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THE 48 LAWS OF POWER

ROBERT GREENE has a degree in classical studies and has been an editor at Esquire and oflmt magazines. He is also a playwright and lives in Los Angeles. JOOST ELFERS is the producer of 772: 48 Laws ofPawer and also of The Sam: Language cyFB:fi-tkdays with Gary Goldschneider The Semi Languages ofReiatiansiuyu with Gary Goldschneider Play with Hmr Facet‘ with Saxton Freymann

P O W E R ROBERT GREENE A JOOST ELFFERS PRODUCTION PPROFILE BOOKS

This paperback edition published in 2000 Reprinted 200}, 2002 First published in Great Britain in 1998 by Profile Books Ltd 58A Hatnon Garden London ECIN RLX First published in the United States in 1998 by Viking, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc. Copyright ® Robert Greene aridjoost Elflers, 1998 A portion of this work first appeared in '17w Uzne Reader Typeset in BE Baskerville Printed and bound in Italy by Legoprint S.p.a.— Lavis (TN) The moral right of the authors has been asserted. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, shared or introduced into a. retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written peimission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book. A CIP catalogue record for this booliis available from the British Library. ISBN 1 86197 278 4-

A Iieasury ofJewish Fhlklare by Nathan Ausubel, Cnpyfight (S13 1948, 1976 by Crown Publishers, Inc. Reprinted by pemiission of Crown Publishers, Inc. 7712 C/tines: Looking Glass by Dennis Bloodworth. Copyright (C) 1966, 1967 by Dennis Bloudworth. By permission of Ferrar, Straus and Giroux. 7712 Baal: oftfw Courtier by Baldcsar Castiglione, translated by George Bull; Penguin Books (London). Copyright © George Bull, 1967. The Golden Dream: Seekers eff}! Domtla by Walker Chapman; Bobbs-Merrill. Copyright © 1967 by Walker Chapman. TIteBa1gz'as by Ivan Cloulas, translated by Gilda Roberts; Franklin Watts, Inc. Copyright ® 1987 by Librairie Artheme Faynrd. Translation copyright CC) I989 by Franklin Watts, Inc. Vézrious Fablesfiom I/Zmbus Places, edited by Diane Di Prima; Capricorn Books /’ G. P. Putnanfs Sons. (0 1960 G. P. Pulnam’s Sons. Arnmzian Fol/rtala and Fables, translated by Charles Downing; Oxford University Press. © Charles Downing 1972. 771: Little Brown Baa/c afAneca?0tes, edited by Clifton Fadiman; Little, Brown and Company. C'x>pyn'ghc (0 L985 by Little, Brown and Company (ln<:.) Z7zePowzr ofthe Charlalan by Grete de Francesco, translated by Miriam Beard, Copyright, 1939, by Yale University Press. By permission of Yale University Press. 77ze Omzle: A Marmot zftlwArt ofDi.cmtian by Baltasar Gracién, translated by L. B. Walton", Orion Press. Behind the Same: afRoyulPalam in Korea (Yi Dynasty) by Ha 'lb.e»hung. Copynght (fl 1983 by Ha Tae~hu.ng. By perm.is~ slot: of Yonsei University Press, Seoul. 7712 Hiszaries by Herodotus, translated by Aubrey de Sélincoun, revised by A. R. Bum; Penguin Books (London). Copyrifixt © the Estate of Aubrey de Sélincouri, 1954. Copyright (3 A. K Bum, l972. Hollywaadby Garson Kanin (Viking). Copyright © 1967, l974 by T. F. T, Corporation. Fabierfrom Africa, collected byjan Knappcrt; Evan Brothers Limited (London). Collection © l980]=m Knappcrt. Ike Great Fables ofAllNatimLs, selected by Manuel Komroff; Tudor Publishing Company. Copyright, 1928, by Dial Press, Inc. Sxizcted Fuller by jean de La Fonmine, translated by James Michic; Penguin Books (London). Translation copyright Qjames Mickie, 1979. The Romance qftilz Rosa by Guillaume de Lorris, translated by Charles Dahlberg; Princeton University Press. 172: Complm Essays by Michel de Montaigne, translated by M. A. Screech; Penguin Books (London). Translation copyright o M. A. Screech, I987, 1991. A Book qfFa've Rings by Miyamobo Musashi, uanslatcd by Victor Harris; Overlook Press. Copyright © l97=l by Victor The New 0zy‘i2rdAnnotated Bible with the Apaaypluz, revised standard version, edited by Heibert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger; Oxford University Press. Copyright © 1973 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Makers efkome: Nine Lines by Plutarch, translated by Ian Scott~Kilveit; Penguin Books (London). Copyright © Ian Scott—Kilvert, 1965. 7722 Rise and Fuli ofAt/tens: Nine Greek Lives by Plutarch, translated by Ian Scotl«Kilvert; Penguin Books (London). Copyright ® Ian Scott~Kilvert, 1960. Chemo-ya." Ihejapanesz Tia Ceremony by A. L. Sadler; Charles E. Thttle Company, '11.!) 1962 by Charles E. Tuttle Co Amara! Politia: The Persistent Iiuth qfil/Iathiavellism by Ben~Ami Scharfstein; State University of New York Press. © l995 State University of New York. Caravan nfbnzam by [dries Shah; Octagon Press (London). Copyright © 1970, 1980 by Idries Shah. Ihles ofthc Dervixlxes by Idries Shah. Copyright © Idries Shah, 1967. Used by permission of Penguin Putnam lnc. and Octagon Press (London). The Craft offlnoev by R. G. H. Siu; john Wiley &. Sons. Copyright © 1979 by john Wiley 8: Sons, Inc. The Subtle Ruse: 77;: Bank af/imbiv Wisdom and Guile, translated by Rene R. Khawam; East-West Publications. C0py~ right @> L980 English translation East~West Publications Ltd. Tiwzirt of M17 by Suirtzu, translated by Thomas Cleary; Shambhala Publications. ((3 1938 by Thomas Cleary. The Art of War by Sun-tzn, translated by Yuan Shibing. © 1987 by General Tao Hanshang. Used by pennission of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016, The Histmy ofthe Pelaponnssian War by Thucyclides, translated by Rex Wamcr; Penguin Books (London). Translation copyright Rex Warner, 1954. The Thurber Carnival by James Thurber; Ha.q:erCollins. Copyright l9¢5 by James Thurber, Tlw Court Artist: On thezimemy ofllw Modern Artist by Martin Wamlce, translated by David McLintouk. Translation © Maison des Sciences de 1’Homme and Cambridge University Press 1993. By permission of Cambridge University Press. The Can Game and “lfzlbw Kid” Mil.' 77:5 Autobiography ofllze Famous Can Artist as told to W. T Brannon; Dover Publi- cations. Copyright © 1948 by W. T‘. Brannon.

27: Anna Biller, and ta my parents R. G.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Firstl would like to thank Anna Biller, who helped edit and research this book, and whose in- valuable insights played a critical role in the shape and content of 17w 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 _]oost Elffers, my partner and producer of The 48 Laws ofPower. It was in the scheming world of Fabrika that _]oost and I saw the timeless- ness of Machiavelli and from our discussions in Venice, Italy, this book was born. I would like to thank Henri Le Goubin, who supplied me with many Machiavellian anec~ dotes over the years, particularly conceming the numerous French characters who play such a large role in this book. I would also iike to thank Les and Sumiko Biller, who lent me their library on Japanese his- tory 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 andl am particularly grateful to the UCLA Research Library; I spent many pleasant days wandering through its in- comparable collections. My parents, Laurette and Stanley Green, deserve 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 manipu~ late, torture, and cause me pain over the years, I bear you no grudges and I thank you for sup plying me with inspiration for The 48 Laws 0fP0wer. Rabert Greene mfii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

CONTENTS PREFACE page zrrzii LAW 1 page I NEVER OUTSHINE THE MASTER Always make those above you feel comfortably superior In your desire to please or impress them, do not go toofar in displayingyour talent: or you might accomplish the oppasite~»—-inspirefear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights ofpower. LAW 2 page 8 NEVER PUT TOO MUCH TRUST IN FRIENDS, LEARN HOW TO USE ENEMIES Be wary :.3ffziends——~they will betray you more quickly, for they are easibr aroused to envy. 'I‘hey 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 fearfromfriends than fitrm enemies. Ifyou have no enemies, find a way to make them. LAW 3 page 16 CONCEAL YOUR INTENTIONS Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide themfar enough down the wrong path, envelop them in enough smoke, and by the time thrgv realize your intentions, it will be too late. LAW 4 page 31 ALVVAYS SAY LESS THAN NECESSARY When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more rommon you appear, and tlw less in control. Even ifyou are saying something banal, it will seem original ifyou make it vague, open—ended, and sphinxlike. Powerfltl people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say somethingfoolish. LAW 5 /mge37 SO MUCH DEPENDS ON REPUTATION-—-GUARD IT WITH YOUR LIFE Reputation is the cornerstone ofpower. 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 akrt 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. LAVV 6 page 44 COURT ATTENTION AT ALL COST Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing: Never let yourselfget lost in the crowd, then, orburied in oblivion. Stand out. He conspicuous, at all cost. Malzeyourselfa magnet ofattention by appearing larger, more colorful more mysterious than the bland and timid masses. CONTENTS [1

LAW 7 page 56 GET OTHERS TO DO THE WORK FOR YOU, BUT ALWAYS TAKE THE CREDIT Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own muse. Not only will such assis- tance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of ejficiertcy and speed. In the end your hehpers will beforgotten and you will be remembered. Never do yourselfwhat others can doforyou. LAW 8 page 62 MAKE OTHER PEOPLE COME TO YOU—-USE BAIT IF NECESSARY When you forte 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 withfabulous gains-then attack. You hold the cards. - LAW’ 9 page 69 WIN THROUGH YOUR ACTIONS, NEVER THROUGH ARGUMENT Any momentary triumph you think you have gained through argument is really a Iyrrhir victory: The resent» ment 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 :1 word. Demonstrate, do not explicate. LAW 1 0 page 76 INFECTION: AVOID THE UNHAPPY AND UNLUCKY You can diefrom someone else’: misery-——emotional states are as infectious as diseases. Km may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitatingyour own disaster: The unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy andfortunate instead. LAW 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 youfor their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear. Never touch them enough so that they can do without you. LAVV 12 page 89 USE SELECTIVE HONESTY AND GENEROSITY TO DISARM YOUR VICTIM One sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones. 0pen~hea7ted gestures of honesty and gertemsity bring down the guard ofeven the most suspicions people. Once your selective honesty opens a hole in their armor; you can deceive and manipulate them at will. A timely gzfl-ma ’}i‘q,v'an horse-——zoill serve the same purpose. LAW I 3 page 95 WHEN ASKING FOR HELP, APPEAL TO PEOPLE’S SELFAINTEREST, NEVER TO THEIR MERCY OR GRATITUDE Ifyou need to turn to an allyfor help, do not bother to remind him ofyour past assistance and good deeds. He willfind 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 ofall proportion, He will respond enthusiastically when he sees some- thing to be gainedfor himself. 1- comsms

LAW 14 page 107 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, learn to probe. Ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions. There is no occasion that is not an opportunityfinr artful spying. LAW J5 page 107 CRUSH YOUR ENEMY TOTALLY All great leaders since Adoses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely. (Sometimes they have learned this the hard way.) Ifone ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventu- ally 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 heardfrom, the more common you appear Ifyou are already established in a group, temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked about, even more admired. You must learn when to leave. Create value through scarcity. LAW 17 page 1:23 KEEP OTHERS IN SUSPENDED TERROR: CULTIVATE AN AIR OF UNPREDICTABILITY Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other peoples actions. Your pre- dictability gives them a sense ofcontrol. Turn the tables: Be deliberately unpredictable. 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. LAW 18 page 130 DO NOT BUILD FORTRESSES TO PROTECT YOURSELF—ISOLATION IS DANGEROUS The world is dangerous and memies are everywhere——et/eryone has to protect themselves. A fortres.s seems the safest. But isolation exposes you to more dangers than it protects you frorn—-—it cuts you offflom valuable in- formation, it makes you conspicuous and an easy target. Better to circulate among people, find allies, mingle. You are shieldedfrom your by the crowd. LAW no page 137 KNOW WHO YOU'RE DEALING WITH—DO NOT OFFEND THE WRONG PERSON There are many different kinds ofpeople 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 oftheir lives seeking revenge. They are wolves in lambs’ clothing. Choose your victims and opponents carefully, then— never offend or deceive the wrong person. CONTENTS xi

LIXW 20 page 14;)’ DO NOT COMMIT TO ANYONE It is thefool who always rushes to take sides. Do not commit to any side or cause but yourseh‘. By maintaining your independence, you become the master of(ufhers—~playingj7eo[1le against one another: making them pursue you. LAW 21 page 156 PLAY A SUCKER TO CATCH A SUCKER—--SEEM DUMBER THAN YOUR MARK No one likesjeeling smpider than the next person. The trick, then, is to make your victimsjeel smart—and not just smart, out smarter than you are. Once convinced o/"this, they will never suspect that you may have ulte- rior motives‘ LAW 22 page 163 USE THE SURRENDER TACTIC: TRANSFORM WEAKNESS INTO POWER When you are weaker; neverfight for honor’s sake; choose surrender instead. Surrender gives you time to ne- couer, time to torment and irritate your conqueror; time to waitfor his power to wane. Do not give him the sat» isfaction offighting and defeating you——surrenderfirst. By turning the other cheek you infiiriate and unsettle him. Make surrender a tool ofprmren LAVV 23 page 171 CONCENTRATE YOUR FORCES Conserve yourforces and energies by keeping them conrentrated at their stwngastjsaint. You gain more byfind~ inga rich mine and mining it deeper; than byflittingfrom one shallow mine to anotherwintenstty defeats ex- tensity every time. When lookingfor sourres ofpower to elevate you, find the one key patron, the fat cow who will give you milhjor a longtime to LAW 24 page 178 PLAY THE PERFECT COURTIER The perfect eourtier thrives in a world where everything revolves around power and political dexterity‘ He has mastered the art ofindirection; heflutters, yields to superiors, and asserts power over others in the most oblique and graceful manner Learn and apply the laws ofcorurtiership and there will be no limit to howfaryou can rise in the court. LAW 25 page 19;/' RE-CREATE YOURSELF Do not acvept the roles that society foists on you. Rmreate yourself by forging a new identity, one that com- mands attention and never bones the audience. Be the master ofyour own image rather than letting others de- fine it for you. Ineorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and octiom——your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life. LAW 26 page 200 KEEP YOUR HANDS CLEAN Km must seem a paragon of civility and Your hands are never soiled by mistakes and nasty deeds. Maintain such a spotless afrpearance by using others as scapegoats and eativpaws to disguise your in» volvement. xii CONTENTS

LAW 27 page 225 PLAY ON PEOPLE'S NEED TO BELIEVE TO CREATE A CULTLIKE FOLLOWING People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become thefocal point of such desire by ojj‘m'ng them a cause, a nemfaith to follow. Keep your wants vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking. Give your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your oehaqf In the absence of organized religion and grand causes, your new belief system will bring you untold power. LAW 28 page 227 ENTER ACTION WITH BOLDNESS Ifyou are unsure ofa course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execu- tion, Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are eas» ily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the léfllid. LAW 29 page 236 PLAN ALL 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 offortune 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 guidefortune and help determine thefittune by thinkingfar ahead. LA‘/V 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 eflortlessly, as zfyou could do much more. Avoid the temptation of -revealing how hard you wurk—it only raises questions. Teach no one your tricks or they will be used against you. LAW 31 page 25-? CONTROL THE OPTIONS: GET OTHERS TO PLAY 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 control, but are actually your puppets. Give people options that some out in yourfavor whichever one they choose, Force them to make choices between the lesser oftwo evils, both ofwhich serve your purpose. Put them on the horns of a dilemma: They are gored wherever they turn. LAW 3 2 page 263 PLAY TO PEOPLES FANTASIES The truth is often avoided because it is ugly and unjbleasant. Never appeal to truth and reality unless you are preparedfor the anger that comes from disenchantment. Life is so harsh and distressing that people who can manufacture romance or conjure npfarztasy are like oases in the desert: Everyoneflocks to them. There is great power in tapping into thefantasies ofthe masses. CO NTENTS xiii

LAW’ 33 page ‘.771 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 smafl secret pleasure. Either may, oncefound, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage. LAW 734 page 252 BE ROYAL IN YOUR OWN FASHION: ACT LIKE A KING TO BE TREATED LIKE ONE The way you carry yourselfwill often determine how you are treated: In the long run, appearing vulgar or com- mon will make people disrespect you. For a king respects himselfand inspires the same sentiment in others. By acting regally and confident ofyour powers, you make yourselfseem destined to wear a crown. LAVV 33 page 291 MASTER THE ART OF TIMING Never seem to be in a hurry—hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself: and over time. Always seem pa- tient, as ifyou know that everything will come to you eventually. Become a detective of the right moment; out the spirit of the times, the trends that will carry you to power: Learn to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to strikefiercely when it has reachedfruition. LAVV 36 page 300 DISDAIN THINGS YOU CANNOT HAVE: IGNORING THEM IS THE BEST REVENGE By acknowledging a petgr problem you give it existence and credibility. The more attention you pay an enemy, the strongeryou make him; and a small mistake is often made worse and more visible when you try tofix it. It is sometimes best to leave things alone. If there is something you want but cannot have, show contemptfor it. 'I7te less interest you reveal, the more superioryou seem. LAW 37 page3()9 CREATE COMPELLING SPECTACLES Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the aura ofpower—e1/eryone responds to them. Stage spec- tacles for those around you, then, full of arresting visuals and radiant symbols that heighten your presence. Dazzled by appearances, no one will notice what you are really doing. LAVV 38 page 317 THINK AS YOU LIKE BUT BEHAVE LIKE OTHERS Ifyou make a show ofgoing against the times, flauntingyour 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 youfor making them feel inferior It isfar safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your originality onh with tolerantfriends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness. I. /\VV 3 9 page 325 STIR UP WATERS TO CATCH FISH Anger and emotion are strategically counterproductive. You must always stay calm and objective. But ifyou can make your enemies angry while staying calm yourselfl you gain a decided advantage. Put your enemies off-balance: Find the think in their vanity through which you can rattle them and you hold the strings. .rio CONTENTS

LAW 40 page 333 DESPISE THE FREE LUNCH What is offeredforfree is dangenms—~it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. What has worth is worth payingfor By payingyour own way you stay clear ofgratitude, guilt, and deceit. It is also often wise to pay thefull price-—there is no cutting corners with excellence. Be lavish with your money and it cirru- lating, for g'enemsity is a sign and a magnetfor power. LAVV 4] page 347 AVOID STEPPING INTO A GREAT MAN'S SHOES What happensfirst always appears better and more original than what comes after Ifyou succeed a great man or have ajarnous 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 ofyour own making: Establish your own name and identity by changing course. Slay the overbearingfathei; disparage his legacy, and gain power by 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 indi-oidual——the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoner of goodwill. you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence. Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them—thty are irredeemable. Neutralize their in» jluence by isolating or banishing them. Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter. LAVV 43 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 by working on their emotions, playingon what they hold dear and what theyfear: Ignore the hearts and minds ofothers and they will grow to hate you. L AVV «'14 page 3 76 DISARM AND INFURIATE WITH THE MIRROR EFFECT The mirror reflects reality, but it is also the perfect toolfor deception: When you mirror your enemies, doing ex~ actly as they do, they cannot figure out your strategy. The Mirror Eflect mocks and humiliates them, making them overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyehes, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their values; by holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson. Few can resist the power ofthe Mirror Effect. LA‘/V 45 page 392 PREACH THE NEED FOR CHANGE, BUT NEVER REFORM TOO MUCH AT ONCE Everyone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habit. Too much innovation is traumatic, and will lead to revolt. Ifyou are new to a position ofpower, or an outsider trying to build a power base, make a show of respecting the old way of doing things. If change is nec- essary, make it feel like a gentle improvement on the past. CONTENTS .ro

LAW 46 page 400 NEVER APPEAR TOO PERFECT Appearing better than others is always dungwmcs, but most drmgmms ofall is to appear to have no fault: or weaknesses. Envy mates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to dcflect envy and appear more human and apfiwctchable. Only guds and the dead can seem pevfect with impunity. LAW 47 page 410 DO NOT G0 PAST THE MARK YOU AIME!) FOR; IN VICTORY, LEARN WHEN TO STOP The moment of victory is often tlw mtmmzi ofgmttest peril. In the heat of victory, armganne and 0vmonfi— dense can push you past the gmzl you had aimedjbr; and by going toofar, you make more enemies than you defeat. Do not allow success to go to your head. Time is no substétumfor strategy and canrful planning. Set a goal, and when you mach it, stop. LAVV 48 page 419 ASSUME. FORMLESSNESS By talking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack. Instead of taking afmm for your enemy to grasp, keep yoursetfadaptable and on the move. Accept thefaa that nothingis certain and no law is fixed. The best way to pmtect yourself is to be asfluid and formless as water; never bet on stabifity or lasting urder. Everything changes. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY page 431 [N D EX page 433 231;!‘ C ONTENTS

PREFACE The feeling of having no power over people and events is generally un- bearable 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 espe- cially 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 mas- ter’s favor, then, had to be subtle. And even skilled 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 civiliza- tion and refinement. Violent or overt power moves were frowned upon; couniers would work silently and secretly against any among them who used force. This was the couxtier’s dilemma: While appearing the very paragon of elegance, they had to outwit and thwart their own opponents in the subtlest of ways. The successful comtier 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 smiles 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 re- quired 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 diplo- mat and courtier Niccolo 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 un- PREFACE .1’1:{z'

(,'om'Is are, uI1que.x1irm- ably. the scum‘ ufpuliiee r/css and good i>reediIl;,>; were they not so, they wmtirl be the seals vfslzmghrer and rlewluliml. I/msr who now rmtle upon and :’mlm1L'e, would uf/‘mm and mh. well other, If mannmxs dui nor iIllC¥‘[3(J.\‘e.. . . LORD CllI;$'l 1;lI.)-IFID, 1694-1 713’ There is nothing very’ add about lambs ciisiiking birds ofpn-y, but this is no ranmzz fr»- holding it against large br'rd.s ofpre r that rluzy carry offlmnbs. And when the I/mzlzx wim- [mr among Iheniselvex, “ I lww birds‘ nfprcy are evil, and zz',0e.\ this not give as (1 right to Say that whatever is the «;p;m.s'im ofa bird of prey must be good.‘’'‘ there is nothing in/rm— sically wrong Wil/I rut-I: rm urgummt ~ - though {he birds ofprey will look so/mzwlmt qmzztl mlly and say. “We have rmtliirzg agaimi Ifiese gum! ImnI,>_9'.' in fact, we love 1lu*rIz;rwIIu'Izg tastes better t/um a tender‘ lamb." llRllLDl{l(JH ."'4'lE-.’l‘ZS(‘HI:. l 8444 900 ;1miii PREFACE derneath its glittering surface a cauldron of dark emotions--greed, envy, lust, hatred-—boi1ed and simmered. Our world today similarly imagines it- self 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, learning 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 not resist you. To some people the notion of consciously playing power games—no mat- ter how indii-ect—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 opin~ ions 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 selfiinterest, would not publicize its weakness to gain sympa- thy 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 Sur— render 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 to avoid the taint of power, you attempt to treat everyone equally and fairly, you will confront the problem that some people do cer- tain 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, goodehearted, 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 naiveté, to protect them from the accusation that they are after power. Beware again, however, for the appearance of naiveté can be an effective means of

deceit (see Law 21, Seem Dumber Than Your Mark). And even genuine naiveté 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 inno- cent 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 all. You can 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 gain- ing it, the nonplayers are merely throwing dust in our 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 manipuiation, 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 strug- gling 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 be come. By following the route of the perfect courtier (see Law 24) you learn to make others feel better about themselves, becoming a source of pleasure to them. They will grow dependent on your abilities and desirous of your 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 know- ing its properties. If the game of power is inescapable, better to be an artist than 2. denier or a bungler. 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 your feel- ings. Emotions cloud reason, and if you cannot see the situation clearly, you cannot prepare for and respond to it with any degree of control. Anger is the most destructive of emotional responses, for it clouds your vision the most. It also has a ripple effect that invariably makes situa- tions less controllable and heightens your enemy’s resolve. If you are try» ing to destroy an enemy who has hurt you, far better to keep him off—guard by feigning friendliness than showing your anger. l The old)“ means in gum mm is main‘ with people are fr7l‘1."£’ um] czmni/lg. Low a/xv, /hey say; but [/10] is /0 wail for sunshine. and life needs every‘ moment. JUHANN vow (‘nomm-.. l749»— 1 832 The arrow rim! by tile zzrdrc-rrn1l_,v or may not kill (I .i~/'n;:le fI(‘I'\’(m. Hm .¢rr(zI¢r;,Wn.s' rleviwri by (I Wm’ man can lull we-n hr]/)f’S in I/1:‘ womb. K At : rn.rA . lNI.|lI\N l’ll|Lf)SUl’lll K. ‘I lllltl) (’l,'\"l l?llY li.(‘. Pl-RE FACE rile

I thought to myself With what means, with what dtf(?P,‘[}!l0Il.\', with how many varied arts, with what! induxzry a man sharpens his wits to zleceive another. and lhrough these variations the world is madc more beautiful. FRA ' nsro V|;’l”l'()Rl, (‘0.\Il|1MI‘(‘IR/\RY AND FRIFND or MA<‘rIIAvr|_i_I. FA RI Y SI.Y'lT,FNTH (‘FNTKI RY There are no princi- pl€SCl/1(’Y(,' are only evmtr. There is no good and had, there are only «:ircmrIslumte,.r. The superior man C.\‘p()l4S(’.§' events and circumstames in order In guide them. If there were principlm and fixed laws, nations would not change them as we change our shirrs and a man curt not be expecrr/l to be wiser than an entire mmnn. HONORE Dr. BALZAC. 1'/‘)‘)~1 850 L1? ;' 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 ex- press them, and most important, they should never influence your plans and strategies in any way. Related to mastering your emotions is the ability to distance yourself from the present moment and think objectively about the past and future. Like Janus, the double—faced Roman deity and guardian of all gates and doorways, you must be able to look in both directions at once, the better to handle danger from wherever it comes. Such is the face you must create for yourself-one face looking continuously to the future and the other to the ast.P For the future, the motto is, “No days unalert.” Nothing should catch you by surprise because you are constantly imagining problems before they arise. Instead of spending your time dreaming of your plan’s happy ending, you must work on calculating every possible permutation and pit- fall that might emerge in it. The further you see, the more steps ahead you plan, the more powerful you become. The other face ofJanus looks constantly to the past—though not to re- member past hurts or bear grudges. That would only curb your power. Half of the game is learning how to forget those events in the past that eat away at you and cloud your reason. The real purpose of the backward- glancing eye is to educate yourself constantly—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 closer at hand, to your own actions and those of your friends. This is the most vital school you can 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 extract 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 appearances. To this end you must learn to wear many masks and keep a bag full of deceptive tricks. De- ception and masquerade should not be seen as ugly or immoral. All human interaction requires deception on many levels, and in some ways what sep— arates humans from animals is our ability to lie and deceive. In Greek myths, in India’s Mahabharata cycle, in the Middle Eastern epic of Gilga~ mesh, it is the privilege of the gods to use deceptive arts; a great man, Odysseus for instance, was judged by his ability to rival the craftiness of the gods, stealing some of their divine power by matching them in wits and de- ception. Deception 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 dis- tanced approach to yourself——-unless you can be many different people, wearing the mask that the day and the moment require. With such a flexi« ble approach to all appearances, including 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 decep tion are among the aesthetic pleasures of life. They are also key compo« nents 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 :1 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 ac~ quire 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 cloud and deceive! What does it matter if another player, your friend or rival, intended good things and had only your interests at heart, if the effects of his action lead to so much min and confusion? It is only natural for people to cover up their actions with all kinds ofjustifications, 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 for the accumu- lation 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 ap- preciate 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 l for it——what it costs us.” Perhaps you will attain your goal, and a worthy goal at that, but at what price? Apply this standard to everything, including whether to collaborate with other people or come to their aid. In the end, PREFACE . mi

xxii PREFACE r“'"“”‘fi 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 learn and master it, you must develop the ability to study and understand people. As the great seventeenth-century thinker and courtier Baltasar Gracién 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 watch- ing them without ever fully understanding them. So it is all the more im- portant, 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 whom you trust. Never trust anyone completely and study everyone, in- cluding friends and loved ones. Finally, you must learn always to take the indirect route to power. Dis- guise 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 ob vious way. By training yourself to be indirect, you can thrive in the modern court, appearing the paragon of decency while being the consummate ma- nipulator. Consider The 48 Laws ofPower a kind of handbook on the arts of indirec» tion. 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 dis» parate 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 accu- mulated wisdom, gathered from the writings of the most illustrious strate gists (Sun-tzu, Clausewitz), statesmen (Bismarck, Talleyrand), courtiers (Castiglione, Gracién), seducers (Ninon de Lenclos, Casanova), and con artists (“Yellow Kid” Weil) in history. The laws have a simple premise: Certain actions almost always in- crease 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. T7ze 48 Laws ofPower can be used in several ways. By reading the book straight through you can learn 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 con- trol over your immediate affairs. A thorough reading of the book will in» spire 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 your 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 enter- tainrnent. 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 tum back. Power is endlessly seductive and deceptive in its own way. It is a 1abyrinth—your mind becomes con- sumed with solving ifs infinite problems, and you soon realize how pleas- antly 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 look- ing for a good time. Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good. Hence :2 prince who wants to keep his authority must [mm how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or rgfiain wing it, as necessity requires. THE PRINCE, Niu.-011) Machiavelli, 7469- 7527 PREFACE cmciii

LAW I¢E\/EI{()[TTSI{IDJE 'TIIE B4AiYFEI{ JUDGMENT Always make those shave yau feel comfartably superior In your desim to ptease and impress them, do not go too far in dispfaying your talents or you might accomplish the o[)posite——inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights ofpowen

9 LAW 1 TRANSCRESSION 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 mim's— ter, 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 ingraliate himself with the king by staging the most spec- tacular party the world had ever seen. The party’s ostensible purpose would be to commemorate the completion of Fouquet’s chateau, Vaux—le- Vicomte, 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 Iime—La Fontaine, La Rochefoucauld, Madame de Sévigné— attended the party. Moliere wrote a play for the occasion, in which he himself was to perform at the evening’s conclusion. The party began with a lavish seven—course dinner, featuring foods from the Orient never be- fore tasted in France, as well as new dishes created especially for the night. The meal was accompanied with music commissioned by Fouquet to honor the king. After dinner there was a promenade through the chateau’s gardens. The grounds and fountains of Vaux—le»Vicomte were to be the inspiration for Versailles. Fouquet personally accompanied the young king through the geomet- rically aligned arrangements of shrubbery and flower beds. Arriving at the gardens’ canals, they witnessed a fireworks display, which was followed by the performance of Moliere’s play. The party ran well 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’Artagna.n. 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 kings 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 soli- tary confinement. Interpretation Louis XIV, 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 out- done in lavishness by anyone, and certainly not his finance minister. To succeed Fouquet, Louis chose _]ean—Baptiste Colbert, a man famous for his parsimony and for giving the dullest 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 pre- sented 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 him back in the king’s favor, he thought it would show his good taste, his connections, and his popularity, making him 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 himself, and that Fouquet was actually flauming his wealth and power. Rather than flattering Louis XXV, 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 himself of a man who had inadvertently made him 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 him doubt his pro eminence. When the wming began, Fouquet was at the to}: of the world. By the time it had ended, he was at the bottom. Voltaire, 16.944 778 OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW In the early 1600s, the Italian astronomer and mathematician Galileo found himself 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 militaiy 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 him with gifts, not cash. This made for a life of constant insecurity and depen- dence. There must be an easier way, he thought. Galileo hit on a new strategy in l6l0, 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 turned his discovery of _]upiter’s moons into a cosmic event LAW 1 33

-1’ , LAW] honoring the Medicis’ greatness. Shortly after the discovery, he announced that “the bright stars [the moons ofjupiterl offered themselves in the heav~ ens” 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 II had three brothers) and that the moons orbitecl 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 representing Jupiter sitting on a cloud with the four stars circling about him, and presented this to Cosimo II as a symbol of his link to the stars. In 1610 Cosimo II made Galileo his official court philosopher and mathematician, with a full salary. For a scientist this was the coup of a life» time. 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 tmth or the latest inven~ tion; they care about their name and their glory. Galileo gave the Medicis infinitely more glory by linking their name with cosmic forces them 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 intellec- tual 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 pro~ duoed in his name. Instead of insecurity you must give him glory. Galileo did not challenge the intellectual authority of the Medicis with his discov~ ery, 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. When you show yourself in the world and dis- play your talents, you naturally stir up all kinds of resentment, 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: When it comes to power, outshining the master is perhaps the worst mistake 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 your 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 tmth, but will find an excuse to rid himself of your presence. This Law involves two rules that you must realize, First, you can inad- vertently outshine a master simply by being yourself. There are masters who are more insecure than others, nronstrously insecure; you may natu- rally outshine them by your 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. When the city surrendered, the citizens expected the worst from the cruel Borgia, who, however, decided to spare the town: He simply occupied its fortress, exe- cuted 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 some sort of tmmped~up charge of treason and conspiracy, but the real problem was that he was notoriously vain and insecure. The young man was outshining him without even trying. Given Manfredi’s natural talents, the prince’s mere presence made Borgia seem less attractive and charis- matic. The lesson is simple: If you cannot help being charming and supe~ not, you must learn to avoid sud: 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-sixteentbcenturyjapan, the favorite of Emperor Hideyoshi was a man called Sen no Rikyu. The premier artist of the tea ceremony, which had be- come 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 him 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 himself wearing san- dals (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 roy- alty who often would pass by. To Hidcyoshi this signified that Rikyu had no sense of limits. Presurning that he had the same rights as those of the highest nobility, he had forgotten that his position depended on the em» peror, and had come to believe that he had earned it on his own. This was LAW 1

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 him 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 of his experi- ence may direct rancor and ill will at you instead. If your ideas are more creative than your master’s, ascribe them to him, 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 him appear cold and surly by comparison. Tone down your humor if necessary, and find ways to make him seem the dis- penser 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 every- one revolves, radiating power and brilliance, the center of attention. If you are thrust into the position of entertaining him, a display of your limited means may win you his sympathy. Any attempt to impress him 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 Stars in the Sky. There can be only one sun at a time. Never obscure the sunlight, or rival the sun's brilliance‘, rather, fade into the sky and find ways to heighten the master star’s intensity.

Authority: Avoid outsliining 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 Leach us-—--they may be related to the sun, and just as brilliant, but they never appear in her company. (Baltasar Grzutifm, llilll-I658} REVERSAI. You cannot worry about upsetting every person you come across, but you must be selectively cruel. If your superior is a falling star, there is nothing to fear from outshining him. 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: Outclo, outchann, outsmart him 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 might appear cruel or spiteful. But if your master is firm in his position, yet you know yourself to be the more capable, hide 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 someday outshine him. LAW 1 z

LAW NEVER PUT TOO MUCH TRUST IN FRIENDS, LEARN HOW TO USE ENEMIES JUD G M E NT Be wary zyffn'emds-they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also became spaileri and tyrannical. But hive afmmer enemy and he will be mofre loyal than a fiimd, because he has more to pmve. In fact, you have mam tofearfmmfviemls than fivm en— emies. Ifyou have no emmnies, find a may to make them.

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW In the mid—ninth century A.l.)., 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 mur- dered; at the head of the conspiracy to depose Theodora and enthrone Michael had been Michael’s uncle, Bardas, a man of intelligence and a:mbi~ tion. Michael was now a young, inexperienced ruler, surrounded by in» triguers, murderers, and profligates. In this time of peril he needed someone he could trust as his councillor, and his thoughts turned to Basil~ ius, his best friend. Basilius had no experience whatsoever in government and politics——-in fact, he was the head of the royal stables——buI 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 gmom’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. Basil- ius was sent to the finest school in Byzantium, and the crude peasant be— came 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 him everything? Basilius could be trained for the job and Michael loved him like a brother. Ignoring the advice of those who recommended the much more qualified Bardas, Michael chose his friend. Basilius learned well and was soon 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 him avari- cious for the perks of power. Michael doubled, then tripled his salary, en- nobled him, and married him 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 mat the man was hopelessly ambitious. Under the illusion that he could control his nephew, Bardas had conspired to put him on the throne, and he could conspire again, this time to get rid of Michael and assume the crown himself. Basilius poured poison into Michael’s ear until the emperor agreed to have his uncle murdered. During a great horse race, Basilius closed in on Bardas in the crowd and stabbed him to death. Soon 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 him 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 /rierld.' He knows where to mike. DIANE DE Pomrns, l499~»l566, Mismess or HENRI II or Fnawcr, Every mm: I bestow a vacant ajffice :7 make 52 hundred discontented persons and one ingraze. LOUIS XIV, 1638-1715 Thus for my own part I have more than omze been (leroived by the person I loved moss and of whose love. above‘ everyone else Cr, I have been most r:/on}? denr. So that I believe that it may be/viggizt to love arzd¥€efi‘/re one person above all others, according to merit and worth. but never to trust .\'0 much in this tempting trap of/'n'eml- ship as to have cause to repent of it later an. BALDASSARF, CASTIGLIONE, 1*-178452‘) LAW 2 9

rt |'| Ha >.\,\|\l2 |‘l ll-. \l{Mlxlt. »\\l)‘l‘Hl“ é€|<1R()\ /\ make chased by Imnteris as/(ed a furrrwr In lave ifs life. To hide it from its pur.\'uer.\; the finmer .aqna£te(l amt lei (hr Snake crawl inn) his belly Bu! when the tlangttr had pasxswl and the [unuer cwketl the snake to coma out. zhe xnake rrfusml. Ir was warm and safiz inside. On his way harm», the /7um saw a heron and worn‘ up :0 him and whispered what had huppemerl. Tim heron told him to mud: and smzin to eject the make. When the snake snm;k its head (ml, the heron caughl it. pulled it our, and killed it. The former was worried that the m akfs polxrzn Inighl will be inside him, and the heron told him (ha! the Lure for snakz’ poison was to cook and eat sit white fowl. “ You ‘re (1 while fowl, " .\'(Ii(l Y h a farmer. "You'll do far a start. ” He grabbed the’ heron. put it in at bag, h 0 and carried it me, where he hung 2'! up while he told his wife whal had happened. "I'm surprised at you, " suit! the wife. "The hird timer you a kimlrms‘. rizls you ofthv evil in your belly, .save.\‘ your Ilia in fact, yet you (arch if tmcl talk of killing it." She immedi- ate!)J releaxetl the henm, and it flew 3 ul 0 away. n its way, it gouged out her eyes. M0 7 at‘; When you .\'(’(:' water / l 0 w i n g 1: phiI l, it m€u!’LS‘ 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 himself. A few weeks later, after a night of heavy drinking, Michael awoke to find himself surrounded by soldiers. Basilius watched as they stabbed the emperor to death. Then, after pro- claiming himself emperor, he rode his horse through the streets of Byzan- tium, brandishing the head of his former benefactor and best friend at the end of a long pike. Interpretation Michael III staked his future on the sense of gratitude he thought Basilius must feel for him. Surely Basilius would serve him best; he owed the em- peror his wealth, his education, and his position. Then, once Basilius was in power, anything he needed it was best to give to him, strengthening the bonds between the two men. It was only on the fateful day when the em- peror 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 felt encumbered by the charity he had received and simply did what many people do in such a situation: They forget the favors they have re- ceived and imagine they have earned 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 be— Iieves a friend can betray. And Michael went on disbelieving until the day his head ended up on a pike. Lord, protect mefrum my friends;I can take care qf my enemies. Volmlre, 1694-1778 OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW For several centuries after the fall of the Han Dynasty {A.D. 222}, Chinese his- tory 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 him on the Dragon Throne with a strong general. The general would start a new dynasty and crown himself 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 him or his sons in their turn. To be emperor of China was to be alone, surrounded 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 adds, the probability that within a year or two he would be mur- dered; 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. After they had drunk much wine, he somcrmc is repaying or kirzrlnmzxt AFRICAN /-‘oz./4 1;: LE

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 subor- dinates, seeking wealth and position, were to force the emperor’s yellow robe upon you in turn, how could you refuse it?” Drunk and tearing 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 en~ joyment of riches and honor. If you are willing to give up your commands, I am ready to provide you with line 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 him, into a group of docile lambs, fax from all power. Over the next few years Sung continued his campaign to secure his rule. In A.D. 971, King Lin of the Southern Han finally surrendered to him after years of rebellion. To Liu’s astonishment, Sung gave him a rank in the imperial court and invited him to the palace to seal their newfound friend- ship with wine. As King Liu took the glass that Sung offered him, he hesi- tated, 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. In- deed I dare not drink this wine.” Emperor Sung laughed, took the glass from Lin, and swallowed it himself. There was no poison. From then on Liu became his most 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 ad- vised the emperor to lock this rebel up. They presented documents prov- ing that he was still conspiring to kill Sung. When Ch’ien Shu came to visit the emperor, however, instead of locking him up, Sung honored him. He also gave him a package, which he told the former king to open when he was halfway home. Ch’ien Shu opened the bundle on his return journey and saw that it contained all the papers documenting his conspiracy. He re- alized that Sung knew of his murderous plans, yet had spared him nonethe- less. This generosity won him 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 him up like meat, and if he some- how survived, his “friends” in the government would have him for supper. '1‘/iere are rmmy who think zlzerefizre thzu a wise prince ought, when he has the chance, 10 form-m astzarely some cnmizy, so that by rlcpprmirirzg it he willu1:gn1mtl1is' _ur4m(nm-.s‘. f’rin«'ex, and espwizzlly new ones, have found more fair/1 and more uxejiilmzss in those men. whom :11 the bcgimiing of their power they regarded with ruspicimi. than in those they tztfirsl confided in. Pandolfo }’c'lru<::'i, primte nf Stems. gm-‘Billed his State more by Iiwse it-liom he sltspecrezi [Iran by oilzers. Nxcrtnt) NlACHl.-\\‘l;‘LLL ls:l6‘J- ) 527 A brahmzm. a great expert in Veda who has become a great archer as well, offers his .s‘t?rL'It'(,'.\' Ir) Iris grmrl frimd, who is now the king. The hruhrn/In tries am when he sees I/14’ king, "kemgnize me, yu1u'V/"/'z'cm1.r"’T/u’ king atzswers /rim with comempt and than t'.\‘[)1l1iI1S."‘YL'.V, we wcna fricm1.\' Iznfrme, but our friewzis/1/p war based [NZ lvlltll [1(7Mv’6’)' WP had. . . . I w:1rfrie'nzI.s' with van. good hmhnmn. hecttmsv it served my purpose. No pauper is friend to the rich. no fool to the wisr. no rmvzml to rim LAW 2 II

brave. An, Old friim/I-— who needs him? It is two men ofeqnal wealth and equal birth who rmi1racrfrier1d- ship and marriage, not (1 rich man and (I pauper. . . ./in old friend—- who needs him? ‘i Hi-, MAHABH.IxRA’lA, I". rnum L:«_=N'r1;RY ac. Pick up n beefrom klIH]I1E‘S,\‘, and learn (he liIm'ruIlrm.i u/‘kindmzws. SIIH PR()VEl{l.i M(III are mun! remly ll) repay an injury than a bz:ru:j7‘t, Iwmme grilli- tude is £1‘ burden and revenge it pleasme. T.-ugnus, c. An 55-420 1.‘) 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 ex- pects more and more favors, and seethes with jealousy, these former £:ne~ mies expected nothing and got everything. A man suddenly spared the guillotine is a grateful man indeed, and will go to the ends of the earth for the man who has pardoned him. 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 delivererl at the height of the (Ii:/il War, he referred to the Southerners as _ fellow human beings who were in error. An elderly lady chastised himfor not calling them irremncilable enemies who must be destroyed. “Why, madam,”L2'ncoln replied, “do I not destroy my enemies when I make them myfr2Tends?” KEYS TO POWER It is natural to want to employ your friends when you find yourselfin times of need. The world is a harsh place, and your friends soften the harshness. Besides, you know them. ‘Why depend on a stronger when you have a friend at hand? The problem is that you often do not know your friends as well as you imagine. Friends often agree on things in order to avoid an argument. They cover up their unpleasant qualifies so as to not offend each other. They laugh extra hard at each other’s jokes. Since honesty rarely strength- ens friendship, you may never know how a friend tmly 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 deserve their good for- tune. The receipt of a favor can become oppressive: It means you have been chosen because you are a friend, not necessarily because you are do serving. 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 along and deep history. It has demonstrated its powers

for so many centuries, that it is truly amazing that people continue to un derestimate 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 feel- ings. (Michael Ill had a man right under his nose who would have steered him right and kept him 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 ob scores 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 skilled and competent. Your enemies, on the other hand, are an untapped gold mine that you must learn to exploit. When Talleyrancl, Napc-leon’s foreign minister, de- cided in 1807 that his boss was leading France to ruin, and the time had come to turn against him, 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 Fouché, head of the secret police, his most hated enemy, a man who had even tried to have him assassinated. He knew that their former hatred would create an opportunity for an emo~ tional reconciliation. He knew that Fouché would expect nothing from him, and in fact would work to prove that he was worthy of Talleyra.nd’s choice; a person who has something to prove will move mountains for you. Finally, he knew that his relationship with Fouché would be based on mu- tual selfiinterest, and would not be contaminated by personal feeling. The selection proved perfect; although the conspirators did not succeed in top- pling Napoleon, the union of such powerful but unlikely partners gener- ated much interest in the cause; opposition to the emperor slowly began to spread. And from then on, Talleyi-and and Fouché had a. fruitful working relationship. Whenever you can, bury the hatchet with an enemy, and make a point of putting him in your service. V As Lincoln said, you destroy an enemy when you make a friend of him. 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 him some “Kidnap Kissinger” but» tons and one of them remained a friend of his for years, visiting him on several occasions. This was not just 8. onetime ploy: Kissinger made a pol- icy of working with those who disagreed with him. 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, l‘li()l‘l'l'l\A'» l\l\' til If I'.\l.\1||2$ King Iliero clumceri upon it time. .vpeakin_;,r with one ()f]‘1tS enemies. to be told in a rrproacliful rmzrzrmr that he had stinking brculli. lrV/wrc’upon the good kmg, bring some- whrzz di.9:rza_wd in Izim.ve‘I/I as soon as he mtlrrnmi hanw chided his wife, “How does it Imppm Ihm you never told me 0/‘this pm!» (em?" The wonum. bring a simple. chrlsir, um! hrrwnivss rlame, Said. “Sir, I /um’ thought all max k lmazniz imri smaller! so." Thus it is plain that faults that are evzdml lo the senses. gross‘ and corpu/'u!, or otherwise noiorrous tn the world. we know by our e'm°mim Sooner than by um'frieml.s and familiar; PLUTARCII. c. A.I). 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, i.nte.rrupi:i:ug the aim‘! war between Mods Com- munists 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, aJapanese visitor tried to apologize to Mao for his coun- try’s invasion of China. Mao interrupted, “Should I not thank you in» stead?” 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 ene- mies, you must sometimes set up a convenient target, even turning 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 Chi.na’s dis agreements with the Soviet Union and the United 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 surefoobed fighter who can be relied upon in times of uncertainty.

Image: The jaws of Ingrzttitude. Knowing what would happen if you put a finger in the mouth of a lion, you would stay clear of it. VVith friends you will have no such caution, and if you hire them, they will eat you alive with ingratitude. A u t h o r i ty : Know how to use enemies for your own profit. You must learn to grab at sword not by its blade, which would cut you, but by the handle, which allows you to defend yourself. The wise man profits more from his enemies, than a fool from his friends. (BaltasarGraciz'1n, 1 6 0 1— 1 6 5 8) REVE RSA L 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 afiection for him makes them willing to take chances. Also, if your 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 closest 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 close to you but not too close. Finally, the problem about 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 em- ployed to great effect. You must never let your guard down in such a ven- ture, 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 closest of friends can be transformed into the worst of enernies. LAW 2 15

16 LAW CONCEAL YOUR INTENTIONS JUD G M E NT Keep people ojfbalancc and in the dark by never reveal- ing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepmzz cl defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, mzrelop them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your inten- tions, it will be too late.

PART I: USE DECOYED OBJECTS OF DESIRE AND RED HERRINGS TO THROW PEOPLE OFF THE SCENT Ifat any point in the deception you practice people have the slightest suspi- eion as to your intentions, all is lost. Do not give them the chance to sense what you are up to: Throw them off the seen! by dragging ml herrings across the path. Use false sincerity, send ambiguous signals, set up mis— leading objects 0}’ desire. Unable to distinguish the genuine fmm thefalse, thrgr ccmnat pick out your veal goal. TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW Over several weeks, Ninon de Lenclos, the most infamous courtesan of seventeentlrcentury France, listened patiently as the Marquis de Sevigné explained his struggles in pursuing a beautiful but 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, but hope lessly inexperienced in romance. At first Ninon was amused to hear the marquis talk about his mistakes, but finally she had had enough. Unable to bear 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 understand that this was war, and that the beautiful countess was {citadel to which he had to lay siege as carefully as any general. Every step had to be planned and exe- cuted with the utmost attention to detail and nuance. Instructing the marquis to start over, Ninon told him to approach the countess with a bit 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 but notva 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 be time to make her jealous. At the next encounter, at a major féte in Paris, the marquis would show up with a beautiful young woman at his side. This beautiful young woman had equally beautiful friends, so that wherever the countess would now see the marquis, he would be surrounded by the most stunning young women in Paris. Not only would the countess be seething with jealousy, she would come to see the marquis as someone who was de- sired by others. It was hard for Ninon to make the marquis understand, but she patiently explained that a woman who is interested in a man wants to see that other women are interested in him, too. 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 but intrigued, it would be time to be- guile her. On Ninon’s instructions, the marquis would fail to show up at af- fairs where the countess expected to see him. Then, suddenly, he would appear at salons he had never frequented before, but that the countess at- LAW 3 I7

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 sum cessful seduction. These moves were executed, and took several weeks. Ninon moni- tored the marquis’s progress: Through her network of spies, she heard how the countess would laugh a little harder at his witticisms, listen more closely to his stories. She heard that the countess was suddenly asking ques- tions about him. Her friends told her that at social affairs the countess would often look up at the marquis, following his steps. Ninon felt 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 home. They were alone. Suddenly he was a different man: This time acting on his own im— pulse, 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, 3 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 goodnight to him. The next few times he visited he was told she was not at home. When she finally admitted him again, the two felt awkward and uncomfortable with each other. The spell was broken. Interpretation Ninon de Lenclos knew everything about the art of love. The greatest writ- ers, thinkers, and politicians of the time had been her lovers——men like La Rochefoucauld, Moliére, and Richelieu. Seduction was a game to her, to be practiced with skill. As she got older, and her reputation grew, the most im~ portant 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 feel- ing of being led along. It is a pleasure to let go, and to allow the other per- son to detour you into a strange country. Everything in seduction, however, depends on suggestion. You cannot announce your intentions or reveal them directly in words. Instead you must throw your targets off the scent. To surrender to your guidance they must be appropriately confused. You have to scramble your signals——~appea.r 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 be-tier than the boredom of security. Perhaps the marquis had ulterior 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 felt embarrassed and used. A door closed that would never open again. Do not be held a cheat, even though 2'! is impossible to live today without being one. Let your greatest cunning lie in covering up what looks like cunning. l:ia.lm.s'm (}rzu‘iz1u., I 6 /)1 I6 58 OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW In 1850 the young Otto von Bismarck, then a thirty—five—yearvold 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 P:ussia’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 unifica- tion, of going to war against Austria and humiliating the country that for so long had kept Germany divided. A former soldier, he saw warfare as a glo- rious 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 with- out 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 wa.r——what could this possibly mean? Other deputies were confused, and several of them changed their votes. Eventually the king and his minis- ters won out, and war was averted. A few weeks after Bisma.rck’s infamous speech, the king, grateful that LAW 3 19

20 LAW 3 he had spoken for peace, made him a cabinet minister. A few years later he became the Prussian premier. In this role he eventually led his country and a. peace-loving king into a war against Austria, crushing the former empire and establishing a German state, with Prussia at its head. lnterpretation 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 well 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 cletested, 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 him a minister, at 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 unifica» tion 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, how- ever, he deceived everyone, concealed his purpose, and attained every- thing he wanted. Such is the power of hiding your intentions. KEYS TO POWER Most people are open books. They say what they feel, blurt out their opin- ions 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 instru- ment, 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 tmth about human nature: Our first instinct is to always trust ap- pearances. We cannot go around doubting the reality of what we see and hear—-constantly imagining that appearances concealed something else would exhaust and terrify us. 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 focus on the decoy, they will fail to notice what you are really up to. In seduction, set up conflictinghsignals, such as desire and indiiference, 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 some- thing in which you are actually not at all interested and your enemies will be thrown oil the scent. making all kinds of errors in their calculations. During the War of the Spanish Succession in 1711, the Duke of Marl- borough, head of the English army, wanted to destroy a key French fort, because it protected a vital thoroughfare into France. Yet he knew that if be 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 own. The French attacked the fort and the duke let them recapture 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 tactic in the following manner: Hide your intentions not by closing up (with the risk of appearing secretive, and making people suspi- cious) but by talking endlessly about your desires and goals—~just not your real ones. You will kill three birds with one stone: You appear friendly, open, and trusting; you conceal your intentions; and you send your rivals on timeconsuming wild~goose chases. Another powerful tool in throwing people oh’ the scent is false sincer- ity. People easily mjstake sincerity for honesty. Remember-their first in stinct is to trust appearances, and since they value honesty and want to believe in the honesty of those around them, they will rarely doubt you or see through your act. 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 concerns about Desde— rnona’s supposed infidelity, how could Othello distrust him? This is also how the great con artist Yellow Kid Weil pulled the wool over suckers’ eyes: Seeming to believe so deeply in the decayed object he was dangling LAW 3 ,2]

22 f 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. Sin~ cexity is a tricky tool: Appear overpassionate and you raise suspicions. Be measured and believable or your ruse will seem the put-on that it is. To make your false sincerity an effective weapon in concealing your intentions, espouse a belief in honesty and fertlirightness as important so- cial 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"; 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. Remember: The best deceivers do everything they can to cloak their {roguish qualities. They cultivate an air of honesty in one area to disguise their dishonesty in others. Honesty is merely another decoy in their arsenal of weapons. 1 r I5.-

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 peoples attention from your real purpose. The bland exterior—like the unreadable pokerface——is often the perfect smoke screen, hidingyour intentions behind the comfortable andfamiliar Ifyou lead the sucker down a familiarpath, 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 named Joseph 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 busi- nessman like Geezil was curious as to how Weil would be able to come up with so much cash (roughly $150,000 today) so quickly. Wei] seemed reluc- tant to say, and quickly changed the subject, but Geezil was persistent. Fi- nally, after assurances of confidentiality, Weil told Geezil the following story. Weil’s uncle was the secretary to a coterie of multimillionaire fi- nanciers. 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 sell 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 sell the property for $35,000 to a set- up 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 sell 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 him, but Geezil would not back dovmz The idea of a large profit, plus a little adventure, had him champing at the bit. Weil ex- plained 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—a.n impressive .||'Jlll . KIM? HI‘ lHIt.v\|"|,. Fl-'_l(l\.'* \l()RHll||’ (ll~ '|'l|I} ll)()l. liN\I. Then Jehu assembled all the people, and said (0 them, “Ahab .\'erw¢a' Ba ‘til a little: bm.lelzu will serve him much nwre. Now therefore call to me all the prophets 0fBa’al, all his wars/rippers will all his pri:?s1.\; let mme he mis.ring,f0r1 have a great mcrrifice to offer /0 Ba’ul; whoever is missing shall not live." Bu! Jehu did it with rmming in unler to destroy the worship- pers of Ba 'al. Am] Jehu orderell. “Sanctify a solemn as'seml>ly for Ba ’al. So they procluinzerl it. And Jehu sen! throughout all Israel: and all the worshippers 0fBzI "al mine, so that there was not a more left who (llll not come. Ami they entered the house of Ba’al. and the lmusc of Ba '41! was filled from one end to the otlmr.. . . Then Jehu went into Ihe house ofBa'al. . . and he Stlitl m the worshippers of 8u’al, “Search, and see that there is no servant uftlze LORD here LAW :4 23

rmumg you, but only flu’ ivurshipperx of Ba’u[,” Then he went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offeringx. Now Jeim had stationed eight; man outside, and said,“ The man who allows any of those whom [give into your hands to escape shall forfezt his life."‘ So as soon as he had made an and ofoffcring the burnt offering, Jehu mill to Ihe guard and to the officers, “Go in and slay rhem;le1 not a man escape.” So when they put them In the .s'word, Ihe guard and the officer: cast them um and went into the inner mom oflhe house of 81111! and they brought nm the pillar that war in the house of li’a'al and burned it Ami they demolished the pillar of Ba-’al arul deniolixired the house of Ba 11!, and made it (1 [amine to this day. Thus Jclxu wiped mu Ba ‘:11 from Israel. OLD TESTAMENT. 2 KINGS 10:18-28 24 Law :1 man, with whom he avidly discussed business. Weil also brought along a companion, a somewhat paundiy man named George Gross. Weil ex- plained to Geezil that he himself was a boxing trainer, that Gross was one of the promising piizefighters 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 about 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. Dis- tracted 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, intimidat ing gmup of men, all wearing fancy suits. The meeting went well and the fi- nanciers 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 ‘f]. P. Mor~ gain” 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 fi- nanciers discovered this, the uncle would be fired. Weil apologized for get» ting him 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 him. With their own $15,000 and Geezil’s $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. Well handled the cash, which was placed for security in a locked box. Everything was pro» ceeding 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 li- nai1cier’s fighter hit Gross hard in the face, knocking him 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 arrived-— they could all be charged with murder. Terrified, Geezil hightailed it out of the gym and back to Chicago, leav- ing 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 fi- nanciers and the boxers (all fellow con a:u'sts)—a nice little profit for a few days’ work. Interpretation The Yellow Kid had staked out Geezil as the perfect sucker long before he set up the con. He knew the boxingmatch 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 com- pletely 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, Gee-zil’s attention was easily di— verted to the boxing match, but only at a point when it was already too late for him 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 condi~ lion. And Geezil was so distracted at the end by the illusion ofthe 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 ordi~ nary enough—a business deal, financial intrigue. The sucker’s mind is dis tracted, his suspicions allayed. That is when you gently guide him onto the second path, the slippery slope down which he slides helplessly into your trap. OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW II In the mid-1920s, the powerful warlords of Ethiopia were coming to the re- alization 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 proclaim himself 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 ?:l:\llAI\' :\tIIi‘}SS THE (N l‘Ll\.\ l\ BROAD I)-’\\‘l.l(;llT This means to create :1 from that eventually becomes imbued with flil fl[VflDSfl/IE7? 0! irrtpresxian nffamilizzb ily, within which the strategist may mcmeu- ver unseen while all eyes are trained to sea obn'mrs faniiliarities. “’l‘!ilE 'mmTv-six sTR;n'r.Gn-5.“ QUOTET) rs TH]: JAPANESE ARI‘ Ul“ WAR. THOMAS Crmsv, 1991

26 LAW 3 1927, Selassie was able to summon the warlords, one at a time, to come to Amldis Ababa to declare their loyalty and recognize him 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 point- edly 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 himself, perhaps even start a civil war. Stationing this formidable force in a valley three miles from the capital, he waited, as a king would. Selassie would have to come to him. Selassie did indeed send emissaries, asking Balcha to attend an after» noon 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 him 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 b0dyguaId—-500 of his best soldiers, all armed and ready to defend him 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 charming best. He deferred to Balcha, treated him as if he desper- ately 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 Sidarno. It seemed to Balcha that Se» lassie was scared, intimidated by this great warrior who could not be out- wittecl. 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 amidst 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 his 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 magic 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 en- campment by a side route he had not seen. This army had not come to light, however: Knowing that Balcha would /have 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 surrounded Balcha’s army and proceeded to purchase every last one of their weapons. Those who re» fused 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 sol- diers 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 Selassie had set a large army to defend it. Like a chess player, he had predicted Balcha’s moves, and had checkmatecl him. For the first time in his life, Balcha sur- rendered. 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 him out. Ethiopians like their leaders fierce, but Selassie, who wore the front of a gentle, peaceloving 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 him top billing there, making him feel in contro1—-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 gesture, or one that implies the other persorfs supen‘ority——these are perfect diversionary devices. Properly set up, the smoke screen is a weapon of great power. It en- abled the gentle Selassie to totally destroy his enemy, without firing a single bullet. Do not underestimate the power of Tafari. He creefis like a mouse but he has jaws like a lion. fimlrim n/‘Sidmn.o’.s last ruarzls’ be/ima erztmzivcg the z:rnn.a.stary 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 gestures immediately raise suspicion. In- stead, they envelop their marlc in the familiar, the banal, the ha.rmless. In Yellow Kid Weil’s dealings with Sam Geezil, the familiar was a business deal. In the Ethiopian case, it was Selassie’s misleading obsequiousness— exactly what'Balcha. would have expected from a weaker warlord. LAW 3 27

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 per~ son 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 vic- tims, 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 per- fect. It was said that no one could read Franklin D. Roosevelfs face. Baron james Rothschild made a lifelong practice of disguising his real thoughts be hind bland smiles and nondescript looks. Stendhal wrote of Talleyrand, “Never was a face less of a barometer.” Henry Kissinger would bore his op— ponents 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 off» guard, 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 num- ber 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 dealerjoseph Duveen was once confronted with a terrible prob- lem. 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 ofa se ries of actions that seduce the victim into believing you will continue in the same way. The pattern plays on the psychology of anticipation: Our behav~ ior 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 him out to shut him 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 him 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. Anotlier psychological weakness on which to construct a smoke screen is the tendency to mistake appearances for reality-——the feeling that if some- one 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 sim« ply blend in with those around you. The better you blend, the less suspi- cious 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 lit the oldvboy network perfectly. Blend~ ing in is the perfect smoke screen for spying. The better you do it, the bet- ter 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 rnask~—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 pass 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 walk like people whose designs are not known except by the ravaged coun— try through which they have passed. (Ninon cle Lenclos, 16234706) LAW 3 $29

30 LAW 3 REVERSAL No smoke screen, red herring, false sincerity, or any other diversionary de- vice will succeed in concealing your intentions if you already have an es- tablished reputation for deception. And as you get older and achieve success, it often becomes increasingly difficult to disguise your cunning. Everyone knows you practice deception; persist in playing naive and you run the risk of seeming the rankest hypocrite, which will severely limit your room to maneuver. In such cases it is better to own up, to appear the honest rogue, or, better, the repentant rogue. Not only will you be admired for your frankness, but, most wonderful and strange of all, you will be able to continue your stratagems. As P. T. Barnum, the nineteenth-century king of humbuggery, grew older, he learned to embrace his reputation as a grand deceiver. At one point he organized a buffalo hunt in New jersey, complete with Indians and a few imported buffalo. He publicized the hunt as genuine, but it came off as so completely fake that the crowd, instead of getting angry and ask- ing for their money back, was greatly amused. They knew Barnum pulled t:ricks all the time; that was the secret of his success, and they loved him for it. Learning a lesson from this affair, Barnum stopped concealing all of his devices, even revealing his deceptions in a tell—all autobiography. As Kierkegaard wrote, “The world wants to be deceived.” Finally, although it is wiser to divert attention from your purposes by presenting a bland, familiar exterior, there are times when the colorful, conspicuous gesture is the right diversionary tactic. The great charlatan mountebanks of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe used humor and entertainment to deceive their audiences. Dazzled by a great show, the public would not notice the charlatans’ real intentions. Thus the star charla- tan himself would appear in town in a night-black coach drawn by black horses. Clowns, tightrope walkers, and star entertainers would accompany him, pulling people in to his demonstrations of elixirs and quack potions. The charlatan made entertainment seem like the business of the day; the business of the day was actually the sale of the elixirs and quack potions. Spectacle and entertainment, clearly, are excellent devices to conceal your intentions, but they cannot be used indefinitely. The public grows tired and suspicious, and eventually catches on to the trick. And indeed the charlatans had to move quickly from town to town, before word spread that the potions were useless and the entertainment a trick. Powerful peo- ple with bland exteriors, on the other hand—the Talleyrands, the Roth- schilds, the Selassies—can practice their deceptions in the same place throughout their lifetimes. Their act never wears thin, and rarely causes suspicion. The colorful smoke screen should be used cautiously, then, and only when the occasion is right.

LAW ALWAYS SAY LESS THAN NECESSARY _j UDGMENT When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the move common you appear and the less in control. Even you are saying something banal, it will seem miginal you make it vague, open—ended, and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by \ saying less. The more you say, the more likely you me to say somethingfoolish.

Down, on his luck, [the S(3l‘e(?flWflf(<‘Y] Mirrhuel Arlm wmt to /Vow York in 1944. T2) drown l1is.s'¢2rrow.s‘ he paid 11 VlSlI to the famous restaurant “2I." In the lobby, he ran into Sam Goldwyn, who offered Ihc somewhat impracti- cal advice that he should buy mcelzorsex A! the box./irien met Louis 8. Mayer. an old acquaintance, who asked him what were his plans for the future. ‘‘I was just talking to Sam Goldwyn. . began Arlen. "How much did he offer you?" ziiterruptcd Mayer. “Not enough," he replied evusively. “Would you take fifteen ihousami for thirty wt-ek5?”uskcd Mayer. No hesitation this time. “Yes" said Arlen. rm: urns, snows 300K or ANF.(‘D(}TES. CLIFTON FADIMAN. Fan, 1985 Om’ oft-will tale about Kissinger . . . involved a report that l'Vimrtrm Lord had worked‘ on for days. Afiter giving it to Kissinger, he got it baclc with the notation, “Is this the best you can Ila?” Lord rowrote and polLx'l2ez1 and finally I’(<‘SMlNYliI!(¢(.l it,‘ back 11 came with the same curl question. After rellmfting it one more n'me—and once again getting 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 impor- tant 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. Candi— dates 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. Coriola.nus’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 citi- zens 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 accuser» tions against his opponents, and speculated on the riches he would bring to Rome. This time the people listened: They had not realized that this leg- endary 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. Some weeks later a large shipment of grain arrived in Rome. The senate was ready to distrib~ ute 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 distri- bution fell into doubt. Coiiolanus did not stop there: He went on to con— demo the concept of democracy itself. He advocated getting rid of the people’s represen!atives—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 do manded 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

him 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 angtier the people became. Finally they shouted him down and silenced him. The tribunes conferred, condemned Coriolanus to death, and ordered the magistrates to take him at once to the top of the Titrpeian rock and throw him over. The delighted crowd seconded the decision. The patri- cians, however, managed to intervene, and the sentence was commuted to a lifelong banishment. When the people found out that Rome’s great mili- tary hero would never retum to the city, they celebrated in the streets. In fact no one had ever seen web 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 him as a man of great brav- ery. Since the citizens knew little about him, all kinds of legends became at- tached 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 be lieve in their hero. The more Coriolanus said, the less powerful he ap- peared——-a person who cannot control his words shows that he cannot control himself, and is unworthy of respect. Had Coriolanus said less, the people would never have had cause to be offended by him, would never have known his true feelings. He would have maintained his powerful aura, would certainly have been elected con’ sul, 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. (lysters open completely when the moon is full; and when the crab sees one it throws a piece ofstone or seaweed into it and the IIy.§’lR‘V cannot close again so that it serves the crab for mmt. Such is the’fate ofhim who opens his mouth too much and thereby puts himselfat the mercy of the listener. I,Hmtz.2“(.ir9 {Ia Vina, 1452-£519 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 himself, who would decide what should be done. After these persons were chosen, question from Kissinger—— [nrd snapped. “Damn ii. yes its rim bar I can do. " To which Ki.\‘SlIlg¢','f replied: “Fina than I guess I'll read it this nrmr. " KISSINGER, \\«’m:rF,R ls,-1/tC$0N, 1992 The King ,‘1.nm'5 XIV] maintains the mar! impenetrable xecrrery about affairs of Salli’. The rninirlcrs utleml cmmcil nieclmgs, but he confides his plans to .'hem only when he has reflertiz/ti at length uprm them and has come to a zlefinizc dcnsimi, I with you might see the King. Hir BXpN.’.)'“ .\‘ion is inscmIaI.wle>; I1i.\' e_ve5' like lhosc of a fm-. He never dz'scus.s‘e.$ Slate affairs except with hI'.s- rliinisfers in (‘mm- cil. W/mu he speaks to courtiers he refers only to their respective przerogazives or dz¢Ii.2y. Even the most friw.» lous ofhir utI€n‘1rl(‘€.s‘ has the air ofheirzg the manozmcemenl of an anurle. YRIM‘. VlS(‘,()NTl. <>I.'m1=,n IN Louis xiv. Lot. is r«:Ri'i{A:~£r). 1928 LAW 4 3:3’

Umiuziful words ofa sI4b}er.'I (In often mks deeper I'()()l than the memory zwflll ileedv. . . The late Earl of Emex mlal Qzmerx E/izulmh that her co/zdilizms were as cznmkrd as her xx: but il ms: Izim his hmd, WhiL'h his‘ im'urrec(z’mz had 711)! ms! htfil but for that .\‘p(‘d(,'ll. car SIR WAl'I‘liR RA|,FI{jH. 1554--1618 34 LAW 4 everyone would argue some more: How should the issues he phrased? What would appeal to Louis, what would annoy him? At what fime 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 fateful moment would finally at» rive. The two men would approach Louis—always a delicate matterwand 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. Fi- nally, 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. lnterpretation Louis XIV was a man of very few words. His most famous remark is " ‘fiat, 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 talk- ing at length, delighting in his own eloquence. His later taciturnity was self- imposed, an act, a mask he used to keep everybody below him off-balance. No one knew exactly where he stood, or could predict his 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, in- formation 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 well as he how to sell 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 evm more damagingfor a minister to sayfoalish things than to do them. (Ianlimzl de Rm, 1613 1679 KEYS T0 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. Your silence will make other people uncomfortable. Humans are machines of interpretation and explanation; they have to know what you are think» ing. When you carefully control what you reveal, they cannot pierce your intentions or your meaning.

Your 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 home and ponder your every word. This extra attention to your 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 ap- pear. 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 your wishes, disobey you out of sheer perversity. He once told a friend, “I learned that you actu~ ally 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 profound behind his often meaningless phrases. Warhol rarely talked about his work; he let others do the interpreting. He claimed to have learned this technique from that mas- ter of enigma Marcel Duchamp, another twentieth-century artist who real- ized 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 dangerous. In 1825 a new czar, Nicholas 1, ascended the throne of Russia. A rebellion immediately broke out, led by liberals de- manding that the country modemize~—-that its industries and civil struc- tures 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 lows, the noose around his neck. The trapdoor opened~——~but as Ryleyev dangled, the rope broke, dashing him 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 rope!” A messenger immediately went to the Winter Palace with news of the failed hanging. Vexed by this disappointing turnabout, Nicholas 1 never- theless 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 mo- LAW 4 .75

36 LAW 4 mentary satisfaction you gain with your biting words will be outweighed by the price you pay. I m at g e 1 The Oracle at Delphi. When visitors consulted the Oracle, the priestess would utter a few enigmatic words that seemed full of meaning and import. No one disobeyed the words of the Oracle- they held power 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-feivtzu, 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. Si- lence 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 fool. Also. words can sometimes act as a kind of smoke screen for any de- ception 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 suspi- cious of you they become. The verbose are not perceived as sly and ma- nipulative 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 prac- tice deception with greater ease.

LAW SO MUCH DEPENDS ON RE PUTATION—GUARD IT WITH YOUR LIFE JUDGMENT Reputation is the camerstane afpowet: Tlmmgh reputw tion alone you can intimidate and win; once it slips, however, you (me vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your refiutatéon unassailable. Always be alert to poiential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhiie, leam to dastmy your enemies by opming lwles in their own rejmtaéiorzs. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them. 37

‘I Ill’. .\\|\| U .‘\ at |iH.K!:\ \\ (Tl! TH! l'l HA 1' A frig/1/ful ¢-/iidmm, SKIN To mrvh by llwwn [merit In rm! Its /‘ury an 41 smful worfd. In calf It by its rightful name. the [7(,’.8‘fi[(’Il(‘I{, That Arhermzfillirzg 2.-512! of vim:’cIz<:¢' Had Iallvn on every animal. Not all were (Ir.-art. but all lay near (0 dying», And nuns‘ was any I(7ngcr Irymg To find new fuel mflem‘ life '5 _flI'('kwzng fires: Nu fimds mciled their (im'zW.\',' No more [lid wnlvm and f(Jxé’.\‘ row In .wurrtI1 uflmrni/e.x.i, /w/piers: pray,‘ /X mi dove wtmi(I' not mnmr: will: tinvr. For low and joy lzuzl /lawn rm-av. Tlzr Lion axxtzriverl flu»- Lthnir tn my.‘ “Dear _frtcm1.\‘. I doubt not lfvfor heaven's Iiigh (‘mfg Thur on us .xinrwr.i' wm» mmtfull. Let him ofm who‘; .3iII!1('ll the mar! Full virrint II) the £Il‘E’HgiIIg /l('Ll V011,)’ hoxz, Ami mr1_v hr min .mIm— firm for 11,) all; For hiSI()ry truth ' that in riww 1 We must Inukr .s‘m‘r1:/i(1’.\‘. Ul1(1(ft‘€lW€(1 and .st<'rnA eyrri. 1:13‘ in.«'{2€cI Our L(H'I.s(.‘l£,‘!1(‘(’. Ax I re: ollccr. To put my ;:r:'rrI_v appetite In .s'1r><-p, I've hanqzwluzl my \‘ 38 , LAW5 OBSERVANCE OF THE LAWI During China’s War of the Three Kingdoms (A.D. 207—265), the great gen- eral Chuko Liang, leading the forces of the Sim Kingdom, dispatched his vast army to a distant camp while he rested in a small town with a handful of soldiers. Suddenly sentinels 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 him, 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 city gates, and hide. He himself then took a seat on the most visi- ble 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 ex- ploits in the War of the Three Kingdoms were legendary. Once a man claiming 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 of- fered to spare the man’s life if he agreed to become a double agent. Grate ful 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 docu- ments dispatching his enemy’s troops to distant locations. Once the troops had dispersed, he was able to capture three cities, 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 es- cape and join forces with Liang. The Sleeping Dragon carefully cultivated his reputation of being the cleverest 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 him well. 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 him, daring him 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. F07; as Cicero says, even those who argue againstfame still want the books they write against it to bear their name in the title and hope to becamefamousfor despising it. Everything else is subject to barter: we will let ourfriends have our goods and our lives if need be; but a case ofsharing auvfame and making someone else the gift ofour reputation is hardly to befound. ll/Ior1Io7'g74.e, 1533-1 592 OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW II In 1841 the young P. T. Barnum, trying to establish his reputation as Amer- ica's premier showman, decided to purchase the American Museum in Manhattan and turn it into a collection of curiosities that would secure his fame. 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 agree ment 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 Pea1e’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 min 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 mu- seum 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 plum- meted, and with no more confidence in Pea.le’s track record and reputa- tion, the owners of the American Museum reneged on their deal and sold the whole thing to Barnum. It took years for Pea.le’s to recover, and they never forgot what Bar- num had done. Mr. Peale himself decided to attack Barnum by building a reputation for “highbrow entertainment,” promoting his museum’s pro grams as more scientific than those of his vulgar competitor. Mesmerism (hypnotism) was one of Pea.le’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 rival mesmeric performance in which he himself 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 mat- ter how hard he tried, none of the spectators fell under his spell, 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 in/ured me in no rH.\’])4’Cl. And even in my time been known to rry Shepherd pie. I/‘need he, then. I’ll die. Yet I SIISPECI That others also cough! (0 own their film‘. 1119 only fair tho! all should do their best To single out the guilllesl." “Sire, you're too good a king," the For hcgmv; "Sucli scruples’ are too delicate. lily word, lb cm shc'cp, thu! profane mu] vulgar herd, Thafs sin? Nay. Sim enough /or Slltll ti crew To be dr-vourerl by xuclz as you; While oflhc .\‘l7€[lllL‘t‘(lS we may my Thur they ¢l(’.l'€IvE'il the worst they got, 'l‘heir.v bcmg rlze lo! llwl over us‘ [1eu5!.\' plot A /Iinzsy dream- ll(’g()ll¢’,Il sway. " Thiix spake (he Fox, and tomly L'hccr.s' rate high, While none dam! cm‘! too cold an cyr: (M 'l'lgerI\, Bcur'.s: Illltl other eminmccs‘ (1/lax‘! Impanlamzlalra of‘/’PI1ce.s‘. Each, ofnevcr mind what currish lmrd. Was really 11 saint, lhey all agrecrl. Tlzm mm." My Ass, In my: "1 do recall [low once I crmxwzrl on obln’y-mt-ad Whore hunger, grim‘ in plenty. and wtrhul, I /lave no zlmiln. xome imp ofg/‘ecrl, /l.\'.\'alli*rl me. and I slmverl a /ungue '3‘- hrezzdzh wide Whive frurzkly I ll no right to Amy grass. " LAW 5 39

All forthwith fell full cry upon the Ass: A Wolfofsome book- learning teslified Tim! that curs: beast mus! suffer Iheir despite, That gullskimzerl author of their [71'te0L¢s plight. They judged him fir for naught but gallows-bail.’ How vile, anal/zeris grass to xec1uestrzIlr’.’ His death alone could wcpiale A crime so heinous, as full well he learns. Tim (curt, as youtz» of grcal or poor estate, Willpamt you either white or bfllilk by turns‘. III}?-. masr i=AnLi:s or LA FON'IAl\'lZ, J1-:AN m= LA l7()NT.A\lNF, 1621-1695 4!) LAW 5 without her noticing. But as he sharpened the knife, the little girl’s eyes popped open and she ran away, to the audience’s delight. He repeated this and other parodies for several weeks. Soon no one could take Peale’s show seriously, and attendance went way down. Within a few weeks, the show closed. Over the next few years Bamum established a reputation for audac- ity and consummate showtnanship that lasted his whole life. Pea1e’s reputa- tion, on the other hand, never recovered. Interpretation Bamum used two different tactics to ruin Peale’s reputation. The first was simple: He sowed doubts about the museum’s stability and solvency. Doubt is a powerful weapon: Once you let it out of the bag with insidious rumors, your opponents are in a horrible dilemma. On the one hand they can deny the rumors, even prove that you have slandered them. But a layer of suspicion will remain: Why are they defending themselves so des- perately? 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 correctly, the sowing of rumors can so infuriate and unset- tle your rivals that in defending themselves they will make numerous mis- takes. This is the perfect weapon for those who have no reputation of their own to work from. Once Bamum did have a reputation of his own, he used the second, gentler tactic, the fake hypnotism demonstration: He ridiculed his rivals’ reputation. This too was extremely successful. Once you have a solid base of respect, ridiculing your opponent both puts him 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 mockery 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 can make you out as a harmless en- tertainer while poking holes in the reputation of your rival. It is easier to cope with a bad conscience than with a bad reputation. Friedrirh /Vietzsrhrc, 18-44—I 900 KEYS TO POWER The people around us, even our closest friends, will always to some extent remain mysterious and unfathomable. Their characters have secret recesses that they never reveal. The unknowableness of other people could prove disturbing if we thought about it long enough, since it would make it im- possible for us really to judge other people. So we prefer to ignore this fact, and to judge people on their appearances, on what is most visible to our eyes—-clothes, gestures, words, actions. In the social realm, appearances are the barometer of almost all of our judgments, and you must never be nus- led into believing otherwise. One false slip, one awkward or sudden change in your appearance, can prove disastrous.

This is the reason for the supreme importance of making and main- taining a reputation that is of your own creation. That reputation will protect you in the dangerous game of appear- ances, 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 deer. In the ancient Chinese court of the Wei kingdom there was a man named Mi Tzu-hsia who had a reputation for supreme civility and gracious- ness. He became the mler’s favorite. It was a law in Wei that “whoever rides secretly in the ruler’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 ruler had given him permission. When the ruler 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 him 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 ruler the other half to eat. The ruler 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 Tzu- hsia was actually devious and arrogant, succeeded in damaging his reputa- tion; the ruler 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 ruler 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 out- standing quality, whether generosity or honesty or cunning. This quality sets you apart and gets other people to talk about 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 him. Even when his forces were de- pleted, and when British tanks outnumbered his by five to one, entire cities 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 suc- LAW 5 41

42 LAW 5 cess of Henry Kissinger‘s shuttle diplomacy rested on his reputation for ironing out differences; no one wanted to be seen as so unreasonable that Kissinger could not sway him. 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—-efiiciency, say, or seductiveness-—becomes a kind of calling card that announces your presence and places others under a spell. A repu- tation for honesty will allow you to practice all manner of deception. Casanova used his reputation as a great seducer to pave the way for his fu- ture conquests; women who had heard of his powers became immensely curious, and wanted to discover for themselves what had made him so ro- mantically successful. Perhaps you have already stained your reputation, so that you are pre- vented 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 reputa- tion for dishonesty by yourself; but a paragon of honesty can help. ‘Nixon P. T. Barnum wanted to clean up a reputation for promoting vulgar enter- tainment, he brought the singer jenny Lind over from Europe. She had a stellar, high—class reputation, and the American tour Bamum sponsored for her greatly enhanced his own image. Similarly the great robber barons of nineteentlrcentury America were long unable to rid themselves of a repu- tation 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 un- pleasant image. Reputation is a treasure to be carefully collected and hoarded. Espe- cially when you are first establishing it, you must protect it strictly, antici- pating 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 inse- curity, 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 him a. small target when he tries to return your fire. Bamum used such campaigns to geat 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 cleverly, you will inadvertently ruin your own. Thomas Edison, considered the inventor who harnessed electricity, believed that a workable system would have to be based on direct cur- rent (DC). When the Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla appeared to have suc- ceeded in creating a system based on alternating current (AC), Edison was furious. He determined to ruin Tesla’s reputation, by making the public be- lieve 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. But 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 exe cufion, 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 subtler tactics, such as satire and ridicule, to weaken your 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 your life. Robbers and thieves will appear from all sides. Never take your wealth for granted, and constantly renew it—time will diminish the jewels’ luster, and bury them from sight. Authority: Therefore I should wish our 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. 4 . . For the lame which appears to rest on the opinions of many fosters a certain unshak- able 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 excep- tions 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—0scar Wilde used it to great advantage. Since we must live in soci- ety and must depend on the opinions of others, there is nothing to be gained by neglecting your reputation. By not caring how you are per» ceived, you let others decide this for you. Be the master of your fate, and also of your reputation. LAW 5 ‘ 43

LAW COURT ATTENTION AT ALL COST JUDGMENT Everything is judged its appearance,‘ wlmt is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, ihen, or buried in oblivicm. Stand out. Be am- spicuous, at all cast. Make youmzlf a magnet of atten- tion by appearing larger, more colmful, more mysterious than the bland and timid masses.

PART I: SURROUND YOUR NAME WITH THE SENSATIONAL AND SCANDALOUS Draw attention to yourself by creating an unforgettable, even controversial image. Court scandal. Do anything to make yourselfseem larger than life and shine more brightly than those around you. Make no distinction be- tween kinds ofattention—notoriety ofany sort will bringyon power. Better to be slandered and attacked than ignored. OBSERVANCE OF THE LAVV 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, Barnum took a stroll through town, wearing a new black suit. People started to follow him. 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 Bamum’s suit and was ready to lynch him. After desperate appeals, Barnum finally convinced them to follow him to the circus, where he could verify his identity. Once there, old Turner confirmed that this was all a practical joke-—he himself had spread the rumor that Barnum was Avery. The crowd dis— persed, 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. Bamum‘s first big venture of his own was the American Museum——a collection of curiosities, located in New York. One day a beggar ap- proached Bamum in the street. Instead of giving him money, Bamum de- cided to employ him. Taking him back to the museum, he gave the man live bricks and told him 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 counte- nance 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 him, debating what he was doing. Every time he entered the museum he was followed by people who bought tickets to keep watch» ing him. 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 'll|l» \\"AS|' SVI) ‘l'|l|". l*’ltI'\t,.‘li A wasp named Pin Tail was long in quest of some (Iced that would make him forever famous. So one day he entered the king's palace and slung the little prince, who was in hell. The prince awoke with loud cries. The king and his coumers rushed in to see what had happened. The prince was yelling as the warp stung him again and again. The cozmiers tried to catch the warp, and each in turn was stung. The whole myalh0u.s'1zhnld rushed in, the news soon spread, and people flocked lo the palace. The city was in an uproar, all l)m'iue.\'.\‘ Sll.S'[l€N(l(.’d. Said the wasp to itself before it expired from its efforts. “A name without/J1me is like/ire wilhuul flame. There is Iwthirrg like attracting notzce at any cost." INDIAN 1-ABLE LAW 6 I 45

[Sum wlmt I'm milwl uf. lgvt my (/(mm of rmown. Pu rim Am«,rIN(>. l-1‘)ZAl55(» 'l‘tH. I «)1 RI‘ l\R'H-I‘ A work that way Volume tartly ;)u'.\mIml In u prmce was bound to seem in mime wuy sprevizzl. '1'/iv arlirr hinz.s’e[fm[g/it also /rvv to attract the £rIl(m!i(1I! vftlze court zhmugh his he}2m’i'o:.u: in l/?1.\'ari'.\' izrzig/11:31:! Smlmmi Wm "wall knmw: hall: for his prr.x‘mzuI ¢'ccenIri(i- mas and for his rv/Jmu~ (ion at 11 good prlirmir." b’emu.\‘e Pope Leo X “fmmd pI¢'u.\m‘r' In .\‘llC/I .s‘rran_+;r*, /mrrn hmined imlivitluu/.5‘." /w marlrl Sozfumu N krzighl, mtm'n},{ the mm to gr) c‘ump/('(e‘l_\/ (N11 oflizk miml. Van Ma:zci3:'r_;"m4n(1 it odd that the {7l’Ol1U(,‘I.$ of ('o.v9wli.\' Kort?! '5' r*Xp<'1'z~ nwmy in momlz and foot pmnring wart‘ bz)u_;;h1 by norablar permm "Iaevuu.\‘c of their 0rl:I1'ry."yz'! Kvlvl wax only adding a van‘ anon to vimx'lur experi- nwmtv by Tirmn, Ugu (la Cnrpi zmtl I’a/ma Grm-‘om’, wfm, &('t'r)r4l« mg to Baiychini painter] um}: riiesr fizigcvis‘ “hr-,rrIu.s'x> ihcy wi.~:he(/ to imitate the rmrthotl 14.3111 Iw [he .S'1lpn'Im.‘ Creator," Vim Mumlvr 46 ‘ LAW 6 thousand people into the museum. A few days later the police ordered him to cease and desist from his walks——the crowds were blocking traffic. The bricklaying stopped but thousands of New Yorkers had entered the mu- seum, 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 afier 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 wasjoice 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 Heath,” he wrote, “is not a human being but an automaton, made up of whalebone, indie-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 injapan, 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 pa— pers 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 Batnum’s cam~ paign, no one had cared or even known about mermaids; now everyone was talking about them as if they were real. Crowds flocked in record num» bers 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 Bamum claimed was an elevenvyear-old English boy, and whom he had trained to do many re- markable acts. During this tour Bamum’s name attracted such attention that Queen Victoria, that paragon of sobriety, requested a private audience with him and his talented dwarf at Buckingham Palace. The English press may have ridiculed Bamum, but Victoria was royally entertained by him, and respected him 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 same. 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 pur- pose, for crowds are magnetically attracted by the unusual and inexplica- ble. 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 at~ tention from his competitors, knowing what a valuable commodity it is. 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 irrele vant. 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 him particularly badly, in fact, he made sure to invite the man to an opening and to give him 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 Bamum’s vantage, attentionwwhether negative or positive——was the main ingredient of his success. The worst fate in the world for a man who yearns fame, glory, and, of course, power is to be ignored. Ifthe cou.m'er happens to engage in arms in some public spectacle such as jausting. . . he will ensure that the home he has is beautifully caparisoned, that he himselfis suitably attired, with appropriate mentors and ingenious mines to attract the eyes qfthe onlookers in his direction as surely as the ladeswne attracts iron. Halzlr1.s.wn> (Irz.tl2T,grli01zr2, I 4 78- I 52 9 KEYS TO POWER Burning more brightly than those around you is a skill that no one is born with. You have to learn to attract attention, “as surely as the lodestone at~ tracts iron.” At the start of your career, you must attach your name and rep- utation 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 estalr lished, 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 felt no need to defend himself. He deliberately courted the image of being a humbug. reports (/1111 (}r7s'sa<'rr attracted the attention of ljmpumr Clmrlcs V by wearing ufamu.v1it‘ paper <,'()si‘1un:e. In doing so he was adopt» mg the tactics tl.$‘€(/ by Di:zocrr1Ie.s'. who. in order to gain (ZC(‘L’.l‘S' In Altczmmler the Great. is suit! to have appeared di.rgL1isc(1 as the rmkt-cf Ht'r.':ule.x wlzm the monarch was xittizzg in jzrdgnzciiz. !‘H§€ <,‘()UR’l’ mrris‘i‘. MARTIN VVARNKE. l993 LAW6 .1 47

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 Due 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 himself. Louis, however, was so beguiled by the duke’s eccen~ tricities that he could not beat his absences from the court. It was simple: The strangeness of the duke’s character attracted attention. Once people were enthralled by him, they wanted him 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 w'sual1y dazzling experiments to display his dis~ coveries 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 him. He did everything he could to make sure that he received more attention than his great rival 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 recip- ients 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 com- mittee had actually approached Edison, but he had turned them down, re-v fusing to share the prize with Tesla. By that time his fame was more secure than Tesla’s, and he thought it better to refuse the honor than to allow his rival 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 rid} culing 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 posi- tion 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 al lowed himself 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 fa- miliar 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 against their expectations, you both gain their respect and lighten your hold on dreir fleeting attention. I m a g e : The Limelight. The actor who steps into this bxil» liant light attains a heightened presence. All eyes are on him. There is room for only one actor at a time in the limelight’s narrow beam; do what- ever it takes to make yourself its focus. Make your gestures so large, amus- ing, and scandalous that the light stays on you while the other actors 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 cre- ation to shine forth. Display fills up many blanks, covers up defi- ciencies, and gives everything a second life, especially when it is backed by genuine merit. (Baltasar Gracién, 16014658) LAW 6 349

LAW 6 PART II: CREATE AN AIR OF MYSTERY In a world gmwing increasingly banal aindpfamiliai; what seems enig- matic instantly draws attention. Never make it too clear what you are doing or about to do. Do not show all your canis, /in air of mystery height- ens 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 home, wrapped in veils that she grad- ually 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 iife into the satiated society of European cities.” Soon everyone knew the dam:er’s name: Mata Han‘. 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 and Javanese melodies. After keeping the audience waiting and wondering, Mata Hari would suddenly appear, in a startling costume: a white cotton brassiere covered with India.n~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 learned 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 ajavanese princess, she had lived on the island of Sumatra where she had spent her time “horsebaxzk riding, gun in hand, and risking her life.” No one knew 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.

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 voluptuous- ness, its hypnotizing charm.” Another noted, “If India possesses such unex- pected treasures, then all Frenchmen will emigrate to the shores of the Ganges.” Soon the fame of Mata Hari and her sacred Indian dances spread be- yond Paris. She was invited to Berlin, Vienna, Milan. Over the next few years she performed throughout Europe, mixed with the highest social cir- cles, and earned 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 ar- rested 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 Eastern blood in her body. Her real name was Margaretha Zelle, and she came from the stolid northern 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 Bergére. After a few years they would inevitably be replaced by younger girls, and would often end up on the streets, turning to prostitution, or else returning 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 clearly understood that what was important in her act was not the dance it- self, 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 sur- prising 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 interpreta- tion, they never tire of it. The mysterious cannot be grasped. And what cannot be seized and consumed creates power. LAW 6 f51

52 LAW 6 KEYS TO POWER In the past, the world was filled with the terrifying and unknowable— diseases, disasters, capricious despots, the mystery of death itself. What we could not understand we reimagined as myths and spirits. Over the cen- turies, though, we have managed, through science and reason, to illumi- nate 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 some- thing 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~inspirlng. 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 arnbiguous phrases, deliberately appearing inconsistent, and acting odd in tlie subtlest of ways, you will emanate an aura of mystery. The people around you will then magnify that aura by constantly dying 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 ajapanese 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 arrnband—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 afier the other, brought to him by his Japanese chauffeur—telegrams he would tear up with utter noncha- lance. (In fact they were fakes, completely blank.) He would sit alone in the dining room, reading a large and impressive-looking book, smiling at peo- ple yet remaining aloof. Vlfithin 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 pro- found. It made Mata Hari, a woman of average appearance and intelli- gence, seem like a goddess, and her dancing divinely inspired. An air of

mystery about an artist makes his or her artwork immediately more intrigu- ing, a trick Marcel Duchamp played to great effect. It is all very easy to clo—-say little about your work, tease and titillate with alluring, even contra~ dictory 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 try- ing 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-rung, for example, cleverly cultivated an enigmatic image; he had no worries about seeming inconsistent or contradicting him~ self-—fl1e very contradictoriness of his actions and words meant that he a.l~ ways had the upper hand. No one, not even his own wife, ever felt they understood him, and he therefore seemed larger than life. This also meant that the public paid constant attention to him, 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 ore ation of enigma. can also draw the kind of attention that strikes terror into your enemy. During the Second Punic War (219402 13.0.), 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, Hann1‘bal’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 proces- sion 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: Reinforce- ments 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 drified 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 conjured 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 LAW6 3 53

lit, giving the impression of the torches of a vast army heading up the mountain. When the flames burned down to the oxen’s skin, they stam- peded 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 terri- fied 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 ex- plained 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 in- spire fear and trembling and the sentries will abandon their posts. Call it the “feigned madness of Hamlet” tactic, for Hamlet uses it to great effect in Shakespeare‘s play, frightening his stepfather Claudius through the mys- tery of his behavior. The mysterious makes your forces seem larger, your power more terrifying. Image: The Dance of the \/'cils~-—-thcz veils envelop the dancer. What they reveal causes excitement, What they conceal heightens interest. The essence of mystery. Authority: If you do not declare yourself immediately, you arouse expectation. . . . Mix a little mystery with everything, and the very mystery stirs up veneration. And when you explain, be not too ex- plicit. . . . In this manner you imitate the Divine way when you cause men to wonder and watch. (Baltasar Gracian, 1601-1658) .9‘) LAW 6

R EV F. RSAL In the beginning of your rise to the top, you must attract attention at all cost, but as you rise higher you must constantly adapt. Never wear the pub- lic 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 fabri- cations; 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 suspi- cious 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 pull 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 at- tention you attract must never offend or challenge the reputation of those above you—not, at any rate, if they are secure. You will seem not only pal- try 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 Irish 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. Every- one 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 anived. 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 op- posite 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 followed Victoria’s example, and for the rest of the evening Lola Montez was ig- nored. After 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 I 55

56 LAW GET OTHERS TO DO THE WORK FOR YOU, BUT, ALWAYS TAKE THE CREDIT JUDGMENT Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to furtheryour own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of qfficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembeml. Never do yourselfwhat others can do foryou.

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, giv- ing him a letter of introduction to Edison himself. 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 dynarnos. 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, “’I'here’s fifty thousand dollars in it for you-—xf 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 automatic controls. He went to Edison to break the good news and re- ceive 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 lmmori,” and offered a small raise instead. Tesla’s obsession was to create an alternating-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 turned to the great Pittsburgh magnate George Westinghouse, who had started his own electricity company. Westinghouse completely funded Tesla’: research and offered him a generous royalty agreement on future profits. The AC system Tesla developed is still the standard today-— but 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 him. His name was lost in the shuffle, and the public came to associate the invention with Westinghouse himself. A year later, Westinghouse was caught in a mkeover bid from _}. Pierpont Morgan, who made him 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 him his full royalties; he per- suaded 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 sig- nal across the English Channel in 1899--Marconi made use of a patent Tesla had filed in 1897, and that his work depended on Tesla’.-i research. Once again Tesla received no money and no credit. Tesla invented an in- duction 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 T()RT()lSE. 'l'Hl-I l7I.F.l"llA\$T AND Till’. l[|l‘P()l‘U'l‘A\’|l B One day lite rorloise met the elephant. who trumpeted, "Our ofmy way, you wmkling— I 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. “Do not boast, Mr. Elephant, 1 am as strong as you are.’" said the tortoise, bu! the elephant just laughed. So the tortoise asked him :0 come to his hill the nexi morning. The next day, before sunrise, the tortoise ran down the hill to (he river, where he met the hippopotamus, who waxjust on his way back into the water after his rtoclurmzl _feading. “Mr Hippo! Shall we have a rug~of- war? I box I’m as strong as you are!” said {he tortoise. The hippopotamus laughed at this ridiculous idea, but agreed. The tortoise produced a long rope and told /he hippo to hold it in his mouth until the tortoise shouted “Hey!” Then the turlaiie run back up the hill where he found the elephant, who was getting impa- tient. He gave the clcpham Ihe arher end of the rape and said, “When Isay ‘Hey!’ pull, and you'll see which afus is the strongest." Then he ran halfway back down the LAW 7 - 57

hill, to nplai'1' wlivrfl hp muldn ‘I be smrv. am] .s'hmm’d. “lI(,'_v./" T/14* clephunl and [he /xip[mpv!urrm.\‘ pulled mizlpullezl. hut rm/‘llwr um/(I Iimlge I/14' urlw/——Ilu'y were of e-qua! xrrmgrli. '1'/zev bath ngrwrl that rim t0rI0i.s‘H wax as xtrmzg: ax I/zr’_\' wen’. Never (In what orlwri‘ am (In for you. The tur- rm'\'e let nllirrs do the work for him while he go! [ire 4 redil. Z.-sxRr.i\N mm E: in be sure, if Ihr lumler reiivs on i/i(’ .st'citrz'Iy of lite c:irria_ce, utilizes lite legs Iaftlte Sl.\' /I()75(‘.§', and trinkets Wang Lirmg hold 15??!’ rrms; than he will not tin‘ l1iII1A‘(‘lf and willfirzd if vu.s'_v to overtake .sw:'ft rIlZtl)l(!l.s‘. .'Vnw .w1p[1<2.s'ing hr’ di.icura'€d 1/“! ml V1111- rage n_/‘the carriage, gzn-1: up the us’ It! legs’ nf the Imrscs mm’ the ,s'k1ilo_fl:Vurt,g- Liang, und ulzg/11011 10 nm after Illt,’ zmimals; then even llmugiz his legs‘ wart: (IS quit’/c as Lou C1153‘. he would M.-at he in time In ovcrlu/LU the animals‘. In fact, l]'g:onrl Izrznvux and .s‘tIUng vzlrriagm are taken mm rm-, then now Immi- mcn um! Imrtrlwrmmn will be gum] vnouglz Io z'zm'l: Ilw uizimulx. l'lAI\~l'[~l«|‘7l7, (‘nIr\|,s|. vn1J,<>s0I'm,R, 11111:!) (‘I .N‘l‘lV){V’ n.('. 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 turned 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 hour 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 prod ucts, 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 be yond 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 fame and riches. As he grew older, though, this ru- ined his scientific work. Not associated with any particular discovery, he could attract no investors to his many ideas. While he pondered great in- ventions 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 im- poverished himselfin the process. Edison was Tesla’s polar opposite. He wasn’t actually much of a scien~ tific thinker or inventor; he once said that he had no need to be a mathe- matician because he could always hire one. That was Fdisoifs 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 in- ventions. 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 secure the credit for yourself and keep others from stealing it away, or from piggy— backing on your hard work. To accomplish this you must always be vigilant and ruthless, keeping your creation quiet until you can be sure there are no vultures circling overhead. Second, learn to take advantage of other peo- ple’s work to Further your own cause. Time is precious and life is short. If you try to do it all on your own, you run yourself ragged, waste energy, and burn yourself out. It is far better to conserve your forces, pounce on the work others have done, and find a way to make it your own. Everybody steals in commerce and industry. I ‘ma stolen a lot myself But I know how to steal. 'l‘horn/Ls‘ I1’//lisrm, I847’ I931

KEYS TO POWER The world of power has flue 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 oil" 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 circling above trying to figure out a way to sur- vive and even thrive off your creativity. It is useless to complain about this, or to wear yourself ragged with bitterness, as Tesla did. Better to protect yourself and join the game. Once you have established a power base, be- come a vulture yourself, and save yourselfa lot of time and energy. Of the two poles of this game, one can be illustrated by the example of the explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa. Balboa had an obsessionw-the dis- covery of El 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 is gold, he would make himself 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 carefiilly watching those around him. A few years after he dis- covered the location of the Incan empire, a soldier in his own army, Fran- cisco Pizarro, helped to get him 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 himself deluged with requests for paintings. He created a sys- tem: 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 client visited the studio, Rubens would shoo his hired painters out for the day. While the client watched from a balcony, Rubens would work at an incredible pace, with unbeliev- able energy. The client 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: Loam 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 para- sitic use of your contemporaries’ labor: Use the past, a vast storehouse of fill \ll.l\l) lll’\ .4 /mt wl(.*.Ilm1IIm'Ihr'r right. and wm m'<‘u.s'- mum] In .31 m/c’/zin;: up tlrv ewrlh in .\’z'ur<'I; of femrl. ulihmzgll Mimi. still umziltuuzl In .vr‘m!r I1 rlmry mm! diii~ gt'ml_v. I)’/‘whm IN!’ wax ir to Hit’ imln.\‘/rmu.» I/(ml? Another’ \Imrp- sig/IMI /WI) wlm x‘[mn'rI luv’ I('mIz'r'f<’t'I rwwr P1i‘l)l~’t'1rl {mm I1r.rLs‘ir!L’. mad cir;oymt'. mrlmm .\'r'r¢1!r'him,I. f}Y(’f!‘lliI of 1/11‘ vi/zcr".\‘ /u/‘am; Fm‘ us u/rm us‘ I/It‘ blind hm it t'aIr'/ml up It (7ur'/u_»- mm, he/' m,m'/7_fII/ mmpumrm (lcmurml H. mm c 2. GoH1im.nLlvssnm. 172‘) l7':4l LAW 7 59

60‘ LAW 7 knowledge and wisdom. Isaac Newton called this “standing on the shoul- ders 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 at- tributable to his shrewd ability to make the most of the insights of ancient, medieval, and Renaissance scientists. Shakespeare borrowed plots, charac- terizations, 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-~plagz'anlzed——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. Learn to use the knowledge of the past and you will look like a genius, even when you are really just a clever borrower, Writers who have delved into human nature, ancient masters of strat- egy, historians of human stupidity and folly, kings and queens who have leamed the hard way how to handle the burdens of power—-their knowl- edge is gathering dust, waiting for you to come and stand on their shoul- ders. 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 learn 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 cir- cling above. Do not fight him, join him. 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 2mother’s brow, you win the reputation of being an oracle. (Baltasar Gracién, 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 ex- ploiter 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 historic visit to the People’s Republic of China was originally his idea, but it might never have come off but for the deft diploma/cy of Henry Kissinger. Nor would it have been as successful without Kissinger’s skills. Stilh when the time came to take credit, Kissinger adroitly let Nixon take the lion’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 ex~ partly: He took credit for the work of those below him while graciously giving credit for his own labors to those above. That is the way to play the game. LAW 7 Q0:

LAW MAKE OTHER PEOPLE COME TO YOU— USE BAIT IF NECESSARY JUDG MENT 1/Wzen you force the other person to act, you me the one in control. It is always better to makeyour opponent come to you, abandoning his own plans in the pmcess. Lure him wit}; fabulous gm‘ns——then attack. You hold the amls.

OBSERVANCl:‘ OF THE LAW At the Congress of Vienna in 1814, the major powers of Europe gathered to carve up the remains of Napoleon’s fallen Empire. The city was full of gai- ety and the balls were the most splendid in memory. Hovering over the proceedings, however, was the shadow of Napoleon himself. Instead of being executed or exiled far away, he had been sent to the island of Elba, not far from the coast of Italy. Even imprisoned on an island, a man as bold and creative as Napoleon Bonaparte made everyone nervous. The Austrians plotted to kill him on Elba, but decided it was too risky. Alexander I, Rnssia’s tempera» mental czar, heightened the anxiety by throwing a {it during the congress when a part of Poland was denied him: “Beware, I shall loose the mon- ster!" he threatened. Everyone knew he meant Napoleon. Of all the states men 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 court-— there 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 him, but when the soldiers saw their beloved former leader, they changed sides. Napoleon was declared emperor again. Volun- teers 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 of Waterloo, injune of that year, he was finally defeated for good. This time his enemies had learned their lesson: They exiled him to the barren island of Saint I-Ie~ lena, off the west coast of Africa. 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 him that he was more popular in France than ever, and that LAW 8 63

M LAW 8 the country would embrace him again. One of these visitors was Austria’s General Keller, 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 him go, and indeed his escape oc- curred 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 un- settling to Europe’s stability, he had turned against him 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 Metternich, 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 wea.k~ ened 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 havz laid bait for deer, I don? shout at thejirst doe that comes to sniff, but wait until the whole herd has gathered round. Otto mm Bismarck, IR] 5-I898 KEYS TO POWER How many times has this scenario played itself out in history: An aggres~ sive leader initiates a series of bold moves that begin by bringing him much power. Slowly, however, his power reaches a peak, and soon every- thing turns against him. His numerous enemies band together; trying to maintain his power, he exhausts himself going in this direction and that, and inevitably he collapses. The reason for this pattern is that the aggres- sive 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 ever- growing host of enemies, and to the unforeseen consequences of his own rash actions, his aggressive energy is turned against him. In the realm of power, you must ask yourself, what is the point of chas- ing here and there, trying to solve problems and defeat my enemies, if I never feel in control? 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 trips 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 your 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 posi- tion: You yourself must learn to master your emotions, and never to be in- fluenced 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 your case, imposing your 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 dan- ger 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 his 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 our 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, Rus- sia ancl japan were at war. The Japanese had only recently begun to mod emize 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 Japanese fleet in one swift attack. The Russian fleet could not reachjapan by the quickest route——through the Strait of Gibral— tar 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 conr bat 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 _]a.pa— nese discovered with the Russians, is that it forces him to operate in your territory. Being on hostile ground will make him nervous and often he will rush his actions and make mistakes. For negotiations or meetings, it is al- ways 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 him. 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 hirmjust as Napoleon imagined that he himself was the master of his daring escape and return to power. Everything depends on the sweetness of your bait. If your trap is at» tractive enough, the turbulence of your enemies’ emotions and desires will blind them to reality. The greedier they become, the more they can he 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 up on a stock. Word would spread, and members would buy or sell the stock in droves, playing perfectly into Drew’s hands. If you can get other people to dig their own graves, why sweat your- self? 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 PICKPOCKE’l‘S. Passersby seeing the sign in- variably 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. V/Vhen 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 ma- nipulation. The psychological ramifications are profound: The person who makes others come to him appears powerful, and demands respect. Filippo Brunelleschi, the great Renaissance artist and architect, was a great practitioner of the art of making others come to him as a sign of his power. On one occasion he had been engaged to repair the dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral in Florence. The commission was impor-

lam and prestigious. But when the city officials hired a second man, Lorenzo Ghibem‘, to work with B1-unelleschi, the great artist brooded in se~ cret. 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 mys- terious 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 own. Soon it became clear that Ghiberti was useless and the ofiicials 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 miracle, Bnmelleschi recovered within days. He did not have to throw a tantrum or make a fool of himself; 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 Honcyed Bear Trap. The bear hunter does not chase his prey; a bear that knows it is hunted is nearly impossible to catch and is fero- Ciuus 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 oppo- nents to come to you, then their force is always empty; as long as you do not go to them. your force is always full. Attack ing emptiness with fullness is like throwing stones on eggs. (Zhang Yu. eleventh century commentator on The Art 0/’ W11} 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 strildng suddenly and aggres- sively at the enemy so demoralizes him 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 ob- verse 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 in- timidate ancl control. A rapid and unforeseen move is terrifying and de- moralizing. You must choose your tactics depending on the situation. If you have time on your 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—-your 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.”

LA‘W WIN THROUGH YOUR ACTIONS, NEVER THROUGH ARGUMENT JUDGMENT Any momentary triumph you think you have gained through argument is really a Pyrrhic victory: The 'resmt~ ment and ill will yau stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentum‘ change ofopiuion. It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word. Demonstrate, do not explicate. 69

llll \( l l\\ \\l> Ill? \l/.l| It A rrzwr hm! .vz'n’e'rI /1 is mm rfnr .wHh" Ihirly ,\"<'ut.\ um! was kmzwn um! 1IdI21I/'r(lfrrr Im Inyulty. II‘uth/}lIm'\'\, mu! I/l'\UlHm In (ind. His /u1m'\'z’\. /lHIt'L't‘«'/. hurl Hltfdt’ him lNtIl2_V 1'tmn{m in the r mm. M-Im s']1rr*ud s(r;riu.\ of I113’ rlu]1ii<‘iIt‘ mm‘ ,'m;li<Iy '.Hiuy trtrrknl on the ssrlim: may in and dtly .-mi ecmii he (no faint‘ so (l'('.\1m.s~r the {mzmwtt vizier mu} /iImN_v urrlcrcri the mm: who Kurd wrwrl hfm so waif in be [ml to rlemli. In this malln, I/IUYL’ (‘UI1(f(’l)1IlL’(/ ll) rim]/I wen’ rial up and (:‘mm'n into rim pun wlwrc I/1:’ mlmn Iwpt /til‘ iim'c'r.vIl1ur)(in;,' rlog.\. T/to r/ng.:.\‘ mm/ll prrmzpily lmr 1111: w'z'u'm In pzvrvv. Bzjlmw l><'m_g tlumm m 111:4 rlrxgx. I'zmvm»w, Um vi.:Ir'r 115319;! for om’ §<'E.\‘! rergruzu ‘I vxtmld like It'll thlfct‘ r(‘.\‘pfI(*." 11¢’ mic]. ".w mm I am; pay my (f¢'IvI.\'. milmr any nw/In rim‘ It) nu’. /mu/w i/nu.» llmt [I('H])f(’ /mm‘ pm In my um’. HlI1l.\‘/IHIL‘ (mi my gnmlx unzrmy llw IIIHII/7r’r\‘ of my /lumilv and m v rho’/— .'IP‘(’Il mu! up/min! u gmmliuu I‘r»r1/mm." /lflvr n'w*i\ mg tlgI1:i7— mum’ Jim! me vizier wrmlzi not 11')‘ m r'§r‘rI;>r'. r/w.\'z1iIrm grmum‘ this !'(‘{}1I(‘.\.I. The vizier imrriwi immc, mlh*t1:’;l one lumdntrl gold pin cs. /hm pun! IF t’i.‘vif m the lumrvmrm wlm Irmlwsf after the mlmn 70 LAW 51 ’['RAl\'S(.')RF.SSlON OF THE LAW In 131 1313., the Roman consul Publius Crassus Dives Mucianus, laying siege to the Greek town of Pergamus, found himself 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 him immediately. The military engineer in Athens who received the order felt 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 himself, in obeying an order that would lead to fail- ure? And so he sent the smaller mast, confident that the consul would see how much more effective it was and reward him justly. When the smaller mast arrived, Mucianus asked his soldiers for an ex- planation. They described to him how the engineer had argued endlessly for the smaller mast, but had finally promised to send the larger one. Mu- cianus went into a rage. He could not concentrate on the siege, or consider the importance of breaching the walls before the town received reinforce» merits. All he could think about was the impudent engineer, whom he or- dered to be brought to him 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 regretit Mucianus let him 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 necessar- ily better. Of course the consul would see his logic, and would eventually understand that science is neutral and reason superior. How could the con- sul possibly persist in his ignorance if the engineer showed him detailed di- agrams and explained the theories behind his advice? The military engineer was the quintessence of the Arguer, at type found everywhere among us. The Arguer does not understand that words

are never neutral, and that by arguing with a superior he impugns the intel ligence ofone more powerful than he. He also has no awareness of the per- son he is dealing with. Since each man believes that he is right, and words will rarely convince him otherwise, the arguer’s reasoning falls on deaf ears. When cornered, he only argues more, digging his own grave. Once he has made the other person feel insecure and inferior in his beliefs, the eloquence 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 cor- rectness of your ideas indirectly. OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW In 1502, in Florence, Italy, an enormous block of marble stood in the works department of the church of Santa Maria del 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, gen- erally mutilating it. Piero Soderini, Florence’s mayor, had contemplated trying to save the block by commissioning 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 came 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 disasterwbut 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 touches on the statue, Soderini entered the studio. Fancying himself it 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 2 place right under the giant figure and did not have the proper perspective. Without a word, he gestured for Soderini to follow him up the scaffolding. Reaching the nose, he picked up his as well as a bit of marble dust that lay on the planks. With Sodetini just a few feet below him on the scaffolding. Michelangelo started to tap lightly with the chisel, 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. After 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.” ¢lu;;_\‘. I in l);:[e'rr’(é‘ lhzy man [/19 one izlirzrlred gold _vi1>L'r'$ and srtili. “Le! me («wk o:f:cr1}2(‘ dogs for ten da_v.\'.“ The humslrmn (1__1;!e¢’¢1', and for lbw !1(’Xl rm zlavx zin- vizx'ier mrrtl for rlw z’2m.x‘!.s‘ wilh grmi II!{(‘l2~ iiarr, _:;ru(Jmi/1gIhc/21 well lllIl1_f€l’diIlj,' them lxanrlrn/1ze'I\'. By Jim (‘ltd of:/ze Inn (lays rhcy were rating out of lzir hrlntl. On the eleventh (lay lhv vizzrr war called before 1/11’ Sultan, the churgm were rcpmzted. and the sultan wutcliecl as the vizier was tied up and thrown to lhff dugr Ye! win»: the 1703.313 saw him, tltrzr rsm up to him with it-agging 11152.»: I¥1c_Y rzihbferl ¢I}_'f2/clfomtlclv at his rlrazzldens and {vegan playirrgz mi}: 121'"; The sultan mid the other wit/1e.«:r1',s* were amazed, and flu‘ rulmn asked 111:: vizier why Jhe dog: had spare/1 in‘; life. The vizier replica‘. "I /zawz lvukvd after I/1(’.\‘€ (logy fur ten dnyi: T/w mlmn has .\1‘€Il llw rm:/It_for lu‘m.rz'//T I have [naked ziftcr you for thirty ymzrx. and Whit! is the result,’ I am mmlermwrl to (heath on [hf .rm*r1_1(I/I ufzIc‘L'l(.wI» lions‘ bruu_(;hr by my cm>mit*x" Thu sulnm h1u.vlu'rI with rlaatnn He not only ]l’(lI'(.l()ll(f(l the I/"ier but gave him a fins‘ Si’! z)fr‘l'n[l14'.s' and imndnl (war In him the mm who had .s'I(1mim'r:d iris regzzirairbte. The noble vizier set Ifwuz }l"t‘1’ and mnnmmu’ [0 mm: them wish kirxdzicxsz IHE §l'n'n E R1:_\E: THE BOOK U!‘ .~\!<r\m( Vvl3DU‘v'l AM) (v\:lLl:. HI)K'H-J,NJil 1'1-,\'mi(v LAW 9 ‘ 71

’l'llK ‘5r'§H§K\ Ul’ AM KSIS \-‘Vhrn Aprzer had been dcpmred in the way I have described, /inmrm mine to the throne. He Lrelorxgerl to the di.xrm:t of Sui: and was 41 nativr of the town called Siuph At first the lfgypzians wem inclined to be contemp- tuour, and did not think much ofhim hccuuse of his humble and lmdirtinguislzed origin,‘ but later on he cleverly brought them to heel. wizhout having I'(’(:t)urSc‘ so harsh rrzeaxures. Amongst his z'zmrmwr- able treamrer. he hm! 1! gold foothath, Whi(‘h he and his guests used on m,-:,'a.s‘i()rz to wmh their feet tn. This hr’ broke up, and with the mate- rial had a status‘ nuzrlze to one of the gods. \v}z1ch he then re: up in what he thought the most suimble spot in the cil‘_v. The Egywiarzr ('uIz.9‘lantl}? cmnmg upon the statue. Irzatm’ it with profototd rever- Price, and as soon as Amu.s‘t'.s‘ heard offhe effect (I had upon them, he Caller! at meeting and rcvealml the fun that the deeply rwetrcul .rmtu,e was 07:01’ a fool- bulh. which zlwy washer! their few and pixxezl and vamitcd in. He wmr on to say that /its own care was much the sami’, in that once he had been only an nnlinury person and was now their l<:'ng;.vo tlml jets! as Ihey Izod come to revere Hm IftlI1.S'f:)rmZ£§f0€)!b£l(l1, so {hay hmi boiler 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 himself 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 Soden‘m"s perspective (literally bringing him closer to the nose) without making him realize that this was the cause of his misperception. Fortunately for posterity, Michelangelo found a way to keep the per faction 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 T0 POWER In the realm of power you must learn to judge your moves by their long» term 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 thern—-words have that insidious ability to be interpreted according to the other person’s mood and insecuri- ties. 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 some one, we ofien 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 power- ful and meaningful. They are there, before our eyes, for us to see-——“Yes, now the statue’s nose does look just right.” There are no offensive words, no possibility of misinterpretation. No one can argue with a demonstrated proof. As Baltasar Graciim remarks, “The midi 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 his extremely long career as England’s most Cele‘ brated 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 West- minster. The mayor, however. was not satisfied; in fact he was nervous. He told Wren he was afraid the second {floor was not secure, 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 en- gineer, 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 dedgn 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 lit- erally and physically feel your meaning is infinitely more powerful than are gument. A heclder once interrupted Nikita. Khrushchev in the middle of a speech in which he was denouncing the crimes of Stalin. “You were a col- league of Stalirfs,” the heekler yelled, “why didn’t you stop him then?” Khrushschev apparently could not see the heckler and barked out, “VVho said that?” No hand went up. No one moved a muscle. After a few seconds of tense silence, Khrushchev finally said in a quiet voice, “Now you know why I didn’t stop him.” 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 frusti-ating 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 sightseeing. He paid a visit to the ruins of the ancient fortress of Masada, known to all Israelis as the place where seven hundred Jewish warriors committed mass suicide in A.I). 73 rather than give in to the Roman troops besieging them. The Israelis instantly understood the mes- sage of Kissingefs 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. Syrn~ bols 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 respect to him, too. In rhis way the Egyptians were jwrsuatled to accept him as their master. ms; HISTORIES, HERODOTIJS. FIFTH CENHIRY B13. GOD .-\\T) A\i§R.i\I|i\,\1 The Mtlxl High God hurl promised Jim: He would not take Abra- ham it soul ltnlexs the man wanted to (lie and asked Him to do so. When A brahum is‘ life was drawing to a Clare, and God determined (0 .reL'2,e him. He rem’ an angel in the guise of a dccrepiz old man who was‘ almost entirely inmpru:im1e(I. The old man Slapped outside Ahralzw/1': door and .m2'clIoIz1'r1z. “Oh Ahrae (mm, 1 would like szmierlzzng to ear. " A bmlmm was mrzazezl to hear him say this, “Die." exclaimed Abra- ham. ‘'1! wtmlzi be lwtlrtrfnr you than to go on living in that condition." Almzlmm always kept food ready at his home for pzzssing guests. So he gave Elm old man a bowl containing [>mIlz and men; with Iyrwd cmmbs. The old mun sat down to em. II1: swullrm-‘rad [(1})(N'i(II1sly. with great effort. and {lll{.‘(€ when he took sarm? food it dr0p])(‘([ from his Iumri. scatter- ing on the gmrmd. “Uh Abraham," he miiil. LAW 9 73

“help me In «at. " A firm ham 100/\’ tlua,/‘rmzl in his hand and lifwd ii to me 171:! man '5‘ lips. Bu! ii slid (lawn lzix l'7i’m'd and over his chesl. “Winn i.\‘ your age, 010' man?“ I?$'k(7(l A braizmn. The old man rnemumwi 41 number a/' vmrx sIi;,>/111)‘ grmwr than Abraham Ix‘ uld am’. T/mt Ah/uluzm vxc/ninu=,d.' “()lz I.or1i Our God, mkr mp mm; You before I reach this manis‘ age’ and rink mm the xcznw cmzdirion as he is in now. " No warwr had A Imzfmnz rpokm thrrstr words’ than Gull tank ;7(2.\‘.\'m— xiurz nf his soul. ‘me xml‘rI..1-, Rmr: nu: Im<)1<m—'ARMm- \MS|)()€\i AND mm 1-1. ‘( wk's'H'.M'1! I‘rN'nnI\’ 74 LAW 9 Image: The See- saw. Up and down and up and down go the arguers, getting nowhere fast. Get off the seesaw and show them your mean ing without kick ing or pushing. Leave them at the top and let gravity bring them gently to the ground. Authority: Never argue. In society nothing must be dis cussed; 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 lie. 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 fmm your deceptive move. When caught in a lie, the more emotional and cer- tain you appear, the less likely it seems that you are lying. This technique has saved the hide of many a con artist. Once Count Victor Lustig, swindle: 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 Sherifi Richards,

of Rernsen County, Oklahoma, was not the kind of man to accept being conned out of $10,000, and one morning 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, “I’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 low- cred. Lustig next went to phase two in the argument tactic: He poured out a whole bunch of technical gobbledygook about the borfis operation, com- pletely beguiling the sheriff, who now appeared less sure of himself and ar- gued less forcefully. “Look,” said Lusfig, “I’ll give you your money back right now. I’ll also give you written instruclions on how to work the ma- chine and I’ll 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 totally, 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 morning. He finally found what he was looking for: A short arficle reporting Sheriff Richa.rcls’s arrest, trial, and conviction for passing counterfeit notes. Lustig had won the argument; the sheriffnever bothered him again. LAWS) ; 7..

LAW 10 INFECTH3N:AVOID7UIE LHVPLAPPY'A$€D UTQLLHCKH7 }UDGMENT You can diefrom someone else’s mimy—emotizmal states are as infections as diseases. I/bu may jiael you me help ing the drowning man but you are 071532 precipitating your own disaster The unfortunate sometimes draw mis- fortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. As- sociate with the happy andfmtvmate instead.

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW Born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1813, Marie Gilbert came to Paris in the 18405 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 courtesa.n—-quicldy one of the more successful in Paris. Only one man could salvage Lola’s dancing career: Alexandre Du- jaxier, owner of the newspaper with the largest circulation in France, and also the newspaper’s drama critic. She decided to woo and conquer him. Investigating his habits, she discovered that he went riding every morning. An excellent horsewoman herself, she rode out one morning and “acciden~ tally” ran into him. 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 Duja.rier’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 him that she had eloped at age nineteen with an Englishman, and was still legally married.) Although Dujarier was deeply in love, his life started to slide downhill. His fortunes in business changed and influential friends began to avoid him. 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 himself. There, hopelessly drunk, be insulted an influential drama critic, jean-Baptiste Rosemond de Beauvallon, perhaps because of something the critic had said about Lola. The following morning Beauvallon challenged him to a duel. Beauvallon was one of the best pistol shots in France. Du- jarier 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 break- fastirig 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 favorseeking stranger. Lola pushed aside the sentries and entered his room anyway. In the process, the front of her dress somehow got torn (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. 'lllI. \l 'l .‘\\l) ‘IIIl-, iI.\\\l’\\ll l: A I1utf<mmlilr«'If azrriczl by (I (‘row In the top ofu tall ('41H1[)tlIlll(’, and byfrzl/mg Into a crevice sum evdrd in escaping Its drvad fall’. It then lmrnilglzi the wall to .shelter‘ it. by appealing in it by the grace of (lad, and /7f(ll.i'lI2g1I.t height. aml the l)€t,ll4!_\;' um! noble lune ofirr bells. “/ilai," it went on, “us llmw not hem able to drop lnvieatli the green lmznchcs of my old Father and to lie in the fallow earth cnve'r'('d by hit fallen lt’tll7£’,.S, ([0 you. at least, not abm1— Jon mrr. When I found mysr>Ifln the hunk of the cruel (row I made 41 wow. rim! 1} l l:‘S(‘d]}L’(l I would end my life in :2 little hole." A! there wzrrzls, the wall, movwl Wllh tomprlrsirm, was rwztcnl to rlmlrrr the nut in the spot wluzre it had fallm. Within (1 slmn time, Ill? nut burst open: 11.3‘ mom :'c'a(:Izc.rl In between the new . of the .xl(me.\' and began 1:) push them apart; its ShU0{.\‘ p}‘€.S’.\‘t’(l up lowurd the .$I\ y. 'l'lIt’_\-‘ won rose above the hit/[I/l‘.II‘£,’, and as the Iwiiiml rows grrw rhirkrr they began to thrust the walls apart and force the ancient .s'tmn7.r from their 0111 gzlaaar. Tlzcoz lltr’ will, too late and in vain. l)(!W{lll(’Ll (/14: rzzurc of [Ar (l£’.$'I)'HL'll(IIl, and in short lime it fell in min. LEONARDO DA Vim l. 145} lSl9 LAW 10 T7

In luv mm limo Smmn Yllrrirlultr wax u grim 1/0110!‘ I rwtmnb¢-:- that I Izupjrz-:ze>11 Io may: 1211!: one day at I/1:’ 12mm’ of 1! rich Mu’ (‘()I7)‘l4II![Ili!’(’{ Ilv told his /mriynz when cIi.»<'u.r.mu,v wuvs to cure him that am» mi-um mu‘ m jlrnvi/Ir’ m’<'u.\iml.\' for me to eujnv /on mmpmzy.' He could then fix‘ his cgvrw (:1: tin! fr4*.vi1:1<*.s'.r afmy rmnaimlatlcv and his Iliutiglm. on me over- ,/iuwing <‘lm*rf'uIIut\:r rmzi vi},/or o_/"my ymtrxg man/marl: layfilling all his‘ .m:.s'm' with the flower nfm ymuh his m/ulilion might im/)rm>42 lI('_!i>rgu1 In add that I7liIE(' znighi gt‘! lV(}YS€. Mu,\1'.\;r.:~u«:. 1533 1392 Mmzy rhin;,:.s are said If) he injk‘L'!lrm.s', .S/m’pi- m’S.\‘ can he m(};'¢tt'm4.s. mu! yawning us‘ well. In Ilzrjqe-xru/c untrvgy. when tin: mmny ix agfluiml mu! .\‘}mws an im'IimIIim1 I0 rmli, (In no) miml in 1.114‘ l'('fl)'(. MtIl<(' a slum‘ of cumplolt’ w1hnru3.r.s‘, and my enemy wil/ be mkm by mm and will I?('('I7Int’ mlu.w¢l. You iIlfl't.'1 than spirit. You nut infer‘! mm: with H cr:mfrz'r'. rIr£(I1/~‘./ikt‘.\[3ir('I. with Imwzlrxm, or (‘W311 Iwukrw.s:r. :\ il()l)K oi l~1\'l?R)Vi}>. l‘<’liY‘\\«1¢)'l'(l Mi sum. xv H-,\lI.Iv.’\r'lIt 4') «mm: 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. Al» though he had been known as a miser, and was not given to flights of fancy, he started to shower Lola with and to write poetry for her. Now his favored mistress, she catapulted to fame and fortune overnight. 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 him with her riding crop. On an- other occasion she took her dog, unleashed, out for a stroll. The dog at» tacked a passerby, but instead of helping the men get the dog away, she whipped him 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 kings entourage tried to wake him to the dangers of the affair, but those who criticized Lola were summarily fired. While Bavarians who had loved their king now outwardly disre— spected him, 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 powerful 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 vir~ rually 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 pres- sure. 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 Bevan‘- ans’ wrath was turned 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 re- spectability, 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 olficer who was the son of an influential hamster. 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 spell. 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 occa- sion Lola slashed him with a. knife. Finally, she drove him away. Returning 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 autobiogra- phy went bankrupt In 1853 Lola moved to California, 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 felt 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 clisease--for Lola Montez could not be helped. Her problems were too deep. Once the lover identified with them, he was lost. He would find himself embroiled in quarrels. The infection would spread to his fam- ily and friends, or, in the case of Ludwig, to an entire nation. The only so lution would be to cut her off, or suller an eventual collapse. The infecting-character type is not restricted to women; it has nothing to do with gender. It stems from an inward instability that radiates outward, drawing disaster upon itself. There is almost a desire to destroy and unset tle. You could spend a lifetime studying the pathology of infecting charac- ters, 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 ix1fector’s presence or suffer the consequences. Yami 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, . . r Such men as he he never at heart is ease while: they behold a greater than themselves, and therefore are they very dangmusv Julius Caesar. William .5’/mlms/Morn, I564-I616 KEYS TO POWER Those misfortunates among us who have been brought down by circum- stances beyond their control deserve all the help and sympathy we can give them. But there are others who are not born to misfortune or unhappi~ ness, but who draw it upon themselves by their destructive actions and un- settling 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 us. The reason is siinple-humans are ex- tremely 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 infect» Regard nofr:<;(i.xl1 man as ('n!tun»'ri, ilzusrgh you may raiam n glfin/I man as wi.s'e;rJm1 (,‘.S'lt‘{,’IIl no ignorant abA'Iuint'r a /my anrelirr. Do not rmzsorr with fools. on/mcially those who m/zsidorlII(,II11~ rclw-s wixu. And be not s'e1_f-xaIi.sfi('(t with your own igrmmrzce. L6! vnur llI7é‘rt‘l)IlV.VL’ In‘ only with men ofguod nt/11t!e:f0r it In by such tI.\'.\‘0(‘IIl[l()Vl that nwn themselves‘ atmm to goon’ rzymzc. Du you not observe how wsarne-oil it rm'rrg£e(l wirlr ru.a'c.r or r‘E0lc‘f.\' and how. when it has been for .t‘()I)I£' little in associarimr with msm‘ or rztslrrrs, it Cfflllif? to {If sesame-oi} (am! is called ail r;gfrm‘z'.r or oil of w'r1i'e1.v? A MIRRUR FOR Hum r-:8, KAI l(A'Hs hm lSK/‘\NDAR. r~.r.i-vrwrn (‘l,N'l um LAW 10 79

50 LAW 10 mg power because their characters and emotions are so intense. They often present themselves as victims, making it difficult, at first, to see their mis- eries 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 infeclors is that you will waste valu able time and energy trying to free yourself. Through a kind of guilt by as- sociation, 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 against Julius 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 him up for the position of first praetorship, and gave the position to Brutus instead. Cassius brooded and broorled, his hatred for Caesar be coming pathological. Brutus himself, a. devoted republican, disliked Cae- sar’s dictatorship; had he had the patience to wait, he would have become the first man in Rome after Ca.esar‘s death, and could have undone the evil that the leader had wrought. But Cassius infected him with his own rancor, bending his ear daily with tales of Caesafs evil. He finally won Brutus over to the conspiracy. It was the beginning of a great tragedy. How many mis- fortunes 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 oveiwhelms 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 prob- Image: A Virus. Unseen, it lems. Infectors can be recognized by the misfortune they draw on them- enters your pores without selves, their turbulent past, their long line of broken ‘relationships, their un« warning, 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 infec- the 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 re main 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 plea: sure, and you must associate with them to share in the prospeiity they draw upon themselves.

This applies to more than good cheer and success: All positive quali~ ties can infect us. Talley:-and had many strange and intimidating traits, but most agreed that he surpassed all Frenchmen in gmciousness, 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 en- vied his minister’s way with people, his wit and his ability to charm 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 continued. Many of the rough edges were smoothed by his con- stant association with Talleyrand. . Use the positive side of this emotional osmosis to advantage. If, for ex- ample, 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 iso lation, force yourselfto befriend the gregarious. Never associate with those who share your defects——~they will reinforce everything that holds you back. Only create associations with positive aflinities. Make this a rule of life and you will benefit more than from all the therapy in the world. Authority: Recognize the fortu~ nate so that you may choose their company, and the 1mfortu— nate 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 Grecian, 1601-1658) REVERSAL 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 10 :81

LAW 11 LEARN TO KEEP PEOPLE DEPENDENT ON YOU _]U DGMI:‘.NT To maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted. The more you are relied on, the more fieedom you have. Make people depend on you for their happiness and jimspenly and you have nothing tofear. Never teach them enough so that they can do without yau.

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 ag~ gressor. How could the good citizens of Siena reward him? 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 him and then worship him as our patron saint.” And so they did. The Count of Carmagnola was one 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 himself, in the doge’s palace. On the way into the palace, however, he noticed that the guard was leading him in a different direction from usual. Crossing the famous Bridge of Sighs, he suddenly realized where they were taking him—to the dungeon. He was convicted on a trurnped~up charge and the next day in the Piazza San Marco, before a horrified crowd who could not understand how his fate had changed s drastically, he was beheaded. ' interpretation Many of the great tomlottieri of Renaissance Italy suffered the same fate as the patron saint of Siena and the Count of Carrnagnolaz They won battle after battle for their employers only to find themselves banished, impris- oned, or executed. The problem was not ingratitude; it was that there were so many other candottieri as able and valiant as they were. They were re- placeable. 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 Carma- gnola, 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 well as they can-—someone younger, fresher, less ex- pensive, 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. ()BSliRVANCF. O F THE LAVV When Otto von Bismarck became a deputy in the Prussian parliament in 1847, he was thirty~two years old and without an ally or friend. Looking llH‘l“t?IHiR>i< Two Imrw.» were rurr}— [rig two /omlx. The /‘rum Ham’ mm! we'll, /ml I/15‘ rear Iinrvu wm lazy. The’ mm lwgun In pi/t‘ Ilw rmr Ilnrwlx load on Ilzrglrnm Hm’,\‘<*: W/Mn (hvv /(ml rI'arn‘fl*rt‘<*(/ ll 4/”, INF rmr Iio1'sr>_/mzmt 1'! MW going, and hr mu! to the [rum I[nr\r': “'l})1lum1 xwmm’ Tin’ PTIUIY’ V0!’ /7_\", I/I(' NH‘I‘(’ you lmw to .\I1t?2'1:“ W/Imz they 1’L’(l(‘/IF!’ /In‘ m\‘z1r/1. mo owwr xnirl. "Wiw .\/um/:/ I Iuzldm Iwn /)Ul'.\(’.\ w/mu I (‘ll/‘IV u/I rm (my? I /md harm‘ gin’ I/l(‘ um’ all Ilwfmul zr wuun‘, uml rm rlw r/zmul nil/u» mixer; :11 [um I xlmll haw I/If’ }1irlr."Am/ so /24’ III(/ 1 Ami x. Li«¢>Tmsmy. l32X—l9lU LAW 1 1 ‘Z?

ilil t.~Vl' IHM \M\l.l\'l",l) RX lll\l\l.|.l~' Then the Woman llmglwrl and set the (m a bowl ofllle wurm wlure rmlk um] saizl, “0 Cut. you am as clever at a man. but remem- ber that your lmrguin was amt Imulr with me film: or the’ Dog. and 1' (lo Mm‘ know wins! they will do when they wine harm:" “Wl2aI i.\ that to rrwI"'.\'uirl my Car. “lfl haw my plmw in {he (‘ave by t/In’/ire and my warm wlzilv milk three mmax 11 day, I do not mm what the Man or the Dog can do." . , ./Ilml /rum that day to tl1l.\, liersr Bzelmal. threw proper Mm out uffivc will always throw I/aingx m a Cu: wlwnevw Ilwy nine! lam. and all proper l)og.r will (‘ham him up a tree, But the Cu: kvepx lulv .u'<l¢> of my bargain mu, I/0 will kill mire, and he will be Irina’ to Ilulrlm when he it in the lmu.<,1’. fast as lung nx (Hwy do not pull liix (ail too hard. Bu! Wl1(’Il he has done that. am! hetmrm times. and when the mmm gets up 1121.’! me ntglll mm:-.9, lzre l.\‘ the (‘In Ihm walk: by iz£7n.s'£'lfi am! all p!ru'e.y are alike to him, Tlzm he goes" out I!) the Wet Wild W’m1r1.s‘ or up the Wcl Wild 'I‘n'es or on the Wet Wild Roofs, wuvira,i' luix wild mil rmrl walking by his will! (one. ms; so Monies. RL'l}\‘v\RD KIPLINU, l86S— l 936 54 LAW 11 around him, he decided that the side to ally himself with was not the par liament’s liberals or conservatives, not any particular minister, and cer- tainly 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 pa1:lia~ merit; 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 Bis- marck stood by him. Finally, it all paid off: In 1851 Bismarck was made a minister in the king’s cabinet. Now he went to work. Time and again he forced the king’s hand, getting him 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 him to be firm and to rule with pride. And he slowly restored the king’s powers until the monarchy was once again the most powerful force in Prussia. When Frederick died, in 1861, his brother William assumed the throne. William disliked Bismarck intensely and had no intention of keep ing him around. But he also inherited the same situation his brother had: enemies galore, who wanted to nibble his power away. He actually consid- ered abdicating, feeling he lacked the strength to deal with this dangerous and precarious position. But Bismarck insinuated himself once again. He stood by the new king, gave him strength, and urged him into firm and de cisive 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 him his prime minister. The two quarreled often over policy——— Bismarck was much more conservative——but the king understood his own dependency. Whenever the prime minister threatened to resign, the king gave in to him, time after time. It was in fact Bismarck who set state policy. Years later, Bismarck’s actions as Pn1ssia’s prime minister led the vari ous German states to be united into one country. Now Bismarck finagled the king into letting himself be crowned emperor of Germany. Yet it was really Bismarck who had reached the heights of power. As rigl1t—hand man to the emperor, and as imperial chancellor zmd knighted prince, he pulled all the levers. lnterpretalion Most young and ambitious politicians looking out on the political landscape of 18405 Germany would have tried to build a power base among those with the most power. Bismarck saw different. Joining forces with the pow- erful can be foolish: They will swallow you up, just as the (loge 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 rulers or masters with whom you can create a relationship of do pendency. You become their strength, their intelligence, their spine. What power you hold! If they got rid of you the whole edifice would collapse.

Necessity rules the world. People rarely act unless compelled to. If you create no need for yourself, then you will be done away with at first oppor- tunity. 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 weak» ness with your own “iron and blood,” in Bisrn-arck’s phrase, then you will survive your masters as Bismarck did, You will have all the benefits of power without the thorns that come from being a master. Thus a wise prince will think ofways to keep his citizens ofevery sort and under every circumstance dependent on the state and on him; and than they will always be trustworthy. Nitculé ll/l(tt'hi(tzIellz'., 1 469-152 7 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 will» ingly 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 him great difficulty, or at least would mean valuable time lost in training another to replace you. Once such a relationship is es- tablished 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 ei- ther 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 to 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 mas ters 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 in- dependence: Their need for you frees you. Louis XI (1423-1483), the great Spider King of France, had a weak- ness 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 himself. 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 HI). I-.!.’\| I'|tl.|. \\l) Illll. \l\li /tn exzmvugar1/ _vozm,r,v Vine, vainly uIr1In1inu.»' of irztlepvnttmrt 0. and font! ofmmblmg 4:! large, rtr.\pi.xe<l the uflizmce Ufa slate/Iv elm that grew mrar, and courier) iwr cmbrtzzcsu. Having rixcn to wme small height without any kind oj'.mppnrt. she shot forth /n,-v~ ,'lim.ry hranrhr-.\‘ to u very rmcomnum and supw-/izmzis lmglli: cullilig on her m'igI1~ hour to take notice’ how (rule site wtmtmi his a.v.ri.vmm:e. "Poor [IljllI- natni rhrub." n';7.‘i(*rl the «rim. "how inconsis- ram‘ is thy mmlud.’ lV(:uIrl.s'I (hm! In‘ truly iudepeudmr, thou .rlmuz'r!.\'t mn>fuIl_v apply those /nicer to the e>nlurg<'nImt uflhy stem. which [hon lavislzrvr in vain upon i(IHlt‘L‘€.3‘StH‘)' _f'r)/iz1g4.'. I shortly shut! /.tt’hU/LI thee gruvelling on the gmmm‘; ye! co1mtu« mmceti, indvvrl, by many of the lmmtm race, who, itztctxicalxfd will! twziry. haw: de.vpi.s‘ctl cmnrmly; and who. 10 support for u mo.-nent their empty boast ofin(l(r[wmImm’. have cxlmumri the very mzmrr» oftt in f'rii'~ olous exp:-nses." l‘AI'tl.FS. Rmarur Dom! s V1, 1703-1764 LAW 11 85

86 LAW 1 l 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 soon 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 kings signal was never given. The man’s life was spared. The Spider King not only protected his astrologer for as long as he was alive, he lav- ished 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 pajntefls 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 ‘comb, 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 3. Michelangelo; you do have to have a skill that sets you apart from the crowd. You should create a situa- tion 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 en- twine yourself around the master; another person will do, as long as he or she too is indispensable in the chain. One day Harry Colin, president of Columbia Pictures, was visited in his office by a gloomy group of his executives. It was 1951, when the witch- hunc against Communists in Hollywood, carried on by the US. Congress’s House Un-American Activities Committee, was at its height. The execu- tives had bad news: One of their employees, the screenwriterjolm Howard Lawson, had been singled out as a Communist. They had to get rid of him night away or suffer the wrath of the committee.

Harry Cohn was no bleeding—heart liberal; in fact, he had always been a diehard Republican. His favorite politician was Benito Mussolini, whom he had once vis- ited, 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 him 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 rela- tionship. That was worth more than the terrible publicity brought to him 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 himself in so many areas of the political structure that to do away with him would lead to chaos. Michelangelds power was intensive, depending on one skill, his abil- ity as an artist; Kissinger’s was extensive. He got himself involved in so many aspects and departments of the administration that his involvement became a card in his hand. It also made him 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 secret- intelligence tactic. By knowing other people’s secrets, by holding informa- tion that they wouldn’t want broadcast, you seal your fate with theirs. You are untouchable. Ministers of secret police have held this position through» out the ages: They can make or break a king, or, as in the case of 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 warning: 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 II 187

885 Image: Vines with Many Thorns. Below, the roots grow deep and wide. Above, the vines push through bushes, entwine themselves 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. Authority: Make people depend on you. More is to be gained from - such dependence than courtesy. He who has slaked his thirst, immedi- ately turns his back on the well, no longer needing it. When depen~ dence disappears, so does civifity and decency, and then respect. The first lesson which experience should teach you is to keep hope alive but never satisfied, keeping even a royal patron ever in need of you. (Baltasar Gracién, 16014658) REVERSAL 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_]. P. Morgan or ajohn D. Rocke- feller———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 in- ternal pressure. They also stir up powerful resentment, making their ene- mies 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 mu- tual dependence, then, and to follow this critical law rather than look for its reversal. You will not have the unbearable pressure of beingon top, and the master above you will in essence be your slave, for kewill depend on you.

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 97”even tke most suspi- cious people. Once your selective honesty ojaens a hole in ikeir mmm; you can deceive and manipulate them at will. A timely g~zfi——-a Wojan ho1:se——zm'll serve the same purpose. 189

HI \\«.I-.54 H xnmu Ull IHH-.li (2|l\ll|,\|,\\ ['hlI1C‘(’.Y1‘0 (ii1m'p])<' Barri of Milan, wi1o.~;e drum in M95 fill! /mt willziu 1/w s’z'vmm’ntI1 ((‘ILlllV_\«’ . . . W115‘ a fort’- rumzer nftllul \'[7£'tIl£l/ 1_ypv n/Uturlarumual II(lH’I§{(U(’I'. my (‘our- riw or "mvuiir-r" im/mxmr. . . . llis real puriml 0/ izlurv In-gut: c1j'Ie.rInr mover! in AnI.m»rrium, l'I'wr€ hr lM.l‘Ul'l1¢'(I (hr min 0/ Medico Univcrsale, ntainrtium-'<I 41 ;:v('uI reimw, and draw’ almn1 in u mm-I: wiz/z six lmr.\'e.u , . . l’:rr;'eieI.v .\‘In'mm’:I (0 him. and mnw invali(l.\‘ /mil I/’2t’I?l.\‘(‘[1’Af.\ mrrivri in .\‘t'dllIl c'fmiI'.\‘ 1//I film wit)’ /lmm Purix In his ])/Ht‘! in Ams/vnlum. Burn rank no /lctyvtnml for his cun.\'uIluI[m1.x: Ho rim:-i/um-d _z:rvm xmm among rile /mar zmzl was ncwr krmwrl lo rmrvrw any 121112142‘)- zlu-oug/: Ill1‘]:(L\'I 1/I’ hills of c.t'cfmI:grr. /3: 11¢’ c (m(lI'H((,‘([ to live wirlz s‘m'I1.splcIulru'. m'n,'r- ilwlccszr, 21 was [H‘l’\‘!:I72(’1’ rim! ht’ pa. ml lhs‘ p/u'lu.m/Jlwrr ,\trm(é. Mir/rlwily I/ILV‘ /suiwjlic» Im rlimpjwtlrml frmn Am,m'r¢1un1, Then 1'! was (lI\'::ov<,'r'mI that In’ 11.41:! lmicwi witir lam: mmwy and rlimnolzrlx (hm /mt! [mew plurcul in /11’: r'I1m'gv. -in» w)w1«R<n rm ¢‘HAR1.v\\,\7\. (Fm-Ln. or FR/\!~«(‘I W0, W3‘) 90 0 LAW12 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 himself as Count Victor Lustig. He promised that if Capone gave him $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: Same- thing about the man was different-—-his classy style, his manna-r—and so Capone decided to play along. He counted out {he 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 money- making schemes in progress. The $50,000 remained in the bank box untouched. Lustig made no ef- fort 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 gangstefs stony~faced bodyguards, smiled apologetically, and said, “Please accept my profound regrets, Mr. Capone. I’m sorry to report that the plan failed . . . I failed.” Capone slowly stood up. He glowered at Lustig, debating which part of the river to throw him 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 I thought they would. I would have loved to have doubled your money for you and for myself»-—Lord knows I 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. I expected either one hundred thousand dollars or nothing. But this. . . get- ting my money back . . . well.” “Again my apologies, ML Capone,” said Lustig, as he picked up his hat and began to leave. “My God! You’re hon- est!” 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, tak- ing 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 him- self on his refinement and culture, was one of the great con arfists of mod- ern 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 trouble- makers. The con artists 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 rrfistrusting oth- ers. No one around him 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 him. Lusiig’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. Everything turns gray when I don ’t have at least one mark an the horizon. Life then seems empty and depressing. I cannot understand honest mm. They lead desperate lives, full ofbaredom. (mm: ‘.1110: Lu.«u,«;, ISO!) :94? KEYS ’l‘(.) P()\/\"l:lR The essence of deception is distraction. Distracting the people you want to deceive gives you the time and space to do something they won’: notice. An act of kindness, generosity, or honesty is often the most powerful form of distraction because it disanns other people’s suspicions. It tums them into children, eagerly lapping up any kind of a.ft'ectiona.te gesture. In ancient China this was called “giving before you take”--the giving makes it hard for the other person to notice the taldng. It is a device with infinite practical uses. Brazenly taking something from someone is danger- ous, even for the powerful. The victim will plot revenge. It is also danger- ous 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, at generous act, a kind favor, an “l1on~ est” admission-—whatever it takes. Selective honesty is best employed on your first encounter with some one. 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 in- vested heavily in the Erie Railroad, then discovered that the market had L/SW12 91

92, LAW l2 been flooded with a vast amount of phony stock certificates for the com» party. He stood to lose a fortune and to suffer a lot of embarrassment. In the midst of this crisis, a man named Lord john Gordon- Gordon of- fered to help. Gordon—Gordon, a Scottish lord, had apparently made a small fortune investing in railroads. By hiring some handwriting experts 'Gordon—Gordon was able to prove to Gould that the culprits for the phony stock certificates were actu- ally several top executives with the Erie Railroad itself. Gould was grateful. Gordon«Gordon then proposed that he and Gould join forces to buy up a controlling interest in Erie. Gould agreed. For a while the venture ap- peared 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 Goi-donvGordon was a con man, but his initial act of honesty and sup port had so blinded Gould that it took the loss of millions for him to see through the scheme. A single act of honesty is often not enough. What is required is a repu- tation for honesty, built on a. series of acts-—but these can be quite inconse- quential. Once this reputation is established, as with first impressions, it is hard to shake. ~ In ancient China, Duke Wu of Chéng decided it was time to take over the increasingly powerful kingdom of Ho. Telling no one of his plan, he married his daughter to Hu’s ruler. He then called a oouncil and asked his ministers, “I am considering a military campaign. Which country should we invade?” As he had expected, one of his ministers replied, “H11 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 considering other tokens of Wu’s honesty and the marriage with his daughter, he took no pre- cautions to defend himself from Chéng. A few weeks later, Chéng 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, apparently selfless act will serve. Perhaps the best such act, though, is one of generosity. Few people can resist a gift, 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, instantly lowering our dc» lenses. 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 ulterior motives. A gift is the perfect object in which to hide a decep— live 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 close 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 must find some cunning stratagem.” The cun— ning Greek leader Odysseus then came up with the idea of building a giant wooden horse, hiding soldiers inside it, then offering it to the Trojans as a gift. Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, was disgusted with this idea; it was unmanