that seemed

fantastic at the time-robots, and machines that could photograph

thought-and that he had no intention of wasting his energy on, but that

made the public talk about hirn. He did everything he could to make sure

that he received more attention than his great riyal Nikola Tesla, who may

actually have been more brilliant than he was but whose name was far less

known. In 1915, it was rumored that Edison and Tesla would be joint recipients of that year's Nobel Prize in physics. The prize was eventually given to

a pair of English physicists; only later was it discovered that the prize committee had actually approached Edison, but he had tumed them down, refusing to share the prize with Tesla. By that time his fame was more seeure

than Tesla's, and he thought it better to refuse the honor than to allow his

riyal the attention that would have come even from sharing the prize.

If you find yourself in a lowly position that offers little opportunity for

you to draw attention, an effective trick is to attack the most visible, most

famous, most powerful person you can find. When Pietro Aretino, a young

Roman servant boy of the early sixteenth century, wanted to get attention

as a writer of verses, he decided to publish a series of satirical poems ridiculing the pope and his affection for a pet elephant. The attack put Aretino

in the public eye immediately. A slanderous attack on a person in a position of power would have a similar effect. Remember, however, to use such

tactics sparingly after you have the public's attention, when the act can

wear thin.

Once in the limelight you must constantly renew it by adapting and

varying your method of courting attention. If you don't, the public will

grow tired, will take you for granted, and will move on to a newer star. The

game requires constant vigilance and creativity. Pablo Picasso never allowed hirnself to fade into the background; if his name became too at-

tached to a particular style, he would deliberately upset the public with a

new series of paintings that went against all expectations. Better to create

something ugly and disturbing, he believed, than to let viewers grow too familiar with his work. Understand: People feel superior to the person whose

actions they can predict. If you show them who is in control by playing

againsttheir expectations, you both gain their respect and tighten your hold

on their fleeting attention.

Ima g e :

The Limelight. The

actor who steps into this brilliant light attains a heightened

presence. All eyes are on hirn. There

is room for only one actor at a time in

the limelight's narrow beam; do wh atever it takes to make yourself its focus.

Make your gestures so large, amusing, and scandalous that the

light stays on you while the

other ac tors are left in

the shadows.

Authority: Be ostentatious and

be seen. . . . What is not seen is

as though it did not exist. ... It

was light that first caused all creation to shine forth. Display fills

up many blanks, covers up deficiencies, and gives everything

a second life, especially when it

is backed by genuine merit.

(Baltasar Graciän, 1601-1658)

LAW 6 49

50 LAW 6

PART II: CREATE AN AIR OF MYSTERY

In a world growing increasingly banal and familiar, what seems enigmatic instantly draws attention. Never make it too clear what you are

doing or about to do. Do not show all your cards. An air of mystery heightens your presence; it also creates anticipation-everyone will be watching

you to see what happens next. Use mystery to beguile, seduce, even frighten.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

Beginning in 1905, rumors started to spread throughout Paris of a young

Oriental girl who danced in a private horne, wrapped in veils that she gradually discarded. A local journalist who had seen her dancing reported that

\"a woman from the Far East had come to Europe laden with perfume and

jewels, to introduce some of the richness of the Oriental colour and life into

the satiated society of European cities.\" Soon everyone knew the dancer's

name: Mata Hari.

Early that year, in the winter, small and select audiences would gather

in a salon filled with Indian statues and other relics while an orchestra

played music inspired by Hindu andJavanese melodies. Mter keeping the

audience waiting and wondering, Mata Hari would suddenly appear, in a

startling costume: a white cotton brassiere coyered with Indian-type jewels;

jeweled bands at the waist supporting a sarong that revealed as much as it

concealed; bracelets up the arms. Then Mata Hari would dance, in a style

no one in France had seen before, her whole body swaying as if she were in

a trance. She told her excited and curious audience that her dances told

stories from Indian mythology and Javanese folktales. Soon the cream of

Paris, and ambassadors from far-off lands, were competing for invitations

to the salon, where it was rumored that Mata Hari was actually performing

sacred dances in the nude.

The public wanted to know more about her. She told journalists that

she was actually Dutch in origin, but had grown up on the island of Java.

She would also talk about time spent in India, how she had leamed sacred

Hindu dances there, and how Indian women \"can shoot straight, ride

horseback, and are capable of doing logarithms and talk philosophy.\" By

the summer of 1905, although few Parisians had actually seen Mata Hari

dance, her name was on everyone's lips.

As Mata Hari gave more interviews, the story of her origins kept

changing: She had grown up in India, her grandmother was the daughter

of a Javanese princess, she had lived on the island of Sumatra where she

had spent her time \"horseback riding, gun in hand, and risking her life.\"

No one knew anything certain about her, but journalists did not mind these

changes in her biography. They compared her to an Indian goddess, a

creature from the pages of Baudelaire--whatever their imagination wanted

to see in this mysterious woman from the East.

In August of 1905, Mata Hari performed for the first time in public.

r

Crowds thronging to see her on opening night caused a riot. She had now

become a cult figure, spawning many imitations. One reviewer wrote,

\"Mata Hari personifies all the poetry of India, its mysticism, its voluptuousness, its hypnotizing charm.\" Another noted, \"If India possesses such unexpected treasures, then all Frenchmen will emigrate to the shores of the

Ganges.\"

Soon the fame of Mata Hari and her sacred Indian dances spread beyond Paris. She was invited to Berlin, Vienna, Milan. Over the next few

years she performed throughout Europe, mixed with the highest social cireIes, and eamed an income that gave her an independence rarely enjoyed

by a woman of the period. Then, near the end of World War I, she was arrested in France, tried, convicted, and finally executed as a German spy.

Only during the trial did the truth come out: Mata Hari was not from Java

or India, had not grown up in the Orient, did not have a drop of Eastem

blood in her body. Her real name was Margaretha Zelle, and she came

from the stolid northem province of Friesland, Holland.

Interpretation

When Margaretha Zelle arrived in Paris, in 1904, she had half a franc in

her pocket. She was one of the thousands of beautiful young girls who

flocked to Paris every year, taking work as artists' models, nightclub

dancers, or vaudeville performers at the Folies Bergere. Mter a few years

they would inevitably be replaced by younger girls, and would often end

up on the streets, tuming to prostitution, or else retuming to the town they

came from, older and chastened.

Zelle had higher ambitions. She had no dance experience and had

never performed in the theater, but as a young girl she had traveled with

her family and had witnessed local dances in Java and Sumatra. Zelle

eIearly understood that what was important in her act was not the dance itself, or even her face or figure, but her ability to create an air of mystery

about herself. The mystery she created lay not just in her dancing, or her

costumes, or the stories she would tell, or her endless lies about her origins;

it lay in an atmosphere enveloping everything she did. There was nothing

you could say for sure about her-she was always changing, always surprising her audience with new costumes, new dances, new stories. This air

of mystery left the public always wanting to know more, always wondering

about her next move. Mata Hari was no more beautiful than many of the

other young girls who came to Paris, and she was not a particularly good

dancer. What separated her from the mass, what attracted and held the

public's attention and made her famous and wealthy, was her mystery.

People are enthralled by mystery; because it invites constant interpretation, they never tire of it. The mysterious cannot be grasped. And what

cannot be seized and consumed creates power.

LAW 6 51

52 LAW 6

KEYS TO POWER

In the past, the world was filled with the terrifying and unknowablediseases, disasters, capricious despots, the mystery of death itself. What we

could not understand we reimagined as myths and spirits. Over the centuries, though, we have managed, through science and reason, to illuminate the darkness; what was mysterious and forbidding has grown familiar

and comfortable. Yet this light has a price: in a world that is ever more

banal, that has had its mystery and myth squeezed out of it, we secretly

crave enigmas, people or things that cannot be instantly interpreted,

seized, and consumed.

That is the power of the mysterious: It invites layers of interpretation,

excites our imagination, seduces us into believing that it conceals something marvelous. The world has become so familiar and its inhabitants so

predictable that what wraps itself in mystery will almost always draw the

limelight to it and make us watch it.

Do not imagine that to create an air of mystery you have to be grand

and awe-inspiring. Mystery that is woven into your day-to-day demeanor,

and is subtle, has that much more power to fascinate and attract attention.

Remember: Most people are upfront, can be read like an open book, take

little care to control their words or image, and are hopelessly predictable.

By simply holding back, keeping silent, occasionally uttering ambiguous

phrases, deliberately appearing inconsistent, and acting odd in the subtlest

of ways, you will emanate an aura of mystery. The people around you will

then magnify that aura by constantly trying to interpret you.

Both artists and con artists understand the vital link between being

mysterious and attracting interest. Count Victor Lustig, the aristocrat of

swindlers, played the game to perfection. He was always doing things that

were different, or seemed to make no sense. He would show up at the best

hotels in a limo driven by a Japanese chauffeur; no one had ever seen a

Japanese chauffeur before, so this seemed exotic and strange. Lustig would

dress in the most expensive clothing, but always with something-a medal,

a flower, an armband-out of place, at least in conventional terms. This

was seen not as tasteless but as odd and intriguing. In hotels he would be

seen receiving telegrams at all hours, one after the other, brought to hirn by

his Japanese chauffeur-telegrams he would tear up with utter nonchalance. (In fact they were fakes, completely blank.) He would sit alone in the

dining room, reading a large and impressive-Iooking book, smiling at peopIe yet remaining aloof. Within a few days, of course, the entire hotel

would be abuzz with interest in this strange man.

All this attention allowed Lustig to lure suckers in with ease. They

would beg for his confidence and his company. Everyone wanted to be

seen with this mysterious aristocrat. And in the presence of this distracting

enigma, they wouldn't even notice that they were being robbed blind.

An air of mystery can make the mediocre appear intelligent and profound. It made Mata Hari, a woman of average appearance and intelligence, seem like a goddess, and her dancing divinely inspired. An air of

mystery about an artist makes his or her artwork immediately more intriguing, a trick Marcel Duchamp played to great effect. It is all very easy to

do-say little about your work, tease and titillate with alluring, even contradictory comments, then stand back and let others try to make sense of it all.

Mysterious people put others in a kind of inferior position-that of trying to figure them out. To degrees that they can control, they also elicit the

fear surrounding anything uncertain or unknown. All great leaders know

that an aura of mystery draws attention to them and creates an intimidating

presence. Mao Tse-tung, for example, cleverly cultivated an enigmatic

image; he had no worries about seeming inconsistent or contradicting himself-the very contradictoriness of his actions and words meant that he always had the upper hand. No one, not even his own wife, ever feIt they

understood hirn, and he therefore seemed larger than life. This also meant

that the public paid constant attention to hirn, ever anxious to witness his

next move.

If your social position prevents you from completely wrapping your

actions in mystery, you must at least learn to make yourself less obvious.

Every now and then, act in a way that does not mesh with other people's

perception of you. This way you keep those around you on the defensive,

eliciting the kind of attention that makes you powerful. Done right, the creation of enigma can also draw the kind of attention that strikes terror into

your enemy.

During the Second Punic War (219-202 B.C.), the great Carthaginian

general Hannibal was wreaking havoc in his march on Rome. Hannibal

was known for his cleverness and duplicity.

Under his leadership Carthage's army, though smaller than those of

the Romans, had constantly outmaneuvered them. On one occasion,

though, Hannibal's scouts made a horrible blunder, leading his troops into

a marshy terrain with the sea at their back. The Roman army blocked the

mountain passes that led inland, and its general, Fabius, was ecstatic-at

last he had Hannibal trapped. Posting his best sentries on the passes, he

worked on a plan to destroy Hannibal's forces. But in the middle of the

night, the sentries looked down to see a mysterious sight: A huge pro cession of lights was heading up the mountain. Thousands and thousands of

lights. If this was Hannibal's army, it had suddenly grown a hundredfold.

The sentries argued heatedly about what this could mean: Reinforcements from the sea? Troops that had been hidden in the area? Ghosts? No

explanation made sense.

As they watched, fires broke out all over the mountain, and a horrible

noise drifted up to them from below, like the blowing of a million horns.

Demons, they thought. The sentries, the bravest and most sensible in the

Roman army, fled their posts in a panic.

By the next day, Hannibal had escaped from the marshland. What was

his trick? Had he really cOI�ured up demons? Actually what he had done

was order bundles of twigs to be fastened to the horns of the thousands of

oxen that traveled with his troops as beasts of burden. The twigs were then

LAW 6 53

54 , LAW 6

lit, giving the impression of the torches of a vast army heading up the

mountain. When the flarnes burned down to the oxen's skin, they stampeded in all directions, bellowing like mad and setting fires all over the

mountainside. The key to this device's success was not the torches, the

fires, or the noises in themselves, however, but the fact that Hannibal had

created a puzzle that captivated the sentries' attention and gradually terrified them. From the mountaintop there was no way to explain this bizarre

sight. If the sentries could have explained it they would have stayed at their

posts.

If you find yourself trapped, cornered, and on the defensive in some

situation, try a simple experiment: Do something that cannot be easily explained or interpreted. Choose a simple action, but carry it out in a way

that unsettles your opponent, a way with many possible interpretations,

making your intentions obscure. Don't just be unpredictable (although this

tactic too can be successful-see Law 17); like Hannibal, create a scene that

cannot be read. There will seem to be no method to your madness, no

rhyme or reason, no single explanation. If you do this right, you will inspire fear and trembling and the sentries will abandon their posts. Call it

the \"feigned madness of Harnlet\" tactic, for Harnlet uses it to great effect in

Shakespeare's play, frightening his stepfather Claudius through the mystery of his behavior. The mysterious makes your forces seem larger, your

power more terrifying.

Image: The Dance of

the Veils-the veils

envelop the d ancer.

What they re vea l

causes excitement.

What they conceal

heightens interest. The

essence of mystery.

Authority: If you do not declare yourself immediately, you arouse

expectation .... Mix a litde mystery with everything, and the very

mystery stirs up veneration. And when you explain, be not too explicit. . . . In this manner you imitate the Divine way when you

cause men to wonder and watch. (Baltasar Gracian, 1601- 1658)

REVERSAL

In the beginning of your rise to the top, you must attraet attention at all

cost, but as you rise higher you must constantly adapt. Never wear the public out with the same tactic. An air of mystery works wonders for those who

need to develop an aura of power and get themselves noticed, but it must

seem measured and under control. Mata Hari went too far with her fabrications; although the accusation that she was a spy was false, at the time it

was a reasonable presumption because all her lies made her seem suspicious and nefarious. Do not let your air of mystery be slowly transformed

into a reputation for deceit. The mystery you create must seem a game,

playful and unthreatening. Recognize when it goes too far, and puH back.

There are times when the need for attention must be deferred, and

when scandal and notoriety are the last things you want to create. The attention you attraet must never offend or challenge the reputation of those

above you-not, at any rate, if they are secure. You will seem not only paltry but desperate by comparison. There is an art to knowing when to draw

notice and when to withdraw.

Lola Montez was one of the great practitioners of the art of attracting

attention. She managed to rise from a middle-class lrish background to

being the lover of Franz Liszt and then the mistress and political adviser of

King Ludwig of Bavaria. In her later years, though, she lost her sense of

proportion.

In London in 1850 there was to be a performance of Shakespeare's

Macbeth featuring the greatest actor of the time, Charles John Kean. Everyone of consequence in English society was to be there; it was rumored that

even Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were to make a public appearance.

The custom of the period demanded that everyone be seated before the

queen arrived. So the audience got there a little early, and when the queen

entered her royal box, they observed the convention of standing up and

applauding her. The royal couple waited, then bowed. Everyone sat down

and the lights were dimmed. Then, suddenly, all eyes turned to a box opposite Queen Victoria's: A woman appeared from the shadows, taking her

seat later than the queen. It was Lola Montez. She wore a diamond tiara on

her dark hair and a long fur coat over her shoulders. People whispered in

amazement as the ermine cloak was dropped to reveal a low-necked gown

of crimson velvet. By turning their heads, the audience could see that the

royal couple deliberately avoided looking at Lola's box. They foHowed

Victoria's example, and for the rest of the evening Lola Montez was ignored. Mter that evening no one in fashionable society dared to be seen

with her. All her magnetic powers were reversed. People would flee her

sight. Her future in England was finished.

Never appear overly greedy for attention, then, for it signals insecurity,

and insecurity drives power away. Understand that there are times when it

is not in your interest to be the center of attention. When in the presence of

a king or queen, for instance, or the equivalent thereof, bow and retreat to

the shadows; never compete.

LAW 6 55

56

LAW

7

GET OTHERS TO DO THE

WORK F OR YOU, BUT

ALWAYS TAKE THE CREDIT

JUDGMENT

Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people

to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance

save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a

godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your

helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered.

Never do yourself what others can do for you.

TRANSGRESSION AND OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

In 1883 a young Serbian scientist named Nikola Tesla was working for the

European division of the Continental Edison Company. He was a brilliant

inventor, and Charles Batchelor, a plant manager and a personal friend of

Thomas Edison, persuaded him he should seek his fortune in America, giving hirn a letter of introduction to Edison hirnself. So began a life of woe

and tribulation that lasted until Tesla's death.

When Tesla met Edison in New York, the famous inventor hired him

on the spot. Tesla worked eighteen-hour days, finding ways to improve the

primitive Edison dynamos. Finally he offered to redesign them completely.

To Edison this seemed a monumental task that could last years without

paying off, but he told Tesla, \"There's fifty thousand dollars in it for you-if

you can do it.\" Tesla labored day and night on the project and after only a

year he produced a greatly improved version of the dynamo, complete

with automatie controls. He went to Edison to break the good news and receive his $50,000. Edison was pleased with the improvement, for which he

and his company would take credit, but when it came to the issue of the

money he told the young Serb, \"Tesla, you don't understand our American

humor!,\" and offered a small raise instead.

Tesla's obsession was to create an altemating-current system (AC) of

electricity. Edison believed in the direct-current system (DC), and not only

refused to support Tesla's research but later did all he could to sabotage

him. Tesla tumed to the great Pittsburgh magnate George Westinghouse,

who had started his own electricity company. Westinghouse completely

funded Tesla's research and offered hirn a generous royalty agreement on

future profits. The AC system Tesla developed is still the standard todaybut after patents were filed in his name, other scientists came forward to

take credit for the invention, claiming that they had laid the groundwork

for hirn. His name was lost in the shuffle, and the public came to associate

the invention with Westinghouse hirnself.

A year later, Westinghouse was caught in a takeover bid from

J. Pierpont Morgan, who made hirn rescind the generous royalty contract

he had signed with Tesla. Westinghouse explained to the scientist that his

company would not survive if it had to pay hirn his full royalties; he persuaded Tesla to accept a buyout of his patents for $216,000-a large sum,

no doubt, but far less than the $12 million they were worth at the time. The

financiers had divested Tesla of the riches, the patents, and essentially the

credit for the greatest invention of his career.

The name of Guglielmo Marconi is forever linked with the invention

of radio. But few know that in producing his invention-he broadcast a signal across the English Channel in 1899-Marconi made use of a patent

Tesla had filed in 1897, and that his work depended on Tesla's research.

Once again Tesla received no money and no credit. Tesla invented an induction motor as well as the AC power system, and he is the real \"father of

radio.\" Yet none of these discoveries bear his name. As an old man, he

lived in poverty.

THE TORTOISE. THE

ELEPIIA \\iT. A\"'D TIIE

HIPPOPOTA \\1 I S

One day the tortoise

met the elephant, who

trumpeted, \"Out of my

way, you weaklingI might step on you!\"

The tortoise was not

afraid and stayed

where he was, so the

elephant stepped on

him, but could not

crush him. \"Da not

boast, Mr. Elephant, I

am as strang as you

are!\" said the tortoise,

but the elephant just

laughed. So the tortoise

asked him to come

to his hill the next

morning.

The next day, before

sunrise, the tortoise ran

down the hili to the

river, where he met the

hippopotamus, who

was just on his way

back into the water

after his nocturnal

feeding. \"Mr Hippo!

Shall we have a tug·olwar? I bet I'm as

strang as you are!\"

said the tortoise. The

hippopotamus laughed

at this ridiculous idea,

but agreed. The tortoise

produced a lang rope

and told the hippo to

hold it in his mouth

until the tortoise

shouted \"Hey!\"

Then the tortoise ran

back up the hili where

he found the elephant,

who was getting impa·

tient. He gave the

elephant the other end

ofthe rope and said,

\"When I say 'Hey!'

pull, and you '11 see

which of us is the

strongest.\" Then he ran

halfway back down the

LAW 7 57

hili, 10 a place where he

('ouldn 'I he seen, ami

ShO/lled, \"Hey!\" The

elephant and Ihe

hippopotamus pulled

and pulled, hul neirher

{'()/lId hudge Ihe

olher�lhey were oI

eq/lal strengllz. They

hoth agreed thaI Ihe

{orloise was os slrong

as Ihey were.

Never do wh al olhers

can do for you. The lorloise leI olhers do Ihe

work for him while he

goI Ihe erettil.

ZAIREAN rABU·

To he sure, iI the hunler

relies on Ihe securily of

Ihe ('arriage, IIlilizes Ihe

legs of Ihe six horses,

ami makes Wang Liang

hold Iheir reins, Ihen he

will nol lire himself

and will find il easy 10

overlake swill animals.

N()lV supposing he

discarded Ihe advanlage o/Ihe carriage,

gave up Ihe IIseflll legs

of Ihe 11Orse.\\' and the

skill of Wang Liang,

and alighled 10 run

afier Ihe animal,I'

, then

even lllOUgh his legs

were as quick w·; Lou

Chi's, he wOllld nol he

in lime to overlake rhe

animals. In fact, if'good

hor.\\'(,,\\' alld strong

carriages arc laken info

use, Ihen mere hondnU!fl and !Julldwolnen

will be good enough 10

calch rhe animals.

H A)\\;-f<EI-TZL,

CHIN ESr, PI-I ILOSOPHLR,

TI!lR!) CENTl l RY H.C,

58 LAW 7

In 1917, during his later impoverished years, Tesla was told he was to

receive the Edison Medal of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.

He tumed the medal down. \"You propose, \" he said, \"to honor me with a

medal which I could pin upon my coat and strut for a vain hOUf before the

members of your Institute. You would decorate my body and continue to

let starve, for failure to supply recognition, my mind and its creative products, which have supplied the foundation upon which the major portion of

your Institute exists.\"

Interpretation

Many harbor the illusion that science, dealing with facts as it does, is beyond the petty rivalries that trouble the rest of the world. Nikola Tesla was

one of those. He believed science had nothing to do with politics, and

claimed not to care for farne and riches, As he grew older, though, this ruined his scientific work. Not associated with any particular discovery, he

could attract no investors to his many ideas. While he pondered great inventions for the future, others stole the patents he had already developed

and got the glory for themselves.

He wanted to do everything on his own, but merely exhausted and impoverished hirnself in the process.

Edison was Tesla's polar opposite. He wasn't actually much of a scientific thinker or inventor; he once said that he had no need to be a mathematician because he could always hire one. That was Edison's main

method. He was really a businessman and publicist, spotting the trends and

the opportunities that were out there, then hiring the best in the field to do

the work for him. If he had to he would steal from his competitors. Yet his

name is much better known than Tesla's, and is associated with more inventions.

The lesson is twofold: First, the credit for an invention or creation is as

important, if not more important, than the invention itself. You must seeUfe

the credit for YOUfseif and keep others from stealing it away, or from piggybacking on YOUf hard work. To accomplish this you must always be vigilant

and ruthless, keeping YOUf creation quiet until you can be SUfe there are no

vultures circling overhead. Second, leam to take advantage of other people's work to further YOUf own cause. Time is precious and life is short. If

you try to do it all on YOUf own, you run yourself ragged, waste energy, and

bum yourself out. It is far better to conserve your forces, pounce on the

work others have done, and find a way to make it YOUf own.

Everybody steals in commerce and industry.

I've stolen a lot myself.

But I know how to steal.

Thomas Edison, 1 84 7-1 931

KEYS TO POWER

The world of power has the dynamics of the jungle: There are those who

live by hunting and killing, and there are also vast numbers of creatures

(hyenas, vultures) who live off the hunting of others. These latter, less

imaginative types are often incapable of doing the work that is essential for

the creation of power. They understand early on, though, that if they wait

long enough, they can always find another animal to do the work for them.

Do not be naive: At this very moment, while you are slaving away on some

project, there are vultures cirding above trying to figure out a way to survive and even thrive off your creativity. It is useless to complain about this,

or to wear yourself ragged with bittemess, as Tesla did. Better to protect

yourself and join the game. Once you have established a power base, become a vulture yourself, and save yourself a lot of time and energy.

Of the two poles of this game, one can be illustrated by the example of

the explorer Vasco Nliiiez de Balboa. Balboa had an obsession-the discovery of EI Dorado, a legendary city of vast riches.

Early in the sixteenth century, after countless hardships and brushes

with death, he found evidence of a great and wealthy empire to the south

of Mexico, in present-day Peru. By conquering this empire, the Incan, and

seizing its gold, he would make hirnself the next Cortes. The problem was

that even as he made this discovery, word of it spread among hundreds of

other conquistadors. He did not understand that half the game was keeping

it quiet, and carefully watching those around hirn. A few years after he discovered the location of the Incan empire, a soldier in his own army, Francisco Pizarro, helped to get hirn beheaded for treason. Pizarro went on to

take what Balboa had spent so many years trying to find.

The other pole is that of the artist Peter Paul Rubens, who, late in his

career, found hirnself deluged with requests for paintings. He created a system: In his large studio he employed dozens of outstanding painters, one

specializing in robes, another in backgrounds, and so on. He created a vast

production line in which a large number of canvases would be worked on

at the same time. When an important dient visited the studio, Rubens

would shoo his hired painters out for the day. While the dient watched

from a balcony, Rubens would work at an incredible pace, with unbelievable energy. The dient would leave in awe of this prodigious man, who

could paint so many masterpieces in so short a time.

This is the essence of the Law: Leam to get others to do the work for

you while you take the credit, and you appear to be of godlike strength and

power. If you think it important to do all the work yourself, you will never

get far, and you will suffer the fate of the Balboas and Teslas of the world.

Find people with the skills and creativity you lack. Either hire them, while

putting your own name on top of theirs, or find a way to take their work

and make it your own. Their creativity thus becomes yours, and you seem

a genius to the world.

There is another application of this law that does not require the parasitic use of your contemporaries' labor: Use the past, a vast storehouse of

1 1 1 1· 11 1 . 1 ''' ) 111 \\

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LAW 7 59

60 LAW 7

knowledge and wisdom. Isaac Newton called this \"standing on the shoulders of giants.\" He meant that in making his discoveries he had built on the

achievements of others. A great part of his aura of genius, he knew, was attributable to his shrewd ability to make the most of the insights of ancient,

medieval, and Renaissance scientists. Shakespeare borrowed plots, characterizations, and even dialogue from Plutarch, among other writers, for he

knew that nobody surpassed Plutarch in the writing of subtle psychology

and witty quotes. How many later writers have in their turn borrowed

from-plagiarized--Shakespeare?

We all know how few of today's politicians write their own speeches.

Their own words would not win them a single vote; their eloquence and

wit, whatever there is of it, they owe to a speech writer. Other people

do the work, they take the credit. The upside of this is that it is a kind

of power that is available to everyone. Leam to use the knowledge of the

past and you will look like a genius, even when you are really just a dever

borrower.

Writers who have delved into human nature, ancient masters of strategy, historians of human stupidity and folly, kings and queens who have

leamed the hard way how to handle the burdens of power-their knowledge is gathering dust, waiting for you to come and stand on their shoulders. Their wit can be your wit, their skill can be your skill, and they will

never come around to tell people how unoriginal you really are. You can

slog through life, making endless mistakes, wasting time and energy trying

to do things from your own experience. Or you can use the armies of the

past. As Bismarck once said, \"Fools say that they leam by experience. I

prefer to profit by others' experience.\"

Image: The Vulture. Of all the creatures in

the jungle, he has it the easiest. The

hard work of others becomes his work;

their failure to survive becomes his

nourishment. Keep an eye on

the Vulture-while you are

hard at work, he is cirding above. Do not

fight him, join

hirn .

Authority: There is much to be known, life is short, and life is not life

without knowledge. It is therefore an excellent device to acquire

knowledge from everybody. Thus, by the sweat of another's brow, you

win the reputation of being an orade. (Baltasar Graciän, 1601-1658)

REVERSAL

There are times when taking the credit for work that others have done is

not the wise course: If your power is not firmly enough established, you

will seem to be pushing people out of the limelight. To be a brilliant exploiter of talent your position must be unshakable, or you will be accused

of deception.

Be sure you know when letting other people share the credit serves

your purpose. It is especially important to not be greedy when you have a

master above you. President Richard Nixon's historie visit to the People's

RepubHc of China was originally his idea, but it might never have come off

but for the deft diplomacy of Henry Kissinger. Nor would it have been as

successful without Kissinger's skills. Still, when the time came to take

credit, Kissinger adroitly let Nixon take the Hon's share. Knowing that the

truth would come out later, he was careful not to jeopardize his standing in

the short term by hogging the limelight. Kissinger played the game expertly: He took credit for the work of those below hirn while graciously

giving credit for his own labors to those above. That is the way to play

the game.

LAW 7 61

62

LAW

8

MAKE OTHER PEOP LE

C OME TO YOUUSE BAIT IF NECESSARY

JUDGMENT

M'hen you force the other person to act, you are the one in

control. It is always better to make your opponent come to

you, abandoning his own plans in the process. Lure him

with fabulous gains-then attack. You hold the cards.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

At the Congress ofVienna in 1814, the major powers ofEurope gathered to

carve up the remains of Napoleon's fallen Empire. The city was fuH of gaiety and the balls were the most splendid in memory. Hovering over the

proceedings, however, was the shadow of Napoleon hirnself. Instead of

being executed or exiled far away, he had been sent to the island of Elba,

not far from the co ast of Italy.

Even imprisoned on an island, a man as bold and creative as

Napoleon Bonaparte made everyone nervous. The Austrians plotted to kill

hirn on Elba, but decided it was too risky. Alexander I, Russia's temperamental czar, heightened the anxiety by throwing a fit during the congress

when a part of Poland was denied him: \"Beware, I shall loose the monster!\" he threatened. Everyone knew he meant Napoleon. Of all the statesmen gathered in Vienna, only Talleyrand, Napoleon's former foreign

minister, seemed calm and unconcerned. It was as if he knew something

the others did not.

Meanwhile, on the island of Elba, Napoleon's life was a mockery of his

previous glory. As Elba's \"king,\" he had been allowed to form a courtthere was a cook, a wardrobe mistress, an official pianist, and a handful of

courtiers. All this was designed to humiliate Napoleon, and it seemed to

work.

That winter, however, there occurred a series of events so strange and

dramatic they might have been scripted in a play. Elba was surrounded by

British ships, their cannons covering all possible exit points. Yet somehow,

in broad daylight on 26 February 1815, a ship with nine hundred men on

board picked up Napoleon and put to sea. The English gave chase but the

ship got away. This almost impossible escape astonished the public

throughout Europe, and terrified the statesmen at the Congress of Vienna.

Although it would have been safer to leave Europe, Napoleon not only

chose to return to France, he raised the odds by marching on Paris with a

tiny army, in hopes of recapturing the throne. His strategy worked-people

of all classes threw themselves at his feet. An army under Marshal Ney sped

from Paris to arrest hirn, but when the soldiers saw their beloved former

leader, they changed sides. Napoleon was declared emperor again. Volunteers swelled the ranks of his new army. Delirium swept the country. In Paris,

crowds went wild. The king who had replaced Napoleon fled the country.

For the next hundred days, Napoleon ruled France. Soon, however, the

giddiness subsided. France was bankrupt, its resources nearly exhausted,

and there was little Napoleon could do about this. At the Battle ofWaterloo,

in June of that year, he was finally defeated for good. This time his enemies

had learned their lesson: They exiled hirn to the barren island of Saint Helena, off the west coast of Mrica. There he had no more hope of escape.

Interpretation

Only years later did the facts of Napoleon's dramatic escape from Elba

come to light. Before he decided to attempt this bold move, visitors to his

court had told hirn that he was more popular in France than ever, and that

LAW 8 63

64 LAW 8

the country would embrace hirn again. One of these visitors was Austria's

General Koller, who convinced Napoleon that if he escaped, the European

powers, England included, would welcome him back into power. Napoleon

was tipped off that the English would let hirn go, and indeed his escape occurred in the middle of the afternoon, in full view of English spyglasses.

What Napoleon did not know was that there was a man behind it all,

pulling the strings, and that this man was his former minister, Talleyrand.

And Talleyrand was doing all this not to bring back the glory days but to

crush Napoleon once and for all. Considering the emperor's ambition unsettling to Europe's stability, he had turned against hirn long ago. When

Napoleon was exiled to Elba, Talleyrand had protested. Napoleon should

be sent farther away, he argued, or Europe would never have peace. But

no one listened.

Instead of pushing his opinion, Talleyrand bided his time. Working

quietly, he eventually won over Castlereagh and Mettemich, the foreign

ministers of England and Austria.

Together these men baited Napoleon into escaping. Even Koller's visit,

to whisper the promise of glory in the exile's ear, was part of the plan. Like

a master cardplayer, Talleyrand figured everything out in advance. He

knew Napoleon would fall into the trap he had set. He also foresaw that

Napoleon would lead the country into a war, which, given France's weakened condition, could only last a few months. One diplomat in Vienna,

who understood that Talleyrand was behind it all, said, \"He has set the

house ablaze in order to save it from the plague.\"

When I have laid bait for deer,

I don 't shoot at the first doe that comes to sniff,

but rpait until the whole herd has gathered mund.

Dito von Bismarck, 1815-1898

KEYS TO POWER

How many times has this scenario played itself out in history: An aggressive leader initiates a series of bold moves that begin by bringing hirn

much power. Slowly, however, his power reaches a peak, and soon everything turns against hirn. His numerous enemies band together; trying to

maintain his power, he exhausts hirnself going in this direction and that,

and inevitably he collapses. The reason for this pattern is that the aggressive person is rarely in full control. He cannot see more than a couple of

moves ahead, cannot see the consequences of this bold move or that one.

Because he is constantly being forced to react to the moves of his evergrowing host of enemies, and to the unforeseen consequences of his own

rash actions, his aggressive energy is turned against hirn.

In the realm of power, you must ask yourself, what is the point of chasing here and there, trying to solve problems and defeat my enemies, if I

never feel in contro!? Why am I always having to react to events instead of

directing them? The answer is simple: Your idea of power is wrong. You

have mistaken aggressive action for effective action. And most often the

most effective action is to stay back, keep calm, and let others be frustrated

by the traps you lay for them, playing for long-term power rather than

quick victory.

Remember: The essence of power is the ability to keep the initiative,

to get others to react to your moves, to keep YOUf opponent and those

around you on the defensive. When you make other people come to you,

you suddenly become the one controlling the situation. And the one who

has control has power. Two things must happen to place you in this position: You yourself must learn to master YOUf emotions, and never to be influenced by anger; meanwhile, however, you must play on people's natural

tendency to react angrily when pushed and baited. In the long run, the

ability to make others come to you is a weapon far more powerful than any

tool of aggression.

Study how Talleyrand, the master of the art, performed this delicate

trick. First, he overcame the urge to try to convince his fellow statesmen

that they needed to banish Napoleon far away. It is only natural to want to

persuade people by pleading YOUf case, imposing YOUf will with words. But

this often turns against you. Few of Talleyrand's contemporaries believed

Napoleon was still a threat, so that if he had spent a lot of energy trying to

convince them, he would only have made himself look foolish. Instead, he

held his tongue and his emotions in check. Most important of all, he laid

Napoleon a sweet and irresistible trap. He knew the man's weakness, his

impetuosity, his need for glory and the love of the masses, and he played

all this to perfection. When Napoleon went for the bait, there was no danger that he might succeed and turn the tables on Talleyrand, who better

than anyone knew France's depleted state. And even had Napoleon been

able to overcome these difficulties, the likelihood of bis success would have

been greater were he able to choose his time and place of action. By setting

the proper trap, Talleyrand took the time and place into his own hands.

All of us have only so much energy, and there is a moment when OUf

energies are at their peak. When you make the other person come to you,

he wears himself out, wasting his energy on the trip. In the year 1905, Russia and Japan were at war. The J apanese had only recently begun to modemize their warships, so that the Russians had a stronger navy, but by

spreading false information the Japanese marshal Togo Heihachiro baited

the Russians into leaving their docks in the Baltic Sea, making them believe

they could wipe out the J apanese fleet in one swift attack. The Russian fleet

could not reach Japan by the quickest route-through the Strait of Gibraltar and then the Suez Canal into the Indian Ocean-because these were

controlled by the British, and Japan was an ally of Great Britain. They had

to go around the Cape of Good Hope, at the southern tip of Africa, adding

over more than six thousand miles to the voyage. Once the fleet passed the

Cape, the Japanese spread another false story: They were sailing to launch

a counterattack. So the Russians made the entire journey to Japan on combat alert. By the time they arrived, their seamen were tense, exhausted, and

overworked, while the Japanese had been waiting at their ease. Despite the

LAW 8 65

66 LAW 8

odds and their lack of experience in modem naval warfare, the Japanese

crushed the Russians.

One added benefit of making the opponent come to you, as the Japanese discovered with the Russians, is that it forces hirn to operate in your

territory. Being on hostile ground will make hirn nervous and often he will

rush his actions and make mistakes. For negotiations or meetings, it is always wise to lure others into your territory, or the territory of your choice.

You have your bearings, while they see nothing familiar and are subtly

placed on the defensive.

Manipulation is a dangerous game. Once someone suspects he is

being manipulated, it becomes harder and harder to control hirn. But

when you make your opponent come to you, you create the illusion that he

is controlling the situation. He does not feel the strings that pull hirn, just as

Napoleon imagined that he hirnself was the master of his daring escape and

return to power.

Everything depends on the sweetness of your bait. If your trap is attractive enough, the turbulence of your enemies' emotions and desires will

blind them to reality. The greedier they become, the more they can be led

around.

The great nineteenth-century robber baron Daniel Drew was a master

at playing the stock market. When he wanted a particular stock to be

bought or sold, driving prices up or down, he rarely resorted to the direct

approach. One of his tricks was to hurry through an exclusive club near

Wall Street, obviously on his way to the stock exchange, and to pull out his

customary red bandanna to wipe his perspiring brow. A slip of paper

would fall from this bandanna that he would pretend not to notice. The

club's members were always trying to foresee Drew's moves, and they

would pounce on the paper, which invariably seemed to contain an inside

tip on a stock. Word would spread, and members would buy or seIl the

stock in droves, playing perfectly into Drew's hands.

If you can get other people to dig their own graves, why sweat yourself? Pickpockets work this to perfection. The key to picking a pocket is

knowing which pocket contains the wallet. Experienced pickpockets often

ply their trade in train stations and other places where there is a clearly

marked sign reading BEWARE OF PICKPOCKETS. Passersby seeing the sign invariably feel for their wallet to make sure it is still there. For the watching

pickpockets, this is like shooting fish in a barrel. Pickpockets have even

been known to place their own BEWARE OF PICKPOCKETS signs to ensure

their success.

When you are making people come to you, it is sometimes better to let

them know you are forcing their hand. You give up deception for overt manipulation. The psychological ramifications are profound: The person who

makes others come to hirn appears powernd, and demands respect.

Filippo Brunelleschi, the great Renaissance artist and architect, was a

great practitioner of the art of making others come to hirn as a sign of his

power. On one occasion he had been engaged to repair the dome of the

Santa Maria deI Fiore cathedral in Florence. The commission was impor-

taut and prestigious. But when the city officials hired a second man,

Lorenzo Ghiberti, to work with Brunelleschi, the great artist brooded in secret. He knew that Ghiberti had gotten the job through his connections,

and that he would do none of the work and get half the credit. At a critical

moment of the construction, then, Brunelleschi suddenly developed a mysterious illness. He had to stop work, but pointed out to city officials that

they had hired Ghiberti, who should have been able to continue the work

on his OWll. Soon it became dear that Ghiberti was useless and the officials

came begging to Brunelleschi. He ignored them, insisting that Ghiberti

should finish the project, until finally they realized the problem: They fired

Ghiberti.

By some mirade, Brunelleschi recovered within days. He did not have

to throw a tautrum or make a fool of hirnself; he simply practiced the art of

\"making others come to you.\"

If on one occasion you make it a point of dignity that others must

come to you and you succeed, they will continue to do so even after you

stop trying.

Image : The Honeyed

Bear Trap. The bear hunter

does not chase his prey; a bear

that knows it is hunted is nearly

impossible to catch and is ferocious if cornered. Instead, the

hunter lays traps baited with

honey. He does not exhaust

himself and risk his life in

pursuit He baits, then waits.

Authority: Good warriors make others

come to them, and do not go to others. This

is the principle of emptiness and fullness

of others and self. When you induce opponents to come to you, then their force is

always empty; as long as you do not

go to them, your force is always full. Attacking emptiness with fullness is like throwing

stones on eggs. (Zhang Yu, eleventhcentury commentator on The Art of War)

LAW 8 67

68 LAW 8

REVERSAL

Although it is generally the wiser policy to make others exhaust themselves

chasing you, there are opposite cases where striking suddenly and aggressively at the enemy SO demoralizes hirn that his energies sink. Instead of

making others come to you, you go to them, force the issue, take the lead.

Fast attack can be an awesome weapon, for it forces the other person to

react without the time to think or plan. With no time to think, people make

errors of judgment, and are thrown on the defensive. This tactic is the obverse of waiting and baiting, but it serves the same function: You make

your enemy respond on your terms.

Men like Cesare Borgia and Napoleon used the element of speed to intimidate and control. A rapid and unforeseen move is terrifying and demoralizing. You must choose YOUf tactics depending on the situation. If

you have time on YOUf side, and know that you and your enemies are at

least at equal strength, then deplete their strength by making them come to

you. If time is against YOU-yOUf enemies are weaker, and waiting will only

give them the chance to recover-give them no such chance. Strike quickly

and they have nowhere to go. As the boxer Joe Louis put it, \"He can run,

but he can't hide.\"

L AW

9

WIN THROUGH YOUR

ACTIONS, NEVER

THROUGH ARGUMENT

JUDGMENT

Any momentary triumph you think you have gained

through argument is really a Pyrrhic victory: The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer

than any momentary change of opinion. It is much more

powerful to get others to agree with you through your

actions, without saying a word. Demonstrate, do not

explicate.

69

1 1 11 ,I I 1 \\ \" I'-Il

I I II \\ 1I11 I!

A vi;i('/\" had servcd his

l}ws/er Iur ,\\Ollll' [hirty

.\",curs lind H/lIS kl10wn

1I1l11 11dlllired flJr his

loyally, lrulh/ii/IICSS,

and devotion to Got/.

I Jis honeSt)', howcver,

had lIlade hilll mallV

(,Ilc/nies in fhe court,

\",lw spread slories of

his duplicilv lIlId

perfidv. Filey worked

Oll Ihe sIlIlall dav il1

lIlId day 0111 IIl1lil he Wo

callle to dislrl/sl Ihe

illll()C(,1l1 vizier and

finallv ordernl Ihe IWIII

who lliul ser\\'ed hi/ll so

weil 10 he plll 10 dealh.

/11 rhis realIlI, Ihose

cOlldel/ll1ed 10 delllh

�verl' lied llfJ lind

IhmwlI inlo Ihe pell

where 111(' sllilan \" 1'

/'1

his Iiercesl hllntin!!,

do!!,s. Fhe <logs wOllltl

prolllplly lear Ihe

vietilJl f() picce,\\\",

Hefl)/,(' heil1!!, IhmwlI 10

Ihe dogs. /uJlvever, Ilu!

vizier asket! /(Jr one lasl

re!jllesl. \"/ ,vollid like

11'11 davs' respile, \" he

said, \",\\\"0 lhal I call pay

111.1' dehls, ('ollee! {l1I y

mOlle.\\' due !o flIC,

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IllIve PlIl in 111J' ('are,

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Ihe m/lil/l grallled Ihis

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1101/11', co{{celed olle

hlllldred gold piece\"

Ihel1 paid a visil 10 Ihe

hlllllsllla/l who {ooked

afier Ihe sll !tall :'

70 LAW 9

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

In 131 B.C., the Roman consul Publius Crassus Dives Mucianus, laying

siege to the Greek town of Pergamus, found hirnself in need of a battering

ram to force through the town's walls. He had seen a couple of hefty ship's

masts in a shipyard in Athens a few days before, and he ordered that the

larger of these be sent to hirn immediately. The military engineer in Athens

who received the order feit certain that the consul really wanted the

smaller of the masts. He argued endlessly with the soldiers who delivered

the request: The smaller mast, he told them, was much better suited to the

task. And indeed it would be easier to transport.

The soldiers warned the engineer that their master was not a man to

argue with, but he insisted that the smaller mast would be the only one that

would work with a machine that he was constructing to go with it. He drew

diagram after diagram, and went so far as to say that he was the expert and

they had no clue what they were talking about. The soldiers knew their

leader and at last convinced the engineer that it would be better to swallow

his expertise and obey.

After they left, though, the engineer thought about it some more. What

was the point, he asked hirnself, in obeying an order that would lead to failure? And so he sent the smaller mast, confident that the consul would see

how much more effective it was and reward hirn justly.

When the smaller mast arrived, Mucianus asked his soldiers for an explanation. They described to hirn how the engineer had argued endlessly

for the smaller mast, but had finally promised to send the larger one. Mucianus went into a rage. He could not concentrate on the siege, or consider

the importance of breaching the walls before the town received reinforcements. All he could think about was the impudent engineer, whom he ordered to be brought to hirn immediately.

Arriving a few days later, the engineer gladly explained to the consul,

one more time, the reasons for the smaller mast. He went on and on, using

the same arguments he had made with the soldiers. He said it was wise to

listen to experts in these matters, and if the attack was only tried with the

battering ram he had sent, the consul would not regret it. Mucianus let hirn

finish, then had him stripped naked before the soldiers and flogged and

scourged with rods until he died.

Interpretation

The engineer, whose name has not been recorded by history, had spent his

life designing masts and pillars, and was respected as the finest engineer in

a city that had excelled in the science. He knew that he was right. A smaller

ram would allow more speed and carry more force. Larger is not necessarily better. Of course the consul would see his logic, and would eventually

understand that science is neutral and reason superior. How could the consul possibly persist in his ignorance if the engineer showed him detailed diagrams and explained the theories behind his advice?

The military engineer was the quintessence of the Arguer, a type

found everywhere among uso The Arguer does not understand that words

are never neutral, and that by arguing with a superior he impugns the intelligenee of one more powerful than he. He also has no awareness of the person he is dealing with. Sinee each man believes that he is right, and words

will rarely eonvinee hirn otherwise, the arguer's reasoning falls on deaf

ears. When eornered, he only argues more, digging his own grave. Onee

he has made the other person feel inseeure and inferior in his beliefs, the

eloquenee of Socrates could not save the situation.

It is not simply a question of avoiding an argument with those who

stand above you. We all believe we are masters in the realm of opinions

and reasoning. You must be careful, then: Learn to demonstrate the correctness of your ideas indirectly.

OBSERVAN CE OF THE LAW

In 1502, in Florenee, Italy, an enormous block of marble stood in the

works department of the church of Santa Maria deI Fiore. It had once been

a magnificent piece of raw stone, but an unskillful sculptor had mistakenly

bored a hole through it where there should have been a figure's legs, generally mutilating it. Piero Soderini, Florence's mayor, had contemplated

trying to save the block by eommissioning Leonardo da Vinci to work on

it, or some other master, but had given up, since everyone agreed that the

stone had been ruined. So, despite the money that had been wasted on it, it

gathered dust in the dark halls of the church.

This was where things stood until some Florentine friends of the great

Michelangelo decided to write to the artist, then living in Rome. He alone,

they said, could do something with the marble, which was still magnificent

raw material. Michelangelo traveled to Florence, examined the stone, and

eame to the conclusion that he could in fact carve a fine figure from it, by

adapting the pose to the way the rock had been mutilated. Soderini argued

that this was a waste of time-nobody could salvage such a disaster-but

he finally agreed to let the artist work on it. Michelangelo decided he

would depict a young David, sling in hand.

Weeks later, as Michelangelo was putting the final touch es on the

statue, Soderini entered the studio. Fancying hirnself a bit of a connoisseur,

he studied the huge work, and told Michelangelo that while he thought it

was magnificent, the nose, he judged, was too big. Michelangelo realized

that Soderini was standing in a place right under the giant figure and did

not have the proper perspeetive. Without a word, he gestured for Soderini

to follow hirn up the scaffolding. Reaching the nose, he picked up his

ehisel, as well as a bit of marble dust that lay on the planks. With Soderini

just a few feet below hirn on the scaffolding, Michelangelo started to tap

lightly with the ehisel, letting the bits of dust he had gathered in his hand to

fall little by little. He actually did nothing to change the nose, but gave

every appearance of working on it. Mter a few minutes of this charade he

stood aside: \"Look at it now.\" \"I like it better,\" replied Soderini, \"you've

made it come alive.\"

dogs. lIe ofJ,'red Ihis

man the one hundred

gold pieces (lnd said.

\"LeI me look aJler Ihe

dogs Jor ten days. \" The

hunlsrnan agre<'d. anti

Jor Ihe nexl ten day.\\· the

vizier cared for fhe

hellsls wilh greal alIenIion, grooming Ihem

weil and feeding thCln

h(/fulsomely. By Ihe end

of the len day,\\' Ihey

were eating Oll! of his

hand.

0\" the eleventh day the

vizier was called hej(Jre

the sullan. the charges

were repeated, aml the

sullan walched a,\\' the

vizier was lied up ami

thrown 10 the dogs. Yel

when Ihe heasts saw

hirn. they ran up to hirn

with wagging lai/,\\'. They

nihbled affectionatelv at

his shoulders and

began playing with hirn.

The sultan mui the

olher witnesses were

amazed, and Ihe sultan

asket! the vizier why the

<logs hat! spared his

life. The vizier replied,

\"f have looked afier

these dogs fl>r len days.

The sultan Iws seen Ihe

r('slIlt for !timsc!! I

have look\"d afler you

for rhirty years, and

what is the reslIll? I am

condemned (0 death Oll

Ihe strength of aCCIISIläons hrought by my

enernie.

\\' . .. The sullan

blus!ted wilh sharne.

He not only pardofled

Ihe vizier hut gave him

{/ fine set of clothes ami

hwuled over Iu hirn the

men who had slandered

his repulalion. The nohle

vizier set Ihnn free and

continlled to Ireat Ihem

wirh kindlless.

THE Sl!BTLE RlJSE:

THF BOOK 0[' ARABIC

WISDOM AND CHJlLE,

rH I RTEENTH CENTIJ/{Y

LAW 9 71

Tl lf: WOHKS OF MI.\\SIS

When Apries had been

deposed in the way I

have described, Amasis

came to the throne. He

belonged to the district

of Sais and was a

native of the town

cal/ed Siuph. At first

the Egyptians were

inclined to be contemptuous, and did not

think much of him

because ofhis humble

and undistinguished

origin; but later on he

cleverly brought them

to heel, without having

recourse to harsh

measures.

Amongst his innumerable treasures, he had a

gold footbath, whieh he

and his guests used on

occasion to wash their

feet in. This he broke

up, and with the material had a statue made

to one of the gods,

which he then set up in

what he thought the

most suitable spot in

the city. The Egyptians

constantly eoming

upon the statue, treated

it with profound re verenee, and as soon as

Amasis heard of the

effeet it had upon them,

he cal/ed a meeting and

revealed the fact that

the deeply revered

statue was unce a footbath, which they

washed their feet and

pissed and vomited in.

He went on to say that

his own case was much

the same, in that on ce

he had been only an

ordinary person and

was now their king; so

that just as they had

come to revere the

transformed footbath,

so they had better pay

72 LAW 9

Interpretation

Michelangelo knew that by changing the shape of the nose he might ruin

the entire sculpture. Yet Soderini was a patron who prided hirnself on his

aesthetic judgment. To offend such a man by arguing would not only gain

Michelangelo nothing, it would put future commissions in jeopardy.

Michelangelo was too clever to argue. His solution was to change

Soderini's perspective (literally bringing hirn closer to the no se) without

making hirn reaHze that this was the cause of bis misperception.

Fortunately for posterity, Michelangelo found a way to keep the perf�ction of the statue intact while at the same time making Soderini believe

he had improved it. Such is the double power of winning through actions

rather than argument: No one is offended, and your point is proven.

KEYS TO POWER

In the realm of power you must leam to judge your moves by their longterm effects on other people. The problem in trying to prove a point or

gain a victory through argument is that in the end you can never be certain

how it affects the people you're arguing with: They may appear to agree

with you politely, but inside they may resent you. Or perhaps something

you said inadvertently even offended them-words have that insidious

ability to be interpreted according to the other person's mood and insecurities. Even the best argument has no solid foundation, for we have all come

to distrust the slippery nature of words. And days after agreeing with someone, we often revert to our old opinion out of sheer habit.

Understand this: Words are a dime a dozen. Everyone knows that in

the heat of an argument, we will all say anything to support our cause. We

will quote the Bible, refer to unverifiable statistics. Who can be persuaded

by bags of air like that? Action and demonstration are much more powerful and meaningful. They are there, before our eyes, for us to se�\"Yes,

now the statue's no se does look just right.\" There are no offensive words,

no possibility of misinterpretation. No one can argue with a demonstrated

proof. As Baltasar Graciän remarks, \"The truth is generally seen, rarely

heard.\"

Sir Christopher Wren was England's version of the Renaissance man.

He had mastered the sciences of mathematics, astronomy, physics, and

physiology. Yet during bis extremely long career as England's most celebrated architect he was often told by his patrons to make impractical

changes in his designs. Never once did he argue or offend. He had other

ways of proving his point.

In 1688 Wren designed a magnificent town hall for the city of Westminster. The mayor, however, was not satisfied; in fact he was nervous. He

told Wren he was afraid the second floor was not seeure, and that it could

all come crashing down on his office on the first floor. He demanded that

Wren add two stone columns for extra support. Wren, the consummate engineer, knew that these columns would serve no purpose, and that the

mayor's fears were baseless. But build them he did, and the mayor was

grateful. It was only years later that workmen on a high scaffold saw that

the columns stopped just short of the ceiling.

They were dummies. But both men got what they wanted: The mayor

could relax, and Wren knew posterity would understand that his original

design worked and the columns were unnecessary.

The power of demonstrating your idea is that your opponents do not

get defensive, and are therefore more open to persuasion. Making them literally and physically feel your meaning is infinitely more powerful than argument.

A heckler once interrupted Nikita Khrushchev in the middle of a

speech in which he was denouncing the crimes of Stalin. \"You were a colleague of Stalin's,\" the heckler yelled, \"why didn't you stop hirn then?\"

Khrushschev apparently could not see the heckler and barked out, \"Who

said that?\" No hand went up. No one moved a muscle. After a few seconds

of tense silen ce, Khrushchev finally said in a quiet voice, \"Now you know

why I didn't stop hirn.\" Instead of just arguing that anyone facing Stalin

was afraid, knowing that the slightest sign of rebellion would mean certain

death, he had made them feel what it was like to face Stalin-had made

them feel the paranoia, the fear of speaking up, the terror of confronting

the leader, in this case Khrushchev. The demonstration was visceral and no

more argument was necessary.

The most powerful persuasion goes beyond action into symbol. The

power of a symbol-a flag, a mythic story, a monument to some emotional

event-is that everyone understands you without anything being said. In

1975, when Henry Kissinger was engaged in some frustrating negotiations

with the Israelis over the return of part of the Sinai desert that they had

seized in the 1967 war, he suddenly broke off a tense meeting and decided

to do some sight-seeing. He paid a visit to the ruins of the ancient fortress

of Masada, known to all Israelis as the place where seven hundred J ewish

warriors committed mass suicide in A.D. 73 rather than give in to the

Roman troops besieging them. The Israelis instantly understood the message of Kissinger's visit: He was indirectly accusing them of courting mass

suicide. Although the visit did not by itself change their minds, it made

them think far more seriously than any direct warning would have. Symbols like this one carry great emotional significance.

When aiming for power, or trying to conserve it, always look for the

indirect route. And also choose your battles carefully. If it does not matter

in the long run whether the other person agrees with you-or if time and

their own experience will make them understand what you mean-then it

is best not even to bother with a demonstration. Save your energy and

walk away.

honor and respeet to

him, tao. In this way

the Egyptians were

persuaded to aceept

him as their master.

THE HISTORIES,

HERODOTUS,

FIFTH CENTURY H.C.

(;OD A\\D .\\ BRAIIAM

The Most High God

had promised that He

would not take Abraham 's soul unless the

man wanted to die and

asked Him to da so.

When Abraham 's Life

was drawing to a elose,

and God determined to

seize him, He sent an

angel in the guise of a

deerepit old man who

was almost entirely

ineapaeitated. The old

man stopped outside

Abraham :y door and

said to him, \"Oh Abraham, I would like

something to eat. \"

Abraham was amazed

10 hear him say this.

\" Die, \" exclaimed Abraham. \"It wOllld be

better for you than to

go on living in that

condition. .

.

Abraham always kept

food ready at his home

for passing guests. So

he gave the old man a

bowl conlaining broth

and meat with bread

crumbs. The old man

sal down 10 eal. He

swallowed laboriously,

with greal effort, and

onee when he look

same food it dropped

from his hand, scattering on the grollnd. \"Oh

Abraham, \" he saiel.

LAW 9 73

\"help me to cat. \" A hraham took the food in

his hand and lifted it to

the old man :5 lip.\\\". Hut

it slid down his heard

and over his ehest.

\" What is your age, olli

man?\" asked Ahraham.

The oltl man

mentioned a numher of

years slightly greater

than Ahraham :, old

ag\". Then Ahraham

exclaimed: \"Oh Lord

Our God, take me unto

You hefore I reach this

man :, age ami sink into

the same conditiofl as

he is in now. \" No

SOOfler had Ahraham

spoken those words

than God took {Josse,\\'­

sion of his soul.

THE SlJBTLF RtJSE:

rIlE BOOK OF A l{ A B I C

W I SDOM AND (lU l LE,

THIRTH.NTH CFNTlJRY

74 LAW 9

Image : The Seesaw. Up and down

and up and down

go the arguers,

getting nowhere

fast. Get off the

seesaw and show

them your meaning without kick

ing or p u shing.

Leave them at the

top and let gravity

bring them gently

to the groun d .

Authority: Never argue. In society nothing must be discussed; give only results, (Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881)

REVERSAL

Verbal argument has one vital use in the realm of power: To distract and

cover your tracks when you are practicing deception or are caught in a He.

In such cases it is to your advantage to argue with all the conviction you

can muster. Draw the other person into an argument to distract them from

your deceptive move. When caught in a He, the more emotional and certain you appear, the less Hkely it seems that you are lying.

This technique has saved the hide of many a con artist. Once Count

Victor Lustig, swindler par excellence, had sold dozens of suckers around

the country a phony box with which he claimed to be able to copy money.

Discovering their mistake, the suckers generally chose not to go the police,

rather than risk the embarrassment of publicity. But one Sheriff Richards,

of Remsen County, Oklahoma, was not the kind of man to accept being

conned out of $ 10,000, and one moming he tracked Lustig down to a hotel

in Chicago.

Lustig heard a knock on the door. When he opened it he was looking

down the barrel of a gun. \"What seems to be the problem?\" he calmly

asked. \"You son of a bitch,\" yelled the sheriff, \"1'm going to kill you. You

conned me with that damn box of yours!\" Lustig feigned confusion. \"You

mean it's not working?\" he asked. \"You know it's not working,\" replied the

sheriff. \"But that's impossible,\" said Lustig. \"There's no way it couldn't be

working. Did you operate it properly?\" \"I did exactly what you told me to

do,\" said the sheriff. \"No, you must have done something wrong,\" said

Lustig. The argument went in circles. The barrel of the gun was gently lowered.

Lustig next went to phase two in the argument tactic: He poured out a

whole bunch of technical gobbledygook about the box's operation, completely beguiling the sheriff, who now appeared less sure of himself and argued less forcefully. \"Look,\" said Lustig, \"1'11 give you your money back

right now. 1'11 also give you written instructions on how to work the machine and 1'11 come out to Oklahoma to make sure it's working properly.

There's no way you can lose on that.\" The sheriff reluctantly agreed. To

satisfy him tota1ly, Lustig took out a hundred one-hundred-dollar bills and

gave them to him, telling him to relax and have a fun weekend in Chicago.

Calmer and a little confused, the sheriff finally left. Over the next few days

Lustig checked the paper every moming. He finally found what he was

looking for: A short article reporting Sheriff Richards's arrest, trial, and

conviction for passing counterfeit notes. Lustig had won the argument; the

sheriff never bothered hirn again.

LAW 9 75

76

L AW

10

INFECTION: AVOID THE

UNHAPPY AND UNLUCKY

JUDGMENT

You can die from someone else's misery-emotional states

are as infectious as diseases. You may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating

your own dis aster. The unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

Born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1818, Marie Gilbert came to Paris in the

1840s to make her fortune as a dancer and performer. Taking the name

Lola Montez (her mother was of distant Spanish descent), she claimed to

be a flamenco dancer from Spain. By 1845 her career was languishing, and

to survive she became a courtesan-quickly one of the more successful in

Paris.

Only one man could salvage Lola's dancing career: Alexandre Dujarier, owner of the newspaper with the largest circulation in France, and

also the newspaper's drama critic. She decided to woo and conquer hirn.

Investigating his habits, she discovered that he went riding every morning.

An excellent horsewoman herself, she rode out one moming and \"accidentalIy\" ran into hirn. Soon they were riding together every day. A few weeks

later Lola moved into his apartment.

For a while the two were happy together. With Dujarier's help, Lola

began to revive her dancing career. Despite the risk to his social standing,

Dujarier told friends he would marry her in the spring. (Lola had never

told hirn that she had eloped at age nineteen with an Englishman, and was

still iegally married.) Although Dujarier was deeply in love, rns life started

to slide downhill.

His fortunes in business changed and influential friends began to avoid

hirn. One night Dujarier was invited to a party, attended by some of the

wealthiest young men in Paris. Lola wanted to go too but he would not

allow it. They had their first quarrel, and Dujarier attended the party by

hirnself. There, hopelessly drunk, he insulted an influential drama critic,

Jean-Baptiste Rosemond de Beauvalion, perhaps because of something the

critic had said about Lola. The following morning Beauvalion challenged

hirn to a duel. Beauvalion was one of the best pistol shots in France. Dujarier tried to apologize, but the duel took place, and he was shot and

killed. Thus ended the life of one of the most promising young men of

Paris society. Devastated, Lola left Paris.

In 1846 Lola Montez found herself in Munich, where she decided to

woo and conquer King Ludwig of Bavaria. The best way to Ludwig, she

discovered, was through his aide-de-camp, Count Otto von Rechberg, a

man with a fondness for pretty girls. One day when the count was breakfasting at an outdoor cafe, Lola rode by on her horse, was \"accidentally\"

thrown from the saddle, and landed at Rechberg's feet. The count rushed

to help her and was enchanted. He promised to introduce her to Ludwig.

Rechberg arranged an audience with the king for Lola, but when she

arrived in the anteroom, she could hear the king saying he was too busy to

meet a favor-seeking stranger. Lola pushed aside the sentries and entered

his roorn anyway. In the process, the front of her dress somehow got tom

(perhaps by her, perhaps by one of the sentries), and to the astonishment of

all, most especially the king, her bare breasts were brazenly exposed. Lola

was granted her audience with Ludwig. Fifty-five hours later she made her

debut on the Bavarian stage; the reviews were terrible, but that did not stop

Ludwig from arranging more performances.

Tm: , 1 T .\\\\1) TiIL

CA\\lp·\\'-II.E

A nul found ilself

('{Irried by a crow (0 Ihe

top of a tall campanile,

and by falling into a

creviee succeeded in

escaping its dread fate.

It then hesollght the

wall to shelter it, hy

appealing to il hy Ihe

grace of God, and

praising ir.v heiglzt, and

the beauty and noble

tone of its heils. \"Ala.\\',\"

il went on, \"as I havr

not heen ahle to drop

beneath the green

branches ofmy old

Father and to Ue in Ihe

fallow earth covered by

his fallen leaves, do

YOll, at least, not abandon m e. When I found

myself in the beak of

the cruel crow 1 made a

vow, that if 1 escaped I

would end my life in a

httle hole. \"

At these words, the

wall, moved wilh

compassion, was

content 10 shelter the

nut in Ihe spot where it

had fallen. Within a

\"horl time, the nut burst

open: lls roots' reached

in between Ihe creviccs

of Ihe stones and began

to push them apart; its

shoots pressed IIp

toward Ihe sky. They

soon rose above the

building, and as Ihe

twisled roors grew

thicker they began to

thrust ihe walls apart

and force ihe andenl

stones from iheir olt!

placcs. Then Ihe wall,

too late and in vain,

bewailed the cause of

its destruction, al/(l in

short time it fell in ruin.

LEONARDO DA V1NC1.

1 452-J519

LAW 10 77

In his OH,'11 lillie Sirnon

TholllllS was II grellt

do('lor. I remelll/Jer Ihal

I ha!'peller! to lIleel him

olle day al Ihe hOflle of

a rich old ('onsumpliv<':

/{e lold his palient

when discus.\\\"inK ways

to cure him Ihal one

nzellns was 10 provide

occ{{sio/'l.\\' for nIe to

ell}oy his comparlV: He

('ould rherl fix his eyes

0// Ihe freshlless of my

countenlll1('e lind his

Ilwughls on the overflowing eheerf\"lness

and viKor offny :\\!oung

marllwor!; hy filling all

his seils es wirh Ihe

flower ofmy youlh his

condilion mighl

improve. Ile forgol 10

add thaI mine miRht

gel worse.

MONTAIGNE,

1 533- 1 592

Many Ihings are said 10

/Je inj('clious. Sieepiness C(ln he infectious,

and yawning as weIl. In

large-scale slraregy.

wh<'t/ Ihe enemy is

agilaler! allli shows a/1

inclillaliot/ 10 rush. r!o

nOI II/irul in the leasl.

Make a show oI

eOl1lplele calmt/ess. a/!{l

Ihe e//ell/ v will he laken

hv Ihis and will !>ecome

relaxed. You inji'cI Iheir

spiril. You can inj,'cI

Ihefll will! a carefree.

drunklike spiril. wirh

horedonl, or evetl

weakness.

i\\ HOO1\\. O!· FIVE RIN(,S,

MIYAMOTO M I iSASI II.

SFVF l\\;TI; t·:NTH Cr,NTlJRY

78 LAW 10

Ludwig was, in his own words, \"bewitched\" by Lola. He started

to appear in public with her on his arm, and then he bought and furnished

an apartment for her on one of Munich's most fashionable boulevards. Although he had been known as a miser, and was not given to flights of

fancy, he started to shower Lola with gifts and to write poetry for her. Now

his favored mistress, she catapulted to farne and fortune ovemight.

Lola began to lose her sense of proportion. One day when she was out

riding, an elderly man rode ahead of her, a bit too slowly for her liking.

Unable to pass him, she began to slash hirn with her riding crop. On another occasion she took her dog, unleashed, out for a stroll. The dog attacked a passerby, but instead of helping the man get the dog away, she

whipped hirn with the leash. Incidents like this infuriated the stolid citizens

of Bavaria, but Ludwig stood by Lola and even had her naturalized as a

Bavarian citizen. The king's entourage tried to wake hirn to the dangers of

the affair, but those who criticized Lola were surnmarily fired.

While Bavarians who had loved their king now outwardly disrespected hirn, Lola was made a countess, had a new palace built for herself,

and began to dabble in politics, advising Ludwig on policy. She was the

most powernd force in the kingdom. Her influence in the king's cabinet

continued to grow, and she treated the other ministers with disdain. As a

result, riots broke out throughout the realm. A once peaceful land was virtually in the grip of civil war, and students everywhere were chanting,

''Raus mit Lola!\"

By February of 1848, Ludwig was finally unable to withstand the pressure. With great sadness he ordered Lola to leave Bavaria immediately.

She left, but not until she was paid off. For the next five weeks the Bavarians' wrath was tumed against their formerly beloved king. In March of that

year he was forced to abdicate.

Lola Montez moved to England. More than anything she needed respectability, and despite being married (she still had not arranged a divorce

from the Englishman she had wed years before), she set her sights on

George Trafford Heald, a promising young army officer who was the son of

an influential barrister. Although he was ten years younger than Lola, and

could have chosen a wife among the prettiest and wealthiest young girls of

English society, Heald fell under her speIl. They were married in 1849.

Soon arrested on the charge of bigamy, she skipped bail, and she and

Heald made their way to Spain. They quarreled horribly and on one occasion Lola slashed him with a knife. Finally, she drove him away. Retuming

to England, he found he had lost his position in the army. Ostracized from

English society, he moved to Portugal, where he lived in poverty. After a

few months his short life ended in a boating accident.

A few years later the man who published Lola Montez's autobiography went bankrupt

In 1853 Lola moved to Califomia, where she met and married a man

named Pat Hull. Their relationship was as stormy as all the others, and she

left Hull for another man. He took to drink and fell into a deep depression

that lasted until he died, four years later, still a relatively young man.

At the age of forty-one, Lola gave away her clothes and finery and

turned to God. She toured America, lecturing on religious topics, dressed

in white and wearing a halolike white headgear. She died two years later, in

1861.

Interpretation

Lola Montez attracted men with her wiles, but her power over them went

beyond the sexual. It was through the force of her character that she kept

her lovers enthralled. Men were sucked into the maelstrom she churned up

around her. They feIt confused, upset, but the strength of the emotions she

stirred also made them feel more alive.

As is often the case with infection, the problems would only arise over

time. Lola's inherent instability would begin to get under her lovers' skin.

They would find themselves drawn into her problems, but their emotional

attachment to her would make them want to help her. This was the crucial

point of the disease--for Lola Montez could not be helped. Her problems

were too deep. Once the lover identified with them, he was lost. He would

find hirnself embroiled in quarreIs. The infection would spread to his family and friends, or, in the case of Ludwig, to an entire nation. The only solution would be to cut her off, or suffer an eventual collapse.

The infecting-character type is not restricted to women; it has nothing

to do with gender. It sterns from an inward instability that radiates outward,

drawing dis aster upon itself. There is almost a desire to destroy and unsettle. You could spend a lifetime studying the pathology of infecting characters, but don't waste your time--just learn the lesson. When you suspect

you are in the presence of an infector, don't argue, don't try to help, don't

pass the person on to your friends, or you will become enmeshed. Flee the

infector's presence or suffer the consequences.

Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much ... .

I do not know the man I should avoid so soon as that spare Cassius ... .

Such men as he be never at heart 's ease whiles they behold a greater

than themselves, and therefore are they very dangerous.

Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare, 1 564-1 616

KEYS TO POWER

Those misfortunates among us who have been brought down by circumstances beyond their control deserve all the help and sympathy we can

give them. But there are others who are not born to misfortune or unhappiness, but who draw it upon themselves by their destructive actions and unsettling effect on others. It would be a great thing if we could raise them up,

change their patterns, but more often than not it is their patterns that end

up getting inside and changing uso The reason is simple--humans are extremely susceptible to the moods, emotions, and even the ways of thinking

of those with whom they spend their time.

The incurably unhappy and unstable have a particularly strong infectRegard nu J(){)/ish man

as cul/ured, IhOl/gh you

may reckon a gijted

man as wise; and

esteen1 no iRnorant

abstainer a {Flie ascetic.

Do nol cunsorl witlz

fools, especially Ihose

wh\" consider Ihonselves wise. Ami be nol

self-satisfied witlz your

own ;gnorance. Lei

your ;nlercol/rse be

only wilh men of guod

repule;!or il is by suc/z

associalion Ihal men

l/zemselves al1a;n 10

good repute. Do YOl/

nol observe how

sesame-oi! ;.1' m;ngled

wilh roses or violels

and how, when it Iws

been for some lime ;n

llssociatiofl with roses

or viole!.\\', it ceases to

be sesame-oi! ami ;.1'

cal/ed oi! of roses or oil

of violets?

A MIRROR FOR PRINCES,

KAI KA'US [BN

[SKANDAR,

ELEVENTH CENTLJRY

LAW 10 79

80 LAW 10

ing power because their characters and emotions are so intense. They often

present themselves as victims, making it difficult, at first, to see their miseries as self-inflicted. Before you realize the real nature of their problems

you have been infected by them.

Understand this: In the game of power, the people you associate with

are critical. The risk of associating with infectors is that you will waste valuable time and energy trying to free yourself. Through a kind of guilt by association, you will also suffer in the eyes of others. Never underestimate the

dangers of infection.

There are many kinds of infector to be aware of, but one of the most

insidious is the sufferer from chronic dissatisfaction. Cassius, the Roman

conspirator againstJulius Caesar, had the discontent that comes from deep

envy. He simply could not endure the presence of anyone of greater talent.

Probably because Caesar sensed the man's interminable soumess, he

passed hirn up for the position of first praetorship, and gave the position to

Brutus instead. Cassius brooded and broorl.ed, his hatred for Caesar becoming pathological. Brutus himself, a devoted republican, disliked Caesar's dictatorship; had he had the patience to wait, he would have become

the first man in Rome after Caesar's death, and could have undone the evil

that the leader had wrought. But Cassius infected hirn with his own rancor,

bending his ear daily with tales of Caesar's evil. He finally won Brutus over

to the conspiracy. It was the beginning of a great tragedy. How many misfortunes could have been avoided had Brutus learned to fear the power of

infection.

There is only one solution to infection: quarantine. But by the time

you recognize the problem it is often too late. A Lola Montez overwhelms

you with her forceful personality. Cassius intrigues you with his confiding

nature and the depth of his feelings. How can you protect yourself against

such insidious viruses? The answer lies in judging people on the effects

they have on the world and not on the reasons they give for their probImage : A Virus. Unseen, it

lems. Infectors can be recognized by the misfortune they draw on thementers your pores without

selves, their turbulent past, their long line of broken relationships, their unwaming, spreading silently and

stable careers, and the very force of their character, which sweeps you up

slowly. Before you are aware of

and makes you lose your reason. Be forewarned by these signs of an infecthe infection, it is deep inside you.

tor; learn to see the discontent in their eye. Most important of all, do not

take pity. Do not enmesh yourself in trying to help. The infector will remain unchanged, but you will be unhinged.

The other side of infection is equally valid, and perhaps more readily

understood: There are people who attract happiness to themselves by their

good cheer, natural buoyancy, and intelligence. They are a source of pleasure, and you must associate with them to share in the prosperity they draw

upon themselves.

This applies to more than good cheer and success: All positive qualities can infect uso Talleyrand had many strange and intimidating traits, but

most agreed that he surpassed all Frenchmen in graciousness, aristocratic

charm, and wit. Indeed he came from one of the oldest noble families in

the country, and despite his belief in democracy and the French Republic,

he retained his courtly manners. His contemporary Napoleon was in many

ways the opposite--a peasant from Corsica, tacitum and ungracious, even

violent.

There was no one Napoleon admired more than Talleyrand. He envied his minister's way with people, his wit and his ability to c.l,arm

women, and as best he could, he kept Talleyrand around him, hoping to

soak up the culture he lacked. There is no doubt that Napoleon changed as

his rule cvntinued. Many of the rough edges were smoothed by his constaut association with Talleyrand.

Use the positive side of this emotional osmosis to advantage. If, for example, you are miserly by nature, you will never go beyond a certain limit;

only generous souls attain greatness. Associate with the generous, then,

and they will infect you, opening up everything that is tight and restricted

in you. If you are gloomy, gravitate to the cheerful. If you are prone to isolation, force yourself to befriend the gregarious. Never associate with those

who share your defects-they will reinforce everything that holds you

back. Only create associations with positive affinities. Make this a rule of

life and you will benefit more than from all the therapy in the world.

REVERSAL

Authority: Recognize the fortunate so that you may choose

their company, and the unfortunate so that you may avoid

them. Misfortune is usually the

crime of folly, and among those

who suffer from it there is no

malady more contagious: Never

open your door to the least of

misfortunes, for, if you do, many

others will follow in its train ....

Do not die of another's misery.

(Baltasar Graciän, 1601- 1658)

This law admits of no reversal. Its application is universal. There is nothing

to be gained by associating with those who infect you with their misery;

there is only power and good fortune to be obtained by associating with

the fortunate. Ignore this law at your peril.

LAW !O 81

82

L AW

11

LEARN TO KEEP PEOPLE

DEPENDENT ON YOU

JUDGMENT

To maintain your independence you must always be

needed and wanted. The more you are relied on, the more

freedom you have. Make people depend on you for their

happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear.

Never teach them enough so that they can do without you.

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

Sometime in the Middle Ages, a mercenary soldier (a condottiere), whose

name has not been recorded, saved the town of Siena from a foreign aggressor. How could the good citizens of Siena reward hirn? No amount of

money or honor could possibly compare in value to the preservation of a

city's liberty. The citizens thought of making the mercenary the lord of the

city, but even that, they decided, wasn't recompense enough. At last one of

them stood before the assembly called to debate this matter and said, \"Let

us kill hirn and then worship hirn as our patron saint.\" And so they did.

The Count of Carmagnola was ene of the bravest and most successful

of all the condottieri. In 1442, late in his life, he was in the employ of the city

of Venice, which was in the midst of a long war with Florence. The count

was suddenly recalled to Venice. A favorite of the people, he was received

there with all kinds of honor and splendor. That evening he was to dine

with the doge hirnself, in the doge's palace. On the way into the palace,

however, he noticed that the guard was leading hirn in a different direction

from usual. Crossing the famous Bridge of Sighs, he suddenly realized

where they were taking him-to the dunge on. He was convicted on a

trumped-up charge and the next day in the Piazza San Marco, before a

horrified crowd who could not understand how his fate had changed so

drastically, he was beheaded.

Interpretation

Many of the great condottieri of Renaissance Italy suffered the same fate as

the patron saint of Siena and the Count of Carmagnola: They won battle

after battle for their employers only to find themselves banished, imprisoned, or executed. The problem was not ingratitude; it was that there were

so many other condottieri as able and valiant as they were. They were replaceable. Nothing was lost by killing them. Meanwhile, the older among

them had grown powerful themselves, and wanted more and more money

for their services. How much better, then, to do away with them and hire a

younger, cheaper mercenary. That was the fate of the Count of Carmagnola, who had started to act impudently and independently. He had taken

his power for granted without making sure that he was truly indispensable.

Such is the fate (to a less violent degree, one hopes) of those who do

not make others dependent on them. Sooner or later someone comes along

who can do the job as weIl as they can-someone younger, fresher, less expensive, less threatening.

Be the only one who can do what you do, and make the fate of those who

hire you so entwined with yours that they cannot possibly get rid of you.

Otherwise you will someday be forced to cross your own Bridge of Sighs.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

When Qtto von Bismarck became a deputy in the Prussian parliament in

1847, he was thirty-two years old and without an ally or friend. Looking

1 1 1 1,: TII < > 1 1< > lb l:-;

Tivo horses �v('r(' ClIrr.ving {Iv\" !oads, The lronl

Horse wenl wel!, hul

Ihe rear !lorse IVII ,I'

!azv, \"fhe men !Jegilfl 10

pi!e Ihe rellr !lorse '.I

!olld Oll Ihe ji\"f1{

Horse; when Ihel' h\"d

lransfi'rred il ll!!, Ihe

rear Horse Jl!/lnd il

easy f{oing. and he said

10 Ihe firml Hor,l'e:

\" 7()i! lInd sweill! 7111'

JlfOre YOIl (ry, Ihe 1lJ(lre

VOll !/((ve 10 slltli'r, \"

Whcn Ihel' rmched Ihe

/avern, (he OlVner said;

\" Whv sholl!tf I (i}(!der

{wo horses �1}hell I

('({rrv all Oll OIlC: I had

heller givc I!li' (If/{' i111

Ihc /f)()d it Will/lI, (/I/(!

cul lhe t!m)(/I \"( Ihe

olher; i11 !cilsr I sl/((!!

have Ilw hit/c, \" A I/{! ,\\'()

he did,

J ABI .LS.

Lr:o TOLSTOY.

I K2H-1910

LAW 11 83

1 1 1 1, LXI' T I IXI IU L \"ED

B\\ I I I II :' E U

Then the Woman

lallghed and set the Cat

a bowl ofthe warm

white milk ami said, \"0

Cat, you are as clever

as a ,nan, hut rememha that your bargain

was not made with the

Man vr the Dog, and I

do not know whal they

will do when Ihey eome

home, \" \"What is that 10

me? \" said the Cat. \"If I

have my plaee in the

Cave by the Jire ami my

warm white milk three

times a day, I do nol

ellre what the Man or

the Dog ean do. \"

. . . Ami from thaI day

to thi.l, Best Beloved,

thre!' proper Men oul

of Jive will always

throw things at a Cat

whcnever they meet

hilll, and all proper

[Jogs will ('hase him up

a tree. But the Cat

keeps his side of the

hllrgain tvo. He will kill

mice, ami he will be

kind to Rabies when he

is in fhe house, JUSf as

long fiS they do not pull

his tail too hard. Bul

when he has done that,

and belween limes, and

when Ihe moon gels IIp

ami Ihe nighl comes, he

is Ihe Cat Iha! walks by

himsel/; and all plaees

are alike fo him. Then

he goes oul to the Wet

Wild Woods or up Ihe

Wel Wild Trces or on

the Wet Wild Roofs,

waving his wild tail

and walking by his

wild lone.

HJST so STOHIES,

RUDYARD KIPLlNG,

1 865-1936

84 LAW 11

around hirn, he decided that the side to ally hirnself with was not the parliament's liberals or conservatives, not any particular minister, and certainly not the people. It was with the king, Frederick William IV. This was

an odd choice to say the least, for Frederick was at a low point of his power.

A weak, indecisive man, he consistently gave in to the liberals in parliament; in fact he was spineless, and stood for much that Bismarck disliked,

personally and politically. Yet Bismarck courted Frederick night and day.

When other deputies attacked the king for his many inept moves, only Bismarck stood by hirn.

Finally, it all paid off: In 1851 Bismarck was made a minister in the

king's ca))inet. Now he went to work. Time and again he forced the king's

hand, getting rum to build up the military, to stand up to the liberals, to do

exactly as Bismarck wished. He worked on Frederick's insecurity about his

manliness, challenging rum to be firm and to mle with pride. And he

slowly restored the king's powers until the monarchy was once again the

most powernd force in Prussia.

When Frederick died, in 1861, his brother William assumed the

throne. William disliked Bismarck intensely and had no intention of keeping hirn around. But he also inherited the same situation his brother had:

enernies galore, who wanted to rubble his power away. He actually considered abdicating, feeling he lacked the strength to deal with this dangerous

and precarious position. But Bismarck insinuated hirnself once again. He

stood by the new king, gave hirn strength, and urged hirn into firm and decisive action. The king grew dependent on Bismarck's strong-arm tactics to

keep his enemies at bay, and despite his antipathy toward the man, he soon

made rum his prime minister. The two quarreled often over policyBismarck was much more conservative-but the king understood his own

dependency. Whenever the prime minister threatened to resign, the king

gave in to rum, time after time. It was in fact Bismarck who set state policy.

Years later, Bismarck's actions as Prussia's prime minister led the various German state� to be united into one country. Now Bismarck finagled

the king into letting hirnself be crowned emperor of Germany. Yet it was

really Bismarck who had reached the heights of power. As right-hand man

to the emperor, and as imperial chancellor and knighted prince, he pulled

all the levers.

Interpretation

Most young and ambitious politicians looking out on the political landscape

of 1840s Germany would have tried to build a power base among those

with the most power. Bismarck saw different. Joirung forces with the powernd can be foolish: They will swallow you up, just as the doge of Venice

swallowed up the Count of Carmagnola. No one will come to depend on

you if they are already strong. If you are ambitious, it is much wiser to seek

out weak mlers or masters with whom you can create a relationsrup of dependency. You become their strength, their intelligence, their spine. What

power you hold! If they got rid of you the whole edifice would collapse.

Necessity mIes the world. People rarely act unless compelled to. If you

create no need for yourself, then you will be done away with at first opportunity. If, on the other hand, you understand the Laws of Power and make

others depend on you for their welfare, if you can counteract their weakness with your own \"iron and blood,\" in Bismarck's phrase, then you will

sUlvive your masters as Bismarck did. You will have all the benefits of

power without the thoms that come from being a master.

Thus a wise prince will think 0/ ways to keep his citizens 0/ every sart

and under every circumstance dependent on the state and on him;

and then they will always be trustworthy.

Niccolo Machiavelli, 1 469-1527

KEYS TO POWER

The ultimate power is the power to get people to do as you wish. When you

can do this without having to force people or hurt them, when they willingly grant you what you desire, then your power is untouchable. The best

way to achieve this position is to create a relationship of dependence. The

master requires your services; he is weak, or unable to function without

you; you have enmeshed yourself in his work so deeply that doing away

with you would bring hirn great difficulty, or at least would mean valuable

time lost in training another to replace you. Once such a relationship is established you have the upper hand, the leverage to make the master do as

you wish. It is the classic case of the man behind the throne, the servant of

the king who actually controls the king. Bismarck did not have to bully either Frederick or William into doing his bidding. He simply made it clear

that unless he got what he wanted he would walk away, leaving the king to

twist in the wind. Both kings soon danced tn Bismarck's tune.

Do not be one of the many who mistakenly believe that the ultimate

form of power is independence. Power involves a relationship between

people; you will always need others as allies, pawns, or even as weak masters who serve as your front. The completely independent man would live

in a cabin in the woods-he would have the freedom to come and go as he

pleased, but he would have no power. The best you can hope for is that

others will grow so dependent on you that you enjoy a kind of reverse independence: Their need for you frees you.

Louis XI (1423-1483), the great Spider King of France, had a weakness for astrology. He kept a court astrologer whom he admired, until one

day the man predicted that a lady of the court would die within eight days.

When the prophecy came true, Louis was terrified, thinking that either the

man had murdered the woman to prove his accuracy or that he was so

versed in his science that his powers threatened Louis hirnself. In either

case he had to be killed.

One evening Louis summoned the astrologer to his room, high in the

castle. Before the man arrived, the king told his servants that when he gave

Tm: EL\\I-TBI': E \\\\1>

1'1 1 1,: \\ 1\\1-'

An extravagant young

Vinc, vainly amhitious

of irulependencc, and

fond of ramhling al

large, despised the

alliance of a stately elm

Ihat grew near, ami

courted her emhraces.

Having risen to some

small height withoul

any kind o[support,

she shol forth her

flimsy branches to a

very uncomnwn und

super(luous lengI\";

calling on her neighhour 10 lake notice how

!iule she wunled his

assislance. \"Poor injllluated shrub, \" replied

the elm, \"how inconsistent is thy conduct!

Wouldsl tho/l he truly

independent, Ilwu

shouldsl carefully

apply those juices to

Ihe enlargement of Ihy

stem, which thou

lavishest in vain upon

unnecessary j(,!iag!'. J

shortly shall hehold

thee grovelling on the

ground; yet ('ountcnanced, indeerl, hy

many of the human

race, who, intoxicated

wilh vanilY, have

despised economy; and

wh\", to supporl for a

moment their emply

hoast of independence,

have exhausted Ihe

verv so/ace of it in frivohms expenses. \"

FAHLES,

ROBERT DODSLFY,

1 703-1 764

LAW 11 85

86 LAW 11

the signal they were to pick the astrologer up, carry him to the window,

and hurl him to the ground, hundreds of feet below.

The astrologer so on arrived, but before giving the signal, Louis de-­

cided to ask him one last question: \"You claim to understand astrology and

to know the fate of others, so tell me what your fate will be and how long

you have to live.\"

\"I shall die just three days before Your Majesty,\" the astrologer replied.

The king's signal was never given. The man's life was spared. The Spider

King not only protected bis astrologer for as long as he was alive, he lavished him with gifts and had him tended by the finest court doctors.

The astrologer survived Louis by several years, disproving his power

of prophecy but proving his mastery of power.

This is the model: Make others dependent on you. To get rid of you

might spell disaster, even death, and your master dares not tempt fate by

finding out. There are many ways to obtain such a position. Foremost

among them is to possess a talent and creative skill that simply cannot be

replaced.

During the Renaissance, the major obstacle to a painter's success was

finding the right patron. Michelangelo did this better than anyone else: His

patron was Pope Julius H. But he and the pope quarreled over the building

of the pope's marble tomb, and Michelangelo left Rome in disgust. To the

amazement of those in the pope's circle, not only did the pope not fire him,

he sought him out and in his own haughty way begged the artist to stay.

Michelangelo, he knew, could find another patron, but he could never find

another Michelangelo.

You do not have to have the talent of a Michelangelo; you do have to

have a skill that sets you apart from the crowd. You should create a situation in which you can always latch on to another master or patron but your

master cannot easily find another servant with your particular talent. And

if, in reality, you are not actually indispensable, you must find a way to

make it look as if you are. Having the appearance of specialized knowledge

and skill gives you leeway in your ability to deceive those above you into

thinking they cannot do without you. Real dependence on your master's

part, however, leaves him more vulnerable to you than the faked variety,

and it is always within your power to make your skill indispensable.

This is what is meant by the intertwining of fates: Like creeping ivy,

you have wrapped yourself around the source of power, so that it would

cause great trauma to cut you away. And you do not necessarily have to entwine yourself around the master; another person will do, as long as he or

she too is indispensable in the chain.

One day Harry Cohn, president of Columbia Pictures, was visited in

his office by a gloomy group of his executives. It was 1951, when the witchhunt against Communists in Hollywood, carried on by the U.S. Congress's

House Un-American Activities Committee, was at its height. The executives had bad news: One of their employees, the screenwriter John Howard

Lawson, had been singled out as a Communist. They had to get rid of him

right away or suffer the wrath of the committee.

Harry Cohn was no bleeding-heart liberal; in fact, he had always been

a die-hard Republican.

His favorite politician was Benito Mussolini, whom he had once visited, and whose framed photo hung on his wall. If there was someone he

hated Cohn would call him a \"Communist bastard.\" But to the executives'

amazement Cohn told them he would not fire Lawson. He did not keep the

screenwriter on because he was a good writer-there were many good

writers in Hollywood. He kept hirn because of a chain of dependence:

Lawson was Humphrey Bogart's writer and Bogart was Columbia's star. If

Cohn messed with Lawson he would ruin an immensely profitable relationship. That was worth more than the terrible publicity brought to hirn

by his defiance of the committee.

Henry Kissinger managed to survive the many bloodlettings that went

on in the Nixon White House not because he was the best diplomat Nixon

could find-there were other fine negotiators-and not because the two

men got along so well: They did not. Nor did they share their beliefs and

politics. Kissinger survived because he entrenched hirnself in so many

areas of the political structure that to do away with hirn would lead to

chaos. Michelangelo's power was intensive, depending on one skilI, his ability as an artist; Kissinger's was extensive. He got hirnself involved in so

many aspects and departments of the administration that his involvement

became a card in his hand. It also made hirn many allies. If you can

arrange such a position for yourself, getting rid of you becomes

dangerous-all sorts of interdependencies will unravel. Still, the intensive

form of power provides more freedom than the extensive, because those

who have it depend on no particular master, or particular position of

power, for their security.

To make others dependent on you, one route to take is the secretintelligence tactic. By knowing other people's secrets, by holding information that they wouldn't want broadcast, you seal your fate with theirs. You

are untouchable. Ministers of secret police have held this position throughout the ages: They can make or break a king, or, as in the case of J. Edgar

Hoover, a president. But the role is so full of insecurities and paranoia that

the power it provides almost cancels itself out. You cannot rest at ease, and

what good is power if it brings you no peace?

One last waming: Do not imagine that your master's dependence on

you will make him love you. In fact, he may resent and fear you. But, as

Machiavelli said, it is better to be feared than loved. Fear you can control;

love, never. Depending on an emotion as subtle and changeable as love or

friendship will only make you insecure. Better to have others depend on

you out of fear of the consequences of losing you than out of love of your

company.

LAW 11 87

Image: Vines with Many Thorns. Below, the roots grow deep

and wide. Above, the vines push through bushes, entwine themselves

88 LAW 11

around trees and poles and window ledges. To get rid of them

would cost such toil and blood, it is easier to let them climb.

REVERSAL

Authority: Make people depend on

you. More is to be gained from

such dependence than courtesy. He

who has slaked his thirst, immediately turns his back on the well,

no longer needing it. When dependence disappears, so does civility

and decency, and then respect.

The first lesson which experience

should te ach you is to keep hope

alive but never satisfied, keeping

even a royal patron ever in need of

you. (Baltasar Graciän, 1601-1658)

The weakness of making others depend on you is that you are in some

measure dependent on them. But trying to move beyond that point means

getting rid of those above you-it means standing alone, depending on no

one. Such is the monopolistic drive of a J. P. Morgan or a John D. Rockefeller-to drive out all competition, to be in complete control. If you can

corner the market, so much the better.

No such independence comes without a price. You are forced to isolate

yourself. Monopolies often turn inward and destroy themselves from the internal pressure. They also stir up powernd resentment, making their enemies bond together to fight them. The drive for complete control is often

ruinous and fruitless. Interdependence remains the law, independence a

rare and often fatal exception. Better to place yourself in a position of mutual dependence, then, and to follow this critical law rather than look for its

reversal. You will not have the unbearable pressure ofbeing on top, and the

master above you will in essence be your slave, for he will depend on you.

LAW

12

USE SELECTIVE HONESTY

AND GENEROSITY TO

DISARM YOUR VICTIM

JUDGMENT

One sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of

dishonest ones. Open-hearted gestures of honesty and

generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people. Once your selective honesty opens a hole in

their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at

will. A timely giJt-a Trojan horse-will serve the same

purpose.

89

I I! \\\\CI ,( () IHII!IU

COI H'I I I·.I! CI I \\ IU . \\I.\\ \\

Frances('o Gillseppe

Borri of Milan, w!lOse

dealh in 1695 fdl iu.w

wilhin Ihe sevenleenl\"

cenlury ... was a j(Jrerunner of Ihm special

Iype ofcharlalanical

\"dven/urer, fhe ('ourtier or \"('avalier \"

imposlor .... llis r\"al

period ofKlory heKan

afier he moved 10

A mslerdam. Thcre he

assllmed Ihe litle oI

Medico Universale,

nlaintained a grea!

relinue, and drove

ahoul in a coach with

six I!orsc.\\' .... Patient . ..,'

slreamed /() him, and

some invalids had

Ihemselves carried in

sedan ('hairs all the way

/rom Paris /() his pla('<,

in A mslerdam, Rorri

look 110 payment f'''

his ('o/1sllllaliolls: He

dislrihuled Kn'al sllms

a/llollK Ifte poor afl(1

was never kf10wn 10

receive any rnol1ey

IhrouKh Ihe posl or

hills of exchange. As he

('ontilllled 10 live with

such splendor. neverIheless. il was presllmed

thaI fte possessed Ifte

philosophers' slone.

Suddenly Iftis hellcfilclor di.mppearei! li'mn

A mslerdatll. The/1 il

was discoverel! Ihal he

had laken wilh \"im

rtloney ami diamollds

thaI IU/d han p illced

in his charge.

'1'11 1', POWLR O!

rl lF CHJ\\RLAL\\N,

G Ri'TE DI' FRAM'['SCO,

1 939

90 LAW 12

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

Sometime in 1926, a tall, dapperly dressed man paid a visit to Al Capone,

the most feared gangster of his time. Speaking with an elegant Continental

accent, the man introduced hirnself as Count Victor Lustig. He promised

that if Capone gave hirn $50,000 he could double it. Capone had more

than enough funds to cover the \"investment,\" but he wasn't in the habit of

entrusting large sums to total strangers. He looked the count over: Something about the man was different-his classy style, his manner-and so

Capone decided to play along. He counted out the bills personally and

handed them to Lustig. \"Okay, Count,\" said Capone. \"Double it in sixty

days like you said.\" Lustig left with the money, put it in a safe-deposit box

in Chicago, then headed to New York, where he had several other moneymaking schemes in progress.

The $50,000 remained in the bank box untouched. Lustig made no effort to double it. Two months later he retumed to Chicago, took the money

from the box, and paid Capone another visit. He looked at the gangster's

stony-faced bodyguards, smiled apologetically, and said, \"Please accept my

profound regrets, Mr. Capone. l'm sorry to report that the plan failed ... 1

failed.\"

Capone slowly stood up. He glowered at Lustig, debating which part

of the river to throw hirn in. But the count reached into his coat pocket,

withdrew the $50,000, and placed it on the desk. \"Here, sir, is your money,

to the penny. Again, my sincere apologies. This is most embarrassing.

Things didn't work out the way 1 thought they would. 1 would have loved

to have doubled your money for you and for myself-Lord knows 1 need

it-but the plan just didn't materialize.\"

Capone sagged back into his chair, confused. \"I know you're a con

man, Count,\" said Capone. \"I knew it the moment you walked in here. 1

expected either one hundred thousand dollars or nothing. But this . .. getting my money back ... well.\" \"Again my apologies, Mr. Capone,\" said

Lustig, as he picked up his hat and began to leave. \"My God! You're honest!\" yelled Capone. \"If you're on the spot, here's five to help you along.\"

He counted out five one-thousand-dollar bills out of the $50,000. The

count seemed stunned, bowed deeply, mumbled his thanks, and left, taking the money.

The $5,000 was what Lustig had been after all along.

Interpretation

Count Victor Lustig, a man who spoke several languages and prided himself on his refinement and culture, was one of the great con artists of modem times. He was known for his audacity, his fearlessness, and, most

important, his knowledge of human psychology. He could size up a man in

minutes, discovering his weaknesses, and he had radar for suckers. Lustig

knew that most men build up defenses against crooks and other troublemakers. The con artist's job is to bring those defenses down.

One sure way to do this is through an act of apparent sincerity and

honesty. Who will distrust a person literally caught in the act of being hon-

est? Lustig used selective honesty many times, but with Capone he went a

step further. No normal con man would have dared such a con; he would

have chosen his suckers for their meekness, for that look about them that

says they will take their medicine without complaint. Con Capone and you

would spend the rest of your life (whatever remained of it) afraid. But

Lustig understood that a man like Capone spends his life rrlistrusting others. No one around hirn is honest or generous, and being so much in the

company of wolves is exhausting, even depressing. A man like Capone

yearns to be the recipient of an honest or generous gesture, to feel that not

everyone has an angle or is out to rob hirn.

Lustig's act of selective honesty disarmed Capone because it was so

unexpected. A con artist loves conflicting emotions like these, since the

person caught up in them is so easily distracted and deceived.

Do not shy away from practicing this law on the Capones of the world.

With a well-timed gesture of honesty or generosity, you will have the most

brutal and cynical beast in the kingdom eating out of your hand.

Ever ything turns gray when I don 't have at least one mark on the horizon.

Life then seems empty and depressing. I cannot understand honest men.

They lead desperate lives, full of boredom.

CO/IIII \" ir/or j,nl/ig, /891J-/'N7

KEYS TO POWER

The essence of deception is distraction. Distracting the people you want to

deceive gives you the time and space to do something they won't notice,

An act of kindness, generosity, or honesty is often the most powerful form

of distraction because it disarms other people's suspicions, It turns them

into children, eagerly lapping up any kind of affectionate gesture.

In ancient China this was called \"giving before you take\"-the giving

makes it hard for the other person to notice the taking. It is a device with

infinite practical uses. Brazenly taking something from someone is dangerous, even for the powerful. The victim will plot revenge, It is also dangerous simply to ask for what you need, no matter how politely: Unless the

other person sees some gain for themselves, they may come to resent your

neediness. Learn to give before you take. It softens the ground, takes the

bite out of a future request, or simply creates a distraction. And the giving

can take many forms: an actual gift, a generous act, a kind favor, an \"honest\" admission-whatever it takes,

Selective honesty is best employed on your first encounter with someone. We are all creatures of habit, and our first impressions last a long time.

If someone believes you are honest at the start of your relationship it takes

a lot to convince them otherwise. This gives you room to maneuver.

Jay Gould, like Al Capone, was a man who distrusted everyone.

By the time he was thirty-three he was already a multimillionaire,

mostly through deception and strong-arming. In the late 1860s, Gould invested heavily in the Erle Railroad, then discovered that the market had

LAW 12 91

92 LAW 12

been flooded with a vast amount of phony stock certificates for the company. He stood to lose a fortune and to suff er a lot of embarrassment.

In the midst of this crlsis, a man named LordJohn Gordon-Gordon offered to help. Gordon-Gordon, a Scottish lord, had apparendy made a

small fortune investing in railroads.

By hirlng some handwriting experts · Gordon-Gordon was able to

prove to Gould that the culprlts for the phony stock certificates were actually several top executives with the Erle Railroad itself. Gould was grateful.

Gordon-Gordon then proposed that he and Gould join forces to buy up a

controlling interest in Erle. Gould agreed. For a while the venture appeared to prosper. The two men were now good friends, and every time

Gordon-Gordon came to Gould asking for money to buy more stock,

Gould gave it to him. In 1873, however, Gordon-Gordon suddenly

dumped all of his stock, making a fortune but drastically lowering the value

of Gould's own holdings. Then he disappeared from sight.

Upon investigation, Gould found out that Gordon-Gordon's real name

was John Crowningsfield, and that he was the bastard son of a merchant

seaman and a London barmaid. There had been many clues before then

that Gordon-Gordon was a con man, but his initial act of honesty and support had so blinded Gould that it took the loss of millions for hirn to see

through the scheme.

A single act of honesty is often not enough. What is required is a reputation for honesty, built on a serles of acts--but these can be quite inconsequential. Once this reputation is established, as with first impressions, it is

hard to shake.

In ancient China, Duke Wu of CMng decided it was time to take over

the increasingly powerful kingdom of Hu. Telling no one of his plan, he

married his daughter to Hu' s roler. He then called a council and asked his

ministers, \"I am considering a military campaign. Which country should

we invade?\" As he had expected, one of his ministers replied, \"Hu should

be invaded.\" The duke seemed angry, and said, \"Hu is a sister state now.

Why do you suggest invading her?\" He had the minister executed for his

impolitic remark. The ruler of Hu heard about this, and considerlng other

tokens of Wu's honesty and the marriage with his daughter, he took no precautions to defend hirnself from Cheng. A few weeks later, Cheng forces

swept through Hu and took the country, never to relinquish it.

Honesty is one of the best ways to disarm the wary, but it is not the

only one. Any kind of noble, apparendy selfless act will serve. Perhaps the

best such act, though, is one of generosity. Few people can resist a gUt, even

from the most hardened enemy, which is why it is often the perfect way to

disarm people. A gift brings out the child in us, instandy lowerlng our defenses. Although we often view other people's actions in the most cynical

light, we rarely see the Machiavellian element of a gift, which quite often

hides ulterlor motives. A gift is the perfect object in which to hide a deceptive move.

Over three thousand years ago the ancient Greeks traveled across the

sea to recapture the beautiful Helen, stolen away from them by Paris, and

to destroy Paris's city, Troy. The siege lasted ten years, many heroes died,

yet neither side had come elose to victory. One day, the prophet Calchas

assembled the Greeks.

\"Stop battering away at these walls!\" he told them. \"You must find

some other way, some ruse. We cannot take

Troy by force alone. We I mag e: T h e must find some cunning

stratagern.\" The cun- Troj an Horse. ning Greek leader

Odysseus then came up Y 0 u r g u i l e i s with the idea of building

a giant wooden horse, hidden inside hiding soldiers inside it,

then offering it to the a magnificent Tr oj a ns as a gift.

Neoptolemus, son of gift that proves Achilles, was disgusted

with this idea; it was irresi stible to unmanly. Better fo r

thousands to die on the YOUf opponent. battlefield than to gain

victory so deceitfully. The walls open. But the soldiers, faced

with a choice between Once insi de, another ten years of

manliness, honor, and wreak havoc. death, on the one hand

and a quick victory on the other, chose the

horse, which was promptly built. The trick was successful and Troy fell.

One gift did more for the Greek cause than ten years of fighting.

Selective kindness should also be part of your arsenal of deception. For

years the ancient Romans had besieged the city of the Faliscans, always unsuccessfully. One day, however, when the Roman general Camillus was

encamped outside the city, he suddenly saw a man leading some children

toward hirn. The man was a Faliscan teacher, and the children, it turned

out, were the sons and daughters of the noblest and wealthiest citizens of

the town. On the pretense of taking these children out for a walk, he had

led them straight to the Romans, offering them as hostages in hopes of ingratiating hirnself with Camillus, the city's enemy.

Camillus did not take the children hostage. He stripped the teacher,

tied his hands behind his back, gave each child a rod, and let them whip

him all the way back to the city. The gesture had an immediate effect on

the Faliscans. Had Camillus used the children as hostages, some in the city

would have voted to surrender. And even if the Faliscans had gone on

fighting, their resistance would have been halfhearted. Camillus's refusal to

take advantage of the situation broke down the Faliscans' resistance, and

they surrendered. The general had calculated correctly. And in any case he

had had nothing to lose: He knew that the ho stage ploy would not have

ended the war, at least not right away. By tuming the situation around, he

earned his enemy's trust and respect, disarming them. Selective kindness

will often break down even the most stubborn foe: Aiming right for the

heart, it corrodes the will to fight back.

Remember: By playing on people's emotions, calculated acts of kindness can turn a Capone into a gullible child. As with any emotional approach, the tactic must be practiced with caution: If people see through it,

their disappointed feelings of gratitude and warmth will become the most

violent hatred and distrust. Unless you can make the gesture seem sincere

and heartfelt, do not play with fire.

LAW 12 93

94 LAW 12

REVERSAL

Authority: When Duke Hsien

of Chin was about to raid Yü,

he presented to them a jade

and a team of horses. When

Earl Chih was about to raid

Ch'ou-yu, he presented to

them grand chariots. Hence

the saying: \"When you are

about to take, you should

give.\" (Han-fei-tzu, Chinese

philosopher, third century B.C.)

When you have a history of deceit behind you, no amount of honesty, generosity, or kindness will fool people. In fact it will only call attention to itself. Once people have come to see you as deceitful, to act honest all of a

sudden is simply suspicious. In these cases it is better to play the rogue.

Count Lustig, pulling the biggest con of his career, was about to sell

the Eiffel Tower to an unsuspecting industrialist who believed the government was auctioning it off for scrap metal. The industrialist was prepared

to hand over a huge sum of money to Lustig, who had successfully impersonated a government official. At the last minute, however, the mark was

suspicious. Something about Lustig bothered hirn. At the meeting in which

he was to hand over the money, Lustig sensed his sudden distrust.

Leaning over to the industrialist, Lustig explained, in a low whisper,

how low his salary was, how difficult his finances were, on and on. After a

few minutes of this, the industrialist realized that Lustig was asking for a

bribe. For the first time he relaxed. Now he knew he could trust Lustig:

Since all government officials were dishonest, Lustig had to be real. The

man forked over the money. By acting dishonest, Lustig seemed the real

McCoy. In this case selective honesty would have had the opposite effect.

As the French diplomat Talleyrand grew older, his reputation as a master liar and deceiver spread. At the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), he

would spin fabulous stories and make impossible remarks to people who

knew he had to be lying. His dishonesty had no purpose except to cloak

the moments when he really was deceiving them. One day, for example,

among friends, Talleyrand said with apparent sincerity, \"In business one

ought to show one's hand.\" No one who heard him could believe their

ears: A man who never once in his life had shown his cards was telling

other people to show theirs. Tactics like this made it impossible to distinguish Talleyrand's real deceptions from his fake ones. By embracing his

reputation for dishonesty, he preserved his ability to deceive.

Nothing in the realm of power is set in stone. Overt deceptiveness will

sometimes cover YOUf tracks, even making you admired for the honesty of

your dishonesty.

LAW

13

WHEN ASKING F OR HELP,

APPEAL TO PEOPLE'S

SELF-INTEREST,

NEVER TO THEIR MERCY

OR GRATITUDE

JUDGMENT

If you need to turn lo an ally Jor help, do not bother to remind him oJ your past assistance and good deeds. He

will find a way to ignore you. Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with him, that

will benifit him, and emphasize it out oJ all proportion.

He will res pond enthusiastically when he sees something

to be gained Jor himself.

95

TI JE I'EASA\"T AI\\Il

'1'1 1 1': API'U:-THEE

A peasant had in his

garden an apple-tree,

which bore no Jruit, but

only served as a perch

Jor the sparrows and

grasshoppers. He

resolved to cut it down,

and, taking his ax in

hand, made a bold

stroke at its roots. The

grasshoppers and sparrows entreated hirn not

to cut down the tree

that sheltered them, but

to spare it, and they

would sing to hirn and

fighten his labors. He

paid no attention to

their request, but gave

the tree a second and a

third blow with his ax.

When he reached the

hol/ow oJ the tree, he

Jound a hive Juli oJ

honey. Having tasted

the honeycomb, he

threw down his ax, and,

looking on the tree as

sacred, took great care

oJ it.

Self-interest alone

moves some men.

FABLES,

AESOP.

SIXTH CENTURY B.C.

96 LAW 13

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

In the early fourteenth century, a young man named Castruccio Castracani

rose from the rank of common soldier to become lord of the great city of

Lucca, Italy. One of the most powerful families in the city, the Poggios,

had been instrumental in his climb (which succeeded through treachery

and bloodshed), but after he came to power, they came to feel he had forgotten them. His ambition outweighed any gratitude he feh. In 1325, while

Castruccio was away fighting Lucca's main rival, Florence, the Poggios

conspired with other noble families in the city to rid themselves of this

troublesome and ambitious prince.

Mounting an insurrection, the plotters attacked and murdered the govemor whom Castruccio had left behind to rule the city. Riots broke out,

and the Castruccio supporters and the Poggio supporters were poised to do

battle. At the height of the tension, however, Stefano di Poggio, the oldest

member of the family, intervened, and made both sides lay down their

arms.

A peaceful man, Stefano had not taken part in the conspiracy. He had

told his family it would end in a useless bloodbath. Now he insisted he

should intercede on the family's behalf and persuade Castruccio to listen to

their complaints and satisfy their demands. Stefano was the oldest and wisest member of the clan, and his family agreed to put their trust in his diplomacy rather than in their weapons.

When news of the rebellion reached Castruccio, he hurried back to

Lucca. By the time he arrived, however, the fighting had ceased, through

Stefano's agency, and he was surprised by the city's calm and peace. Stefano di Poggio had imagined that Castruccio would be grateful to him for

his part in quelling the rebellion, so he paid the prince a visit. He explained

how he had brought peace, then begged for Castruccio's mercy. He said

that the rebels in his family were young and impetuous, hungry for power

yet inexperienced; he recalled his farnily's past generosity to Castruccio.

For an these reasons, he said, the great prince should pardon the Poggios

and listen to their complaints. This, he said, was the only just thing to do,

since the family had willingly laid down their arms and had always supported him.

Castruccio listened patiently. He seemed not the slightest bit angry or

resentful. Instead, he told Stefano to rest assured that justice would prevail,

and he asked him to bring his entire family to the palace to talk over their

grievances and come to an agreement. As they took leave of one another,

Castruccio said he thanked God for the chance he had been given to show

his clemency and kindness. That evening the entire Poggio family came to

the palace. Castruccio immediately had them imprisoned and a few days

later all were executed, including Stefano.

Interpretation

Stefano di Poggio is the embodiment of all those who believe that the justice and nobility of their cause will prevail. Certainly appeals to justice and

gratitude have occasionally succeeded in the past, but more often than not

they have had dire consequences, especially in dealings with the Castruccios of the world. Stefano knew that the prince had risen to power through

treachery and ruthlessness. This was a man, after all, who had put a elose

and devoted friend to death. When Castruccio was told that it had been a

terrible wrong to kill such an old friend, he replied that he had executed

not an old friend but a new enemy.

A man like Castruccio knows only force and self-interest. When the rebellion began, to end it and place oneself at his mercy was the most dangerous possible move. Even once Stefano di Poggio had made that fatal

mistake, however, he still had options: He could have offered money to

Castruccio, could have made promises for the future, could have pointed

out what the Poggios could still contribute to Castruccio's power-their influence with the most influential families of Rome, for example, and the

great marriage they could have brokered.

Instead Stefano brought up the past, and debts that carried no obligation. Not only is a man not obliged to be grateful, gratitude is often a terrible burden that he gladly discards. And in this case Castruccio rid himself

ofhis obligations to the Poggios by eliminating the Poggios.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

In 433 B.C., just before the Peloponnesian War, the island of Corcyra (later

called Corfu) and the Greek city-state of Corinth stood on the brink of conflict. Both parties sent ambassadors to Athens to try to win over the Athenians to their side. The stakes were high, since whoever had Athens on his

side was sure to win. And whoever won the war would certainly give the

defeated side no mercy.

Corcyra spoke first. Its ambassador began by admitting that the island

had never helped Athens before, and in fact had allied itself with Athens's

enemies. There were no ties of friendship or gratitude between Corcyra

and Athens. Yes, the ambassador admitted, he had come to Athens now

out of fear and concern for Corcyra's safety. The only thing he could offer

was an alliance of mutual interests. Corcyra had a navy only surpassed in

size and strength by Athens's own; an alliance between the two states

would create a formidable force, one that could intimidate the riyal state of

Sparta. That, unfortunately, was all Corcyra had to offer.

The representative from Corinth then gave a brilliant, passionate

speech, in sharp contrast to the dry, colorless approach of the Corcyran.

He talked of everything Corinth had done for Athens in the past. He asked

how it would look to Athens's other allies if the city put an agreement with

a former enemy over one with a present friend, one that had served

Athens's interest loyally: Perhaps those allies would break their agreements

with Athens if they saw that their loyalty was not valued. He referred to

Hellenic law, and the need to repay Corinth for all its good deeds. He finally went on to list the many services Corinth had performed for Athens,

and the importance of showing gratitude to one's friends.

After the speech, the Athenians debated the issue in an assembly. On

Most men are so thor·

oughly subjective that

nothing real/y interests

them but themselves.

They always think of

their own case as soon

as ever any remark is

made, and their whole

attention is engrossed

and absorbed by the

merest chance reference to anything which

affects them persona/ly,

be it never so remote.

A RTHUR

SCHOPENHAUER,

1788-1860

LAW 13 97

98 LAW 13

the second round, they voted overwhelmingly to ally with Corcyra and

drop Corinth.

Interpretation

History has remembered the Athenians nobly, but they were the preeminent realists of classical Greece. With them, all the rhetoric, all the emotional appeals in the world, could not match a good pragmatic argument,

especially one that added to their power.

What the Corinthian ambassador did not realize was that his references to Corinth's past generosity to Athens only irritated the Athenians,

subtly asking them to feel guilty and putting them under obligation. The

Athenians couldn't care less about past favors and friendly feelings. At the

same time, they knew that if their other allies thought them ungrateful for

abandoning Corinth, these city-states would still be unlikely to break their

ties to Athens, the preeminent power in Greece. Athens ruled its empire by

force, and would simply compel any rebellious ally to return to the fold.

When people choose between talk about the past and talk about the

future, a pragmatic person will always opt for the future and forget the past.

As the Corcyrans realized, it is always best to speak pragmatically to a

pragmatic person. And in the end, most people are in fact pragmatic-they

will rarely act against their own self-interest.

It has always been a ruZe that the weak should be subject to the strong;

and besides, we consider that we are worthy of our power. Up tilZ the

present moment you, too, used to think that we were; but now, after

calculating your own interest, you are beginning to talk in terms of right

and wrong. Considerations of this kind have never yet turned people aside

from the opportunities of aggrandizement offered by superior strength.

A thenian representative to Sparta,

quoted in The Peloponnesian War, Thucydides, c. 465-395 B. r;.

KEYS TO POWER

In your quest for power, you will constantly find yourself in the position of

asking for help from those more powerful than you. There is an art to asking for help, an art that depends on your ability to understand the person

you are dealing with, and to not confuse your needs with theirs.

Most people never succeed at this, because they are completely

trapped in their own wants and desires. They start from the assumption

that the people they are appealing to have a selfless interest in helping

them. They talk as if their needs mattered to these people--who probably

couldn't care less. Sometimes they refer to larger issues: a great cause, or

grand emotions such as love and gratitude. They go for the big picture

when simple, everyday realities would have much more appeal. What they

do not realize is that even the most powerful person is locked inside needs

of his own, and that if you make no appeal to his self-interest, he merely

sees you as desperate or, at best, a waste of time.

In the sixteenth century, Portuguese missionaries tried for years to convert the people of Japan to Catholicism, while at the same time Portugal

had a monopoly on trade between Japan and Europe. Although the missionaries did have some success, they never got far among the ruling elite;

by the beginning of the seventeenth century, in fact, their proselytizing had

completely antagonized the Japanese emperor Ieyasu. When the Dutch

began to arrive in Japan in great numbers, Ieyasu was much relieved. He

needed Europeans for their know-how in guns and navigation, and here at

last were Europeans who cared nothing for spreading religion-the Dutch

wanted only to trade. Ieyasu swiftly moved to evict the Portuguese. From

then on, he would only deal with the practical-minded Dutch.

Japan and Holland were vastly different cultures, but each shared a

timeless and universal concern: self-interest. Every person you deal with is

like another culture, an alien land with a past that has nothing to do with

yours. Yet you can bypass the differences between you and hirn by appealing to his self-interest. Do not be subtle: You have valuable knowledge to

share, you will fill his coffers with gold, you will make hirn live longer and

happier. This is a language that all of us speak and understand.

A key step in the process is to und erstand the other person's psychology. Is he vain? Is he concerned about his reputation or his social standing?

Does he have enemies you could help hirn vanquish? Is he simply motivated by money and power?

When the MongoIs invaded China in the twelfth century, they threatened to obliterate a culture that had thrived for over two thousand years.

Their leader, Genghis Khan, saw nothing in China but a country that

lacked pasturing for his horses, and he decided to destroy the place, leveling all its cities, for \"it would be better to exterminate the Chinese and let

the grass grow.\" It was not a soldier, a general, or a king who saved the

Chinese from devastation, but a man named Yelu Ch'u-Ts'ai. A foreigner

hirnself, Ch'u-Ts'ai had come to appreciate the superiority of Chinese culture. He managed to make hirnself a trusted adviser to Genghis Khan, and

persuaded hirn that he would reap riches out of the place if, instead of destroying it, he simply taxed everyone who lived there. Khan saw the wisdom in this and did as Ch'u-Ts'ai advised.

When Khan took the city of Kaifeng, after a long siege, and decided to

massacre its inhabitants (as he had in other cities that had resisted hirn),

Ch'u-Ts'ai told hirn that the finest craftsmen and engineers in China had

fled to Kaifeng, and it would be better to put them to use. Kaifeng was

spared. Never before had Genghis Khan shown such mercy, but then it

really wasn't mercy that saved Kaifeng. Ch'u-Ts'ai knew Khan weIl. He was

a barbaric peasant who cared nothing for culture, or indeed for anything

other than warf are and practical results. Ch'u-Ts'ai chose to appeal to the

only emotion that would work on such a man: greed.

Self-interest is the lever that will move people. Once you make them

see how you can in some way meet their needs or advance their cause,

their resistance to your requests for help will magically fall away. At each

step on the way to acquiring power, you must train yourself to think your

LAW 13 99

100 LAW 13

way inside the other person's mind, to see their needs and interests, to get

rid of the screen of your own feelings that obscure the truth. Master this art

and there will be no limits to what you can accomplish.

Image: A Cord that

Binds. The cord of

mercy and gratitude is threadbare,

and will break at

the first shock.

Do not throw

such a lifeline.

The cord of

mutual self-interest is woven of

many fibers and

cannot easily be

severed. It will serve

you weH for years.

Authority: The shortest and best way to make your fortune is to let people see clearly that it is in their interests

to promote yours. (Jean de La Bruyere, 1645-1696)

REVERSAL

Some people will see an appeal to their self-interest as ugly and ignoble.

They actually prefer to be able to exercise charity, mercy, and justice,

which are their ways of feeling superior to you: When you beg them for

help, you emphasize their power and position. They are strang enough to

need nothing from you except the chance to feel superior. This is the wine

that intoxicates them. They are dying to fund your project, to introduce

you to powerful people-provided, of course, that all this is done in public,

and for a good cause (usually the more public, the better). Not everyone,

then, can be approached through cynical self-interest. Same people will be

put off by it, because they don't want to seem to be motivated by such

things. They need opportunities to display their good he art.

Da not be shy. Give them that opporttinity. It's not as if you are conning them by asking for help-it is really their pleasure to give, and to be

seen giving. You must distinguish the differences among powerful people

and figure out what makes them tick. When they ooze greed, da not appeal

to their charity. When they want to look charitable and noble, da not appeal to their greed.

LAW

14

P OSE AS A FRIEND ,

WORK AS A SPY

JUDGMENT

Knowing about your rival is critical. Use spies to gather

valuable information that will keep you a step ahead.

Better still: Play the spy yourself. In polite social encounters, learn to probe. Ask indirect questions to get people to

reveal their weaknesses and intentions. There is no occasion that is not an opportunity for artful spying.

101

102 LAW 14

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

Joseph Duveen was undoubtedly the greatest art dealer of his time-from

1904 to 1940 he almost single-handedly monopolized America's millionaire art-collecting market. But one prize plum eluded hirn: the industrialist

Andrew Mellon. Before he died, Duveen was determined to make Mellon

a dient.

Duveen's friends said this was an impossible dream. Mellon was a stiff,

tacitum man. The stories he had heard about the congenial, talkative Duveen rubbed hirn the wrong way-he had made it dear he had no desire to

meet the man. Yet Duveen told his doubting friends, \"Not only will Mellon

buy from me but he will buy only from me.\" For several years he tracked

his prey, leaming the man's habits, tastes, phobias. To do this, he secretly

put several of Mellon's staff on his own payroll, worming valuable information out of them. By the time he moved into action, he knew Mellon about

as well as Mellon's wife did.

In 1921 Mellon was visiting London, and staying in a palatial suite on

the third floor of Claridge's Hotel. Duveen booked hirnself into the suite

just below Mellon's, on the second floor. He had arranged for his valet to

befriend Mellon's valet, and on the fateful day he had chosen to make his

move, Mellon's valet told Duveen's valet, who told Duveen, that he had

just helped Mellon on with his overcoat, and that the industrialist was making his way down the corridor to ring for the lift.

Duveen's valet hurriedly helped Duveen with his own overcoat. Seconds later, Duveen entered the lift, and 10 and behold, there was Mellon.

\"How do you do, Mr. Mellon?\" said Duveen, introducing hirnself. \"I am on

my way to the National Gallery to look at some pictures.\" How uncannythat was precisely where Mellon was headed. And so Duveen was able to

accompany his prey to the one location that would ensure his success. He

knew Mellon's taste inside and out, and while the two men wandered

through the museum, he dazzled the magnate with his knowledge. Once

again quite uncannily, they seemed to have remarkably similar tastes.

Mellon was pleasantly surprised: This was not the Duveen he had expected. The man was charming and agreeable, and dearly had exquisite

taste. When they retumed to New York, Mellon visited Duveen's exdusive

gallery and fell in love with the collection. Everything, surprisingly enough,

seemed to be precisely the kind of work he wanted to collect. For the rest

of his life he was Duveen's best and most generous dient.

Interpretation

A man as ambitious and competitive as Joseph Duveen left nothing to

chance. What's the point of winging it, of just hoping you may be able to

charm this or that dient? It's like shooting ducks blindfolded. Arm yourself

with a little knowledge and your aim improves.

Mellon was the most spectacular of Duveen's catches, but he spied on

many a millionaire. By secretly putting members of his clients' household

staffs on his own payroll, he would gain constant access to valuable infor-

mation about their masters' comings and goings, changes in taste, and

other such tidbits of information that would put hirn a step ahead. A riyal

of Duveen's who wanted to make Henry Frick a dient noticed that whenever he visited this wealthy New Yorker, Duveen was there before hirn, as

if he had a sixth sense. To other dealers Duveen seemed to be everywhere,

and to know everything before they did. His powers discouraged and disheartened them, until many simply gave up going after the wealthy dients

who could make a dealer rich.

Such is the power of artful spying: It makes you seem all-powerful,

clairvoyant. Your knowledge of your mark can also make you seem charming, so well can you anticipate his desires. No one sees the source of your

power, and what they cannot see they cannot fight.

Rulers see through spies, as cows through smell, Brahmins through

scriptures and the rest 01 the people through their normal eyes.

Kautilya, Indian philosopher, third antury B. C.

KEYS TO POWER

In the realm of power, your goal is a degree of control over future events.

Part of the problem you face, then, is that people won't tell you all their

thoughts, emotions, and plans. Controlling what they say, they often keep

the most critical parts of their character hidden-their weaknesses, ulterior

motives, obsessions. The result is that you cannot predict their moves, and

are constantly in the dark. The trick is to find a way to probe them, to find

out their secrets and hidden intentions, without letting them know what

you are up to.

This is not as difficult as you might think. A friendly front will let you

secretly gather information on friends and enemies alike. Let others consult the horoscope, or read tarot cards: You have more concrete me ans of

seeing into the future.

The most common way of spying is to use other people, as Duveen

did. The method is simple, powerful, but risky: You will certainly gather information, but you have little control over the people who are doing the

work. Perhaps they will ineptly reveal your spying, or even secretly turn

against you. It is far better to be the spy yourself, to pose as a friend while

secretly gathering information.

The French politician Talleyrand was one of the greatest practitioners

of this art. He had an uncanny ability to worm secrets out of people in polite conversation. A contemporary of his, Baron de Vitrolles, wrote, \"Wit

and grace marked his conversation. He possessed the art of concealing his

thoughts or his malice beneath a transparent veil of insinuations, words

that imply something more than they express. Only when necessary did he

inject his own personality.\" The key here is Talleyrand's ability to suppress

himself in the conversation, to make others talk endlessly about themselves

and inadvertently reveal their intentions and plans.

LAW 14 1 03

If you have reason to

suspect that a person is

telling you a lie, look as

though you believed

every word he said.

This will give him

courage to go on; he

will hecome more

vehement in his

assertions, and in the

end betray himself

Again, ifyou perceive

that a person is trying

to conceal something

from you, but with only

partial success, look as

though you did not

believe him. The opposition on your part will

provoke him into leading out his reserve of

tYUth and bringing the

whole force of it to

hear upon your

incredulity.

A RTHUR

SnlOPFNIIAUER,

1 71l8-1 860

104 LAW 14

Throughout Talleyrand's life, people said he was a superb conversationalist-yet he actually said very litde. He never talked about his own

ideas; he got others to reveal theirs. He would organize friendly games of

charades for foreign diplomats, social gatherings where, however, he

would carefully weigh their words, cajole confidences out of them, and

gather information invaluable to his work as France's foreign minister. At

the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) he did his spying in other ways: He

would blurt out what seemed to be a secret (actually something he had

made up), then watch his listeners' reactions. He might tell a gathering of

diplomats, for instance, that a reliable source had revealed to him that the

czar of Russia was planning to arrest his top general for treason. By watching the diplomats' reactions to this made-up story, he would know which

ones were most excited by the weakening of the Russian army-perhaps

their goverments had designs on Russia? As Baron von Stetten said,

\"Monsieur Talleyrand fires a pistol into the air to see who will jump out the

window.\"

During social gatherings and innocuous encounters, pay attention.

This is when people's guards are down. By suppressing your own personality, you can make them reveal things. The brilliance of the maneuver is

that they will mistake your interest in them for friendship, so that you not

only leam, you make allies.

Nevertheless, you should practice this tactic with caution and care. If

people begin to suspect you are worming secrets out of them under the

cover of conversation, they will stricdy avoid you. Emphasize friendly

chatter, not valuable information. Your search for gems of information cannot be too obvious, or your probing questions will reveal more about yourself and your intentions than about the information you hope to find.

A trick to try in spying comes from La Rochefoucauld, who wrote,

\"Sincerity is found in very few men, and is often the cleverest of ruses-­

one is sincere in order to draw out the confidence and secrets of the other.\"

By pretending to bare your heart to another person, in other words, you

make them more likely to reveal their own secrets. Give them a fals� confession and they will give you a real one. Another trick was identified by

the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who suggested vehemendy contradicting people you're in conversation with as a way of irritating them, stirring them up so that they lose some of the control over their words. In their

emotional re action they will reveal all kinds of truths about themselves,

truths you can later use against them.

Another method of indirect spying is to test people, to lay litde traps

that make them reveal things about themselves. Chosroes 11, a notoriously

clever seventh-century king of the Persians, had many ways of seeing

through his subjects without raising suspicion. If he noticed, for instance,

that two of his courtiers had become particularly friendly, he would call

one of them aside and say he had information that the other was a traitor,

and would soon be killed. The king would tell the courtier he trusted him

more than anyone, and that he must keep this information secret. Then he

would watch the two men carefully. If he saw that the second courtier had

not changed in his behavior toward the king, he would conclude that the

first courtier had kept the secret, and he would quickly promote the man,

later taking hirn aside to confess, \"I meant to kill your friend because of

certain information that had reached me, but, when 1 investigated the matter, 1 found it was untrue.\" If, on the other hand, the second courtier started

to avoid the king, acting aloof and tense, Chosroes would know that the secret had been revealed. He would ban the second courtier from his court,

letting hirn know that the whole business had only been a test, but that

even though the man had done nothing wrong, he could no longer trust

hirn. The first courtier, however, had revealed a secret, and hirn Chosroes

would ban from his entire kingdom.

It may seem an odd form of spying that reveals not empirical information but a person's character. Often, however, it is the best way of solving

problems before they arise.

By tempting people into certain acts, you leam about their loyalty,

their honesty, and so on. And this kind of knowledge is often the most

valuable of all: Armed with it, you can predict their actions in the future.

Ima g e :

The Third Eye of

the Spy. In the land of

the two-eyed, the third eye

gives you the omniscience

of a god. You see further than

others, and you see deeper

into thern. Nobody is

safe from the eye

but you.

Authority: Now, the reason a brilliant sovereign and a wise general

conquer the enerny whenever they move, and their achievements

surpass those of ordinary men, is their foreknowledge of the enemy

situation. This \"foreknowledge\" cannot be elicited from spirits, nor

from gods, nor by analogy with past events, nor by astrologie calculations. It must be obtained from men who know the enemy situation-from spies. (Sun-tzu, The Art 0/ War, fourth century B.C.)

LAW 14 105

106 LAW 14

REVERSAL

Information is critical to power, but just as you spy on other people, you

must be prepared for them to spy on you. One of the most potent weapons

in the battle for information, then, is giving out false information. As Winston Churchill said, \"Truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.\" You must surround YOUTself with such a

bodyguard, so that YOUT truth cannot be penetrated. By planting the information of YOUT choice, you control the game.

In 1944 the Nazis' rocket-bomb attacks on London suddenly escalated.

Over two thousand V-I flying bombs fell on the city, killing more than five

thousand people and wounding many more. Somehow, however, the Germans consistently missed their targets. Bombs that were intended for

Tower Bridge, or Piccadilly, would fall weIl short of the city, landing in the

less populated suburbs. This was because, in fixing their targets, the Germans relied on secret agents they had plan ted in England. They did not

know that these agents had been discovered, and that in their place,

English-controlled agents were feeding them subtly deceptive information.

The bombs would hit farther and farther from their targets every time

they fell. By the end of the campaign they were landing on cows in the

country. By feeding people wrong information, then, you gain a potent advantage. While spying gives you a third eye, disinformation puts out one of

your enemy's eyes. A cyclops, he always misses his target.

L AW

15

CRUSH YOUR

ENEMY TOTALLY

JUDGMENT

All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared

enemy must be crushed completely. (Sometimes they have

learned this the hard way.) If one ember is left alight, no

matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break

out. More is lost through stopping halfway than through

total annihilation: The enemy will recover, and will seek

revenge. Crush him, not only in body but in spirit.

107

The remnants of an

ene/ny con hecofne

acrive like those of a

diseuse or /ire. Henee,

these shollid be extermi/wte\" completely. .

One slwuld never

ignore an enemy,

knowing hirn to be

weak. He becomes

dangemus in due

course, like the spark

offire in a haystack.

KAUIILYA,

I N DIAN PHILOSOPHER,

'1 I I IRn CENTlJRY B.C

'1'1 1 1'. TB \\ 1' .\\T

\" I \\ICA<:I.I.\\

On the day Ramiro

was executed, eeSafe

I Borgial quit Cesena,

leaving the mutilated

body on the town

square, and marched

south. Three days later

he arrived at Fano,

where he received (he

envoys of (he city of

A numa, who assured

hirn of their loyalty.

A messenger from

Vitel/ozzo Vitelli

anflounced that the

little A driatic port of

Sinigaglia had surrefldered to the condottieri

Imercenary soldiers}.

()nly the citadel, in

charge of the Cenoese

A l/drea Doria, still

held Ollt, and Doria

refused to hand it over

to anyofle except

Cesare hirnself

IBorgiaj sent word

that he would arrive

the next day, which

was just what (he

108 LAW 15

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW

No rivalry between leaders is more celebrated in Chinese history than the

struggle between Hsiang Yu and Liu Pang. These two generals began their

careers as friends, fighting on the same side. Hsiang Yu came from the nobility; large and powerful, given to bouts of violence and temper, a bit dullwitted, he was yet a mighty warrior who always fought at the head of his

troops. Liu Pang came from peasant stock. He had never been much of a

soldier, and preferred women and wine to fighting; in fact, he was something of a scoundrel. But he was wily, and he had the ability to recognize

the best strategists, keep them as his advisers, and listen to their advice. He

had risen in the army through these strengths.

In 208 B.C., the king of Ch'u sent two massive armies to conquer the

powerful kingdom of Ch'in. One army went north, under the generalship

of Sung Yi, with Hsiang Yu second in command; the other, led by Liu

Pang, headed straight toward Ch'in. The target was the kingdom's splendid

capital, Hsien-yang. And Hsiang Yu, ever violent and impatient, could not

stand the idea that Liu Pang would get to Hsien-yang first, and perhaps

would assurne command of the entire army.

At one point on the northem front, Hsiang's commander, Sung Yi,

hesitated in sending his troops into battle. Furious, Hsiang entered Sung

Yi's tent, proclaimed hirn a traitor, cut off his head, and assumed sole command of the army. Without waiting for orders, he left the northem front

and marched directly on Hsien-yang. He feit certain he was the better soldier and general than Liu, but, to his utter astonishment, his riyal, leading a

smaller, swifter army, managed to reach Hsien-yang first. Hsiang had an

adviser, Fan Tseng, who wamed him, \"This village headman [Liu Pang]

used to be greedy only for riches and women, but since entering the capital

he has not been led astray by wealth, wine, or sex. That shows he is aiming

high.\"

Fan Tseng urged Hsiang to kill his riyal before it was too late. He told

the general to invite the wily pe asant to a banquet at their camp outside

Hsien-yang, and, in the midst of a celebratory sword dance, to have his

head cut off. The invitation was sent; Liu fell for the trap, and came to the

banquet. But Hsiang hesitated in ordering the sword dance, and by the

time he gave the signal, Liu had sensed a trap, and managed to escape.

\"Bah!\" cried Fan Tseng in disgust, seeing that Hsiang had botched the plot.

\"One cannot plan with a simpleton. Liu Pang will steal your empire yet

and make us all his prisoners.\"

Realizing his mistake, Hsiang hurriedly marched on Hsien-yang, this

time determined to hack off his rival's head. Liu was never one to fight

when the odds were against hirn, and he abandoned the city. Hsiang captured Hsien-yang, murdered the young prince of Ch'in, and bumed the

city to the ground. Liu was now Hsiang's bitter enemy, and he pursued

hirn for many months, finally comering hirn in a walled city. Lacking food,

his army in disarray, Liu sued for peace.

Again Fan Tseng wamed Hsiang, \"Crush hirn now! If you let hirn go

again, you will be sorry later.\" But Hsiang decided to be merciful. He

wanted to bring Liu back to Ch'u alive, and to force his former friend to acknowledge hirn as master. But Fan proved right: Liu managed to use the

negotiations for his surrender as a distraction, and he escaped with a small

army. Hsiang, amazed that he had yet again let his riyal slip away, once

more set out after Liu, this time with such ferocity that he seemed to have

lost his mind. At one point, having captured Liu's father in battle, Hsiang

stood the old man up during the fighting and yelled to Liu across the line of

troops, \"Surrender now, or 1 shall boi! your father alive!\" Liu calmly answered, \"But we are sworn brothers. So my father is your father also. If you

insist on boiling your own father, send me a bowl of the soup!\" Hsiang

backed down, and the struggle continued.

A few weeks later, in the thick of the hunt, Hsiang scattered his forces

unwisely, and in a surprise attack Liu was able to surround his main garrison. For the first time the tables were turned. Now it was Hsiang who sued

for peace. Liu's top adviser urged hirn to destroy Hsiang, crush his army,

show no mercy. \"To let hirn go would be like rearing a tiger-it will devour

you later,\" the adviser said. Liu agreed.

Making a false treaty, he lured Hsiang into relaxing his defense, then

slaughtered almost all of his army. Hsiang managed to escape. Alone and

on foot, knowing that Liu had put a bounty on his head, he came upon a

small group of his own retreating soldiers, and cried out, \"I hear Liu Pang

has offered one thousand pieces of gold and a fief of ten thousand families

for my head. Let me do you a favor.\" Then he slit his own throat and died.

Interpretation

Hsiang Yu had proven his ruthlessness on many an occasion. He rarely

hesitated in doing away with a riyal if it served his purposes. But with Liu

Pang he acted differently. He respected his rival, and did not want to defeat

hirn through deception; he wanted to prove his superiority on the battlefield, even to force the clever Liu to surrender and to serve hirn. Every time

he had his riYal in his hands, something made hirn hesitate-a fatal sympathy with or respect for the man who, after all, had once been a friend and

comrade in arms. But the moment Hsiang made it clear that he intended to

do away with Liu, yet failed to accomplish it, he sealed his own doom. Liu

would not suffer the same hesitation on ce the tables were turned.

This is the fate that faces all of us when we sympathize with our enemies, when pity, or the hope of reconciliation, makes us pull back from

doing away with them. We only strengthen their fear and hatred of uso We

have beaten them, and they are humiliated; yet we nurture these resentful

vipers who will one day kill uso Power cannot be dealt with this way. It

must be exterminated, crushed, and denied the chance to return to haunt

uso This is all the truer with a former friend who has become an enemy.

The law governing fatal antagonisms reads: Reconciliation is out of the

question. Only one side can win, and it must win totally.

Liu Pang learned this lesson weIl. After defeating Hsiang Yu, this son

condottieri wanted to

hear. On ce he reached

Sinigaglia. Cesare

would he an easy prey,

caught hetween the

citadel and their force.\\'

ringing the town ...

The condottieri were

sure they had military

superiority. helieving

that the departure of

the French troops had

left Ces are with only

a small j(Jrce.

In fact, according to

Machiavelli, [Borgiaj

had left Cesena with

ten thousand infantrynlen and three thousand horse, taking

pains 10 split up his

men so that they wOllld

march along parallel

routes hefore converging on Sinigaglia. The

reason for such a large

force was that he knew,

from a confession

extracted jiom Ramiro

de Lorca, wh at the

condottieri had up

their sleeve. He therefore decided 10 turn

their own trap against

them. This was the

masterpiece oftrickery

that the historian Paolo

Giovio later called \"the

magnijicent deceit. \"

At dawn on Decemher

31 [1502j, Cesare

reached the outskirts of

Sinigaglia .... Led hy

Michelatta Corella,

Cesare 's advance guard

of two hundred lances

lOok up its position on

the canal bridge ...

This control of the

bridge effectiveiy

prevented the conspirators ' troops from with ­

drawing ...

Cesare greeted the

condottieri effusively

and invited them 10

join him .... Michelotto

LAW 15 109

hat! prepared the

Palazzo Bernardino

for Cesare 's use, and

Ihe duke inviled Ihe

condotticri inside, ,

Onee int!oors Ihe men

were lJuietlv arrested

by guards WflO crepl up

from Ihe rear, , , '

[Cesare[ gave orders

for an aflack on

Vitelli 's and Orsini :\\'

soldiers in the oallying

areas, ' , , Thai night,

while Iheir Imops were

being crushed, Michelotto throttled Oliveretto and Vile/li in Ihe

Bernardino palace, , ,

AI one fell swoop,

[ßorgiaJ had goi rid of

his former generals ami

lvors! enemic.''i.

TIIE BORC1IAS,

IVAN CUHJLAS,

['i89

JiJ have ullimate

victory, YOll must be

ruthfess,

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE,

1 76'i- lH21

110 LAW 15

of a farmer went on to become supreme commander of the armies of Ch'u.

Crushing his next rival-the king of Ch'u, his own former leader-he

crowned himself emperor, defeated everyone in his path, and went down

in history as one of the greatest rulers of China, the immortal Han Kao-tsu,

founder of the Han Dynasty.

Those who seek to achieve things should show no mercy.

Kautilya, Indian philosopher, third century B, C,

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

Wu Chao, born in A.D. 625, was the daughter of a duke, and as a beautiful

young woman of many charms, she was accordingly attached to the harem

of Emperor T'ai Tsung.

The imperial harem was a dangerous place, full of young concubines

vying to become the emperor's favorite. Wu's beauty and forceful character quickly won her this battle, but, knowing that an emperor, like other

powerful men, is a creature of whim, and that she could easily be replaced,

she kept her eye on the future.

Wu managed to seduce the emperor's dissolute son, Kao Tsung, on the

only possible occasion when she could find him alone: while he was relieving himself at the royal urinal. Even so, when the emperor died and Kao

Tsung took over the throne, she still suffered the fate to which all wives and

concubines of a deceased emperor were bound by tradition and law: Her

head shaven, she entered a convent, for what was supposed to be the rest

of her life. For seven years Wu schemed to escape. By communicating in

secret with the new emperor, and by befriending his wife, the empress, she

managed to get a highly unusual royal edict allowing her to return to the

palace and to the royal harem. Once there, she fawned on the empress,

while still sleeping with the emperor. The empress did not discourage

this-she had yet to provide the emperor with an heir, her position was

vulnerable, and Wu was a valuable ally.

In 654 Wu Chao gave birth to a child. One day the empress came to

visit, and as so on as she had left, Wu smothered the newborn-her own

baby. When the murder was discovered, suspicion immediately fell on the

empress, who had been on the scene moments earlier, and whose jealous

nature was known by all. This was precisely Wu's plan. Shortly thereafter,

the empress was charged with murder and executed. Wu Chao was

crowned empress in her place. Her new husband, addicted to his life of

pleasure, gladly gave up the reins of govemment to Wu Chao, who was

from then on known as Empress Wu.

Although now in a position of great power, Wu hardly feh secure.

There were enemies everywhere; she could not let down her guard for one

moment. Indeed, when she was forty-one, she began to fear that her beautiful young niece was becoming the emperor's favorite. She poisoned the

woman with a day mixed into her food. In 675 her own son, touted as the

heir apparent, was poisoned as weIl. The next-eldest son-illegitimate, but

now the crown prince-was exiled a little later on trumped-up charges.

And when the emperor died, in 683, Wu managed to have the son after

that declared unfit for the throne. All this meant that it was her youngest,

most ineffectual son who finally became emperor. In this way she continued to rule.

Over the next five years there were innumerable palace coups. All of

them failed, and all of the conspirators were executed. By 688 there was no

one left to challenge Wu. She proclaimed herself a divine descendant of

Buddha, and in 690 her wishes were finally granted: She was named Holy

and Divine \"Emperor\" of China.

Wu became emperor because there was literally nobody left from the

previous T'ang dynasty. And so she ruled unchallenged, for over a decade

of relative peace. In 705, at the age of eighty, she was forced to abdicate.

Interpretation

All who knew Empress Wu remarked on her energy and intelligence. At

the time, there was no glory available for an ambitious woman beyond a

few years in the imperial harem, then a lifetime walled up in a convent. In

Wu's gradual but remarkable rise to the top, she was never naive. She

knew that any hesitation, any momentary weakness, would speIl her end.

If, every time she got rid of a riyal a new one appeared, the solution was

simple: She had to crush them all or be killed herself. Other emperors before her had followed the same path to the top, but Wu-who, as a woman,

had next to no chance to gain power-had to be more ruthless still.

Empress Wu's forty-year reign was one of the longest in Chinese history. Although the story of her bloody rise to power is weIl known, in

China she is considered one ofthe period's most able and effective rulers.

A priest asked the dying Spanish statesman and general Ram6n Maria Narvaez

(1800-1868), \"Does your Exceltency forgive alt your enemies ?\" \"[ do not

have to forgive my enemies, \" answered Narvaez, \"[ have had them alt shot. \"

KEYS TO POWER

It is no accident that the two stories illustrating this law come from China:

Chinese history abounds with examples of enemies who were left alive and

retumed to haunt the lenient. \"Crush the enemy\" is a key strategie tenet of

Sun-tzu, the fourth-century-B.c. author of The Art ofWar. The idea is simple:

Your enemies wish you ill. There is nothing they want more than to eliminate you. If, in your struggles with them, you stop halfway or even three

quarters of the way, out of mercy or hope of reconciliation, you only make

them more determined, more embittered, and they will someday take revenge. They may act friendly for the time being, but this is only because

you have defeated them. They have no choice but to bide their time.

The solution: Have no mercy. Crush your enemies as totally as they

LAW 15 111

112 LAW 15

would crush you. Ultimately the only peace and security you can hope for

from your enemies is their disappearance.

Mao Tse-tung, a devoted reader of Sun-tzu and of Chinese history generally, knew the importance of this law. In 1934 the Communist leader and

some 75,000 poorly equipped soldiers fled into the desolate mountains of

western China to escape Chiang Kai-shek's much larger army, in what has

since been called the Long March.

Chiang was determined to eliminate every last Communist, and by a

few years later Mao had less than 10,000 soldiers left. By 1937, in fact,

when China was invaded by Japan, Chiang calculated that the Communists were no longer a threat. He chose to give up the ehase and concentrate on the Japanese. Ten years later the Communists had recovered

enough to rout Chiang's army. Chiang had forgotten the ancient wisdom of

erushing the enemy; Mao had not. Chiang was pursued until he and his entire army fled to the island of Taiwan. Nothing remains of his regime in

mainland China to this day.

The wisdom behind \"crushing the enemy\" is as ancient as the Bible:

Its first praetitioner may have been Moses, who learned it from God Himself, when He parted the Red Sea for the Jews, then let the water flow back

over the pursuing Egyptians so that \"not so much as one of them remained.\" When Moses returned from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments and found his people worshipping the Golden Calf, he had

every last offender slaughtered. And just before he died, he told his followers, finally about to enter the Promised Land, that when they had defeated

the tribes of Canaan they should \"utterly destroy them . . . make no

eovenant with them, and show no merey to them.\"

The goal of total victory is an axiom of modem warfare, and was codified as such by Carl von Clausewitz, the premier philosopher of war. Analyzing the campaigns of Napoleon, von Clausewitz wrote, \"We do claim

that direct annihilation of the enemy's forees must always be the dominant

consideration .... Onee a major victory is achieved there must be no talk of

rest, of breathing space . . . but only of the pursuit, going for the enemy

again, seizing his eapital, attacking his reserves and anything else that

might give his country aid and eomfort.\" The reason for this is that after

war come negotiation and the division of territory. If you have only won a

partial victory, you will inevitably lose in negotiation what you have

gained by war.

The solution is simple: Allow your enemies no options. Annihilate

them and their territory is yours to carve. The goal of power is to control

your enemies completely, to make them obey your will. You cannot afford

to go halfway. If they have no options, they will be forced to do your bidding. This law has applieations far beyond the battlefield. Negotiation is the

insidious viper that will eat away at your vietory, so give your enemies

nothing to negotiate, no hope, no room to maneuver. They are crushed

and that is that.

Realize this: In your struggle for power you will stir up rivalries and

create enemies. There will be people you cannot win over, who will remain your enemies no matter what. But whatever wound you inflicted on

them, deliberately or not, do not take their hatred personally. Just recognize that there is no possibility of peace between you, especially as long as

you stay in power. If you let them stick around, they will seek revenge, as

certainly as night follows day. To wait for them to show their cards is just

silly; as Empress Wu understood, by then it will be too late.

Be realistic: With an enemy like this around, you will never be secure.

Remember the lessons of history, and the wisdom of Moses and Mao:

Never go halfway.

It is not, of course, a question of murder, it is a question of banishment.

Sufficiently weakened and then exiled from your court forever, your enemies are rendered harmless. They have no hope of recovering, insinuating

themselves and hurting you. And if they cannot be banished, at least understand that they are plotting against you, and pay no heed to whatever

friendliness they feign. Your only weapon in such a situation is your own

wariness. If you cannot banish them immediately, then plot for the best

time to act.

Image: A Viper crushed

beneath your foot but left

alive, will rear up and bite

you with a double dose of

venom. An enemy that is

left around is like a halfdead viper that you nurse

back to health. Time makes

the venom grow stronger.

Authority : For it must be

noted, that men must either be

caressed or else annihilated;

they will revenge themselves

for small injuries, but cannot

do so for great ones; the injury

therefore that we do to a man

must be such that we need not

fear his vengeance. (Niccolo

M achiavelli, 1469-1527)

LAW 15 1 13

1 14 LAW 15

REVERSAL

This law should very rarely be ignored, but it does sometimes happen that

it is better to let your enemies destroy themselves, if such a thing is possible, than to make them suffer by YOUf hand. In warfare, for example, a

good general knows that if he attacks an army when it is comered, its soldiers will fight much more fiercely. It is sometimes better, then, to leave

them an escape route, a way out. As they retreat, they wear themselves out,

and are ultiinately more demoralized by the retreat than by any defeat he

rnight inflict on the battlefield. When you have someone on the ropes,

then-but only when you are SUfe they have no chance of recovery-you

rnight let them hang themselves. Let them be the agents of their own destruction. The result will be the same, and you won't feel half as bad.

Finally, sometimes by crushing an enemy, you embitter them so much

that they spend years and years plotting revenge. The Treaty of Versailles

had such an effect on the Germans. Some would argue that in the long run

it would be better to show some leniency. The problem is, your leniency

involves another risk-it may embolden the enemy, which still harbors a

grudge, but now has some room to operate. It is almost always wiser to

crush YOUf enemy. If they plot revenge years later, do not let YOUf guard

down, but simply crush them again.

LAW

16

USE ABSENCE TO

INCREASE RESPECT

AND HONOR

JUDGMENT

Too much circulation makes the price go down: The more

you are seen and heard jrom, the more common you appear. If you are already established in a group, temporary

withdrawal jrom it will make you more talked about,

even more admired. You must learn when to leave. Create value through scarcity.

115

1'1 1 1'. C \\ \\I I': 1. \\'.1) 1'1 1 1:

H ,()\\TI\\C �T II:K:i

rhe first man whu saw

a wmelfled;

The second ventured

within distance;

The thir<! dared slip a

halter round its head,

Familiarity in this

existence

Makes all things tame,

f(\" what may seem

Tcrri/JIe or bizarre,

wlzl'n Oflce our eyes

lIave hall time to

acclimatize,

Becomes quite

comnwnpillce, Since

f'm Oll this theme,

f've heard uJsentinels

pos ted by the shore

WllO, spouing something Jar-away ajloat,

COllldn 't resist

Ihe shoul:

\"A sail! A sail!

A mighty man-of-war!\"

Five mimIfes laler it's

a packel boat,

Ami then a skiff; and

Ihe\" a bale,

Ami jinal/y some slicks

bobbing aboU/,

I know of plenty sllch

7(, whom Ihis Slor}

appliesPeople whom distance

magIlIfies,

Who, close 10, don 'I

amount co mIlch,

SELECTED l'ABLFS,

JrAN Ile LA FONTAINE,

1 62 1-1695

116 LAW 16

TRANSGRESSION AND OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW

Sir Guillaume de Balaun was a troubadour who roamed the South of

France in the Middle Ages, going from castle to castle, reciting poetry, and

playing the perfect knight. At the castle of Javiac he met and fell in love

with the beautiful lady of the house, Madame Guillelma de J aviac, He sang

her his songs, recited his poetry, played chess with her, and little by little

she in turn fell in love with him. Guillaume had a friend, Sir Pierre de Barjac, who traveled with him and who was also received at the castle, And

Pierre too fell in love with a lady in Javiac, the gracious but temperamental

Viernetta.

Then one day Pierre and Viernetta had a violent quarrel. The lady

dismissed him, and he sought out his friend Guillaume to help heal the

breach and get him back in her good graces. Guillaume was about to leave

the castle for a while, but on his return, several weeks later, he worked his

magie, and Pierre and the lady were reconciled. Pierre feit that his love

had increased tenfold-that there was no stronger love, in fact, than the

love that follows reconciliation. The stronger and longer the disagreement,

he told Guillaume, the sweeter the feeling that comes with peace and

rapprochement.

As a troubadour, Sir Guillaume prided himself on experiencing all the

joys and sorrows of love. On hearing his friend's talk, he too wanted know

the bliss of reconciliation after a quarrel. He therefore feigned great anger

with Lady Guillelma, stopped sending her love letters, and abruptly left the

castle and stayed away, even during the festivals and hunts. This drove the

young lady wild.

Guillelma sent messengers to Guillaume to find out what had happened, but he turned the messengers away. He thought an this would make

her angry, forcing him to plead for reconciliation as Pierre had. Instead,

however, his absence had the opposite effect: It made Guillelma love him

all the more. Now the lady pursued her knight, sending messengers and

love notes of her own. This was almost unheard of-a lady never pursued

her troubadour. And Guillaume did not like it. Guillelma's forwardness

made him feel she had lost some of her dignity. Not only was he no longer

sure of his plan, he was no longer sure of his lady.

Finally, after several months of not hearing from Guillaume, Guillelma

gave up. She sent him no more messengers, and he began to wonder-perhaps she was angry? Perhaps the plan had worked after all? So much the

better if she was. He would wait no more-it was time to reconcile. So he

put on his best robe, decked the horse in its fanciest caparison, chose a

magnificent heImet, and rode off to Javiac.

On hearing that her beloved had returned, Guillelma rushed to see

him, knelt before him, dropped her veil to kiss him, and begged forgiveness for whatever slight had caused his anger. Imagine his confusion and

despair-his plan had failed abysmally. She was not angry, she had never

been angry, she was only deeper in love, and he would never experience

the joy of reconciliation after a quarrel. Seeing her now, and still desperate

to taste that jOY, he decided to try one more time: He drove her away with

harsh words and threatening gestures. She left, this time vowing never to

see hirn again.

The next morning the troubadour regretted what he had done. He

rode back to Javiac, but the lady would not receive hirn, and ordered her

servants to chase hirn away, across the drawbridge and over the hill. Guillaume fled. Back in his chamber he collapsed and started to cry: He had

made a terrible mistake. Over the next year, unable to see his lady, he experienced the absence, the terrible absence, that can only inflame love. He

wrote one of his most beautiful poems, \"My song ascends for mercy praying.\" And he sent many letters to Guillelma, explaining what he had done,

and begging forgiveness.

After a great deal of this, Lady Guillelma, remembering his beautiful

songs, his handsome figure, and his skills in dancing and falconry, found

herself yearning to have hirn back. As penance for his cruelty, she ordered

hirn to remove the nail from the little finger of his right hand, and to send it

to her along with a poem describing his miseries.

He did as she asked. Finally Guillaume de Balaun was able to taste the

ultimate sensation-a reconciliation even surpassing that of his friend

Pierre.

Interpretation

Trying to discover the joys of reconciliation, Guillaume de Balaun inadvertently experienced the truth of the law of absence and presence. At the

start of an affair, you need to heighten your presence in the eyes of the

other. If you absent yourself too early, you may be forgotten. But once

your lover's emotions are engaged, and the feeling of love has crystallized,

absence inflames and excites. Giving no reason for your absence excites

even more: The other person assurnes he or she is at fault. While you are

away, the lover's imagination takes flight, and a stimulated imagination

cannot help but make love grow stronger. Conversely, the more Guillelma

pursued Guillaume, the less he loved her-she had become too present,

too accessible, leaving no room for his imagination and fancy, so that his

feelings were suffocating. When she finally stopped sending messengers,

he was able to breathe again, and to return to his plan.

What withdraws, what becomes scarce, suddenly seems to deserve our

respect and honor. What stays too long, inundating us with its presence,

makes us disdain it. In the Middle Ages, ladies were constantly putting

their knights through trials of love, sending them on some long and arduous quest-all to create a pattern of absence and presence. Indeed, had

Guillaume not left his lady in the first place, she might have been forced to

send hirn away, creating an absence of her own.

Absence diminishes minor passions and inflames great ones,

as the wind douses a candle and fans a fire.

La Rochefoucauld, 1 613-1680

1' 1 \\'1' 1 1 11'1'1 I', '; m

1'1 11: U)C�

While serving llnder

the Duke Ai o[ Lu,

T'ien Jao, rescnting hi .... '

ohscure position, said

to his master, \"I am

going to wander [ar

away Iike a snow

goo.se.

\" What do YOll mean h)'

that? \" inquired the

Duke,

\"Do you see the cock? \"

saiti T'ien Jao in reply.

\"Its cresl is a symhol of

civi/ir)'; its power/i;!

talons suggest slrenglh;

irs daring to fixht any

enemy denotes

cuuraxe; its instinc! to

in vite others whcnever

[ood is ohlaincd shows

henevolence; {lmi, lasl

hut nOl leasl, its punelua!ity in keepi\"g the

time through Ihe niXfzl

gives us an example of

veracity In spile.

however, of Ihese live

virtues, the cock i,' daily

killed to lill a dish on

your tahle. Why? The

reason is Ihat it is

[ound wirhin our reach,

On the other hand, the

snow go(}se traverses in

one jlixht a Ihousand li.

Restinx in VOllr garden,

il prey,; on YOllr fishcs

ami tllrlle,\" and pecks

.

volIr millel, Though

devoid u[ any of Ihe

cock's five virtues, yel

YOll prize (his hird f(Jr

Ihe sake of ils scarcil)'

This heing so. r shall jly

far Iike a snow goose, \"

A NCIENT ('HINES�'

PARABLES,

Yli HSIl! SEN, Hl.,

1 974

LAW 16 117

1 18 LAW 16

OBSERVAN CE OF THE LAW

For many centuries the Assyrians ruled upper Asia with an iron fist. In the

eighth century B.C., however, the people of Medea (now northwestem

Iran) revolted against them, and finally broke free. Now the Medes had to

establish a new govemment. Determined to avoid any form of despotism,

they refused to give ultimate power to any one man, or to establish a

monarchy. Without a leader, however, the country soon fell into chaos,

and fractured into small kingdoms, with village fighting against village.

In one such village lived a man named Deioces, who began to make a

name for hirnself for fair dealing and the ability to settle disputes.

He did this so successfully, in fact, that soon any legal conflict in the

area was brought to hirn, and his power increased. Throughout the land,

the law had fallen into disrepute--the judges were corrupt, and no one entrusted their cases to the courts any more, resorting to violence instead.

When news spread of Deioces' wisdom, incorruptibility, and unshakable

impartiality, Medean villages far and wide tumed to hirn to settle all manner of cases. Soon he became the sole arbiter of justice in the land.

At the height of his power, Deioces suddenly decided he had had

enough. He would no longer sit in the chair of judgment, would hear no

more suits, settle no more disputes between brother and brother, village

and village. Complaining that he was spending so much time dealing with

other people's problems that he had neglected his own affairs, he retired.

The country once again descended into chaos. With the sudden withdrawal of a powerful arbiter like Deioces, crime increased, and contempt

for the law was never greater. The Medes held a meeting of all the villages

to decide how to get out of their predicament. \"We cannot continue to live

in this country under these conditions,\" said one tribal leader. \"Let us appoint one of our number to rule so that we can live under orderly govemment, rather than losing our hornes altogether in the present chaos.\"

And so, despite all that the Medes had suffered under the Assyrian despotism, they decided to set up a monarchy and name a king. And the man

they most wanted to rule, of course, was the fair-minded Deioces. He was

hard to convince, for he wanted nothing more to do with the villages' infighting and bickering, but the Medes begged and pleaded-without him the

country had descended into a state of lawlessness. Deioces finally agreed.

Yet he also imposed conditions. An enormous palace was to be constructed for him, he was to be provided with bodyguards, and a capital city

was to be built from which he could rule. All of this was done, and Deioces

settled into his palace. In the center of the capital, the palace was surrounded by walls, and completely inaccessible to ordinary people. Deioces

then established the terms of his rule: Admission to his presence was forbidden. Communication with the king was only possible through messengers. No one in the royal court could see him more than once a week, and

then only by permission.

Deioces ruled for fifty-three years, extended the Medean empire, and

established the foundation for what would later be the Persian empire,

under his great-great-grandson Cyrus. During Deioces' reign, the people's

respect for hirn gradually tumed into a form of worship: He was not a mere

mortal, they believed, but the son of a god.

Interpretation

Deioces was a man of great ambition. He determined early on that the

country needed a strong ruler, and that he was the man for the job.

In a land plagued with anarchy, the most powerful man is the judge

and arbiter. So Deioces began his career by making his reputation as a man

of impeccable fairness.

At the height of his power as a judge, however, Deioces realized the

truth of the law of absence and presence: By serving so many clients, he

had become too noticeable, too available, and had lost the respect he had

earlier enjoyed. People were taking his services for granted. The only way

to regain the veneration and power he wanted was to withdraw completely, and let the Medes taste what life was like without hirn. As he expected, they came begging for hirn to rule.

Once Deioces had discovered the truth of this law, he carried it to its

ultimate realization. In the palace his people had built for hirn, none could

see hirn except a few courtiers, and those only rarely. As Herodotus wrote,

\"There was a risk that if they saw him habitually, it might lead to jealousy

and resentment, and plots would follow; but if nobody saw hirn, the legend

would grow that he was a being of a different order from mere men.\"

A man said to a Dervish: \"\"Why do I not see you more often ?\" The Dervish

replied, \"Because the words '\"Why have you not been to see me ?' are

sweeter to my ear than the words '\"Why have you come again ?'\"

Mulla Jami, quoted in ldries Shah 's Caravan 01' Dreams, 1 968

KEYS TO POWER

Everything in the world depends on absence and presence. A strong presence will draw power and attention to you-you shine more brightly than

those around you. But a point is inevitably reached where too much presence creates the opposite effect: The more you are seen and heard from,

the more your value degrades. You become a habit. No matter how hard

you try to be different, subtly, without your knowing why, people respect

you less and less. At the right moment you must leam to withdraw yourself

before they unconsciously push you away. It is a game of hide-and-seek.

The truth of this law can most easily be appreciated in matters of love

and seduction. In the beginning stages of an affair, the lover's absence stimulates your imagination, forming a sort of aura around hirn or her. But this

aura fades when you know too much-when your imagination no longer

has room to roam. The loved one becomes a person like anyone else, a

person whose presence is taken for granted. This is why the seventeenthcentury French courtesan Ninon de Lenclos advised constant feints at withdrawal from one's lover. \"Love never dies of starvation,\" she wrote, \"but

often of indigestion. \"

LAW 16 119

120 LAW 16

The moment you allow yourself to be treated like anyone else, it is too

late-you are swallowed and digested. To prevent this you need to starve

the other person of your presence. Force their respect by threatenir1g them

with the possibility that they will lose you far good; create a pattern of presence and absence.

Once you die, everything about you will seem different You will be

surrounded by an instant aura of respect. People will remember their criticisms of you, their arguments with you, and will be filled with regret and

guilt. They are rnissing a presence that will never return. But you do not

have to wait until you die: By completely withdrawing for a while, you create a kind of death before death. And when you come back, it will be as if

you had come back from the dead-an air of resurrection will ding to you,

and people will be relieved at your return. This is how Deioces made himself king.

Napoleon was recognizing the law of absence and presence when he

said, \"If I am often seen at the theater, people will cease to notice me.\"

Today, in a world inundated with presence through the flood of images, the

game of withdrawal is all the more powerful. We rarely know when to

withdraw anymore, and nothing seems private, so we are awed by anyone

who is able to disappear by choice. Novelists J. D. Salinger and Thomas

Pynchon have created cultlike followings by knowing when to disappear.

Another, more everyday side of this law, but one that demonstrates

its truth even further, is the law of scarcity in the science of economics.

By withdrawing something from the market, you create instant value. In

seventeenth-century Holland, the upper classes wanted to make the tulip

more than just a beautiful flower-they wanted it to be a kind of status symbol. Making the flower scarce, indeed almost impossible to obtain, they

sparked what was later called tulipomania. A single flower was now worth

more than its weight in gold. In our own century, similarly, the art dealer

Joseph Duveen insisted on making the paintings he sold as scarce and rare

as possible. To keep their prices elevated and their status high, he bought up

whole collections and stored them in his basement. The paintings that he

sold became more than just paintings--they were felish objects, their value

increased by their rarity. \"You can get all the pictures you want at fifty thousand dollars apiece-that's easy,\" he once said. \"But to get pictures at a

quarter of a million apiece-that wants doing!\"

I mag e:

The Sun. lt can only be

appreciated by its absence.

The longer the days of rain, the

more the sun is craved. But too many

hot days and the sun overwhelms.

Learn to keep yourself obscure and

make people demand your return.

Extend the law of scarcity to your own skills. Make what you are offering the world rare and hard to find, and you instantly increase its value.

There always comes a moment when those in power overstay their

welcome. We have grown tired of them, lost respect for them; we see them

as no different from the rest of mankind, which is to say that we see them as

rather worse, since we inevitably compare their current status in our eyes

to their former one. There is an art to knowing when to retire. If it is done

right, you regain the respect you had lost, and retain a part of your power.

The greatest mler of the sixteenth century was Charles V. King of

Spain, Hapsburg emperor, he governed an empire that at one point included much of Europe and the New World. Yet at the height of his power,

in 1557, he retired to the monastery of Yuste. All of Europe was captivated

by his sudden withdrawal; people who had hated and feared hirn suddenly

called hirn great, and he came to be seen as a saint. In more recent times,

the film actress Greta Garbo was never more admired than when she retired, in 1941. For some her absence came too soon-she was in her midthirties-but she wisely preferred to leave on her own terms, rather than

waiting for her audience to grow tired of her.

Make yourself too available and the aura of power you have created

around yourself will wear away. Turn the game around: Make yourself less

accessible and you increase the value of your presence.

Authority:

Use absence to create

respect and esteern. If presence

diminishes farne, absence augments it.

A man who when absent is regarded as a

lion becomes when present so me thing common and ridiculous. Talents lose their luster

if we become too familiar with them, for the

outer shell of the mind is more readily seen

than its rich inner kernel. Even the outstanding genius makes use of retirement so that

men rnay honor hirn and so that the

yearning aroused by his absence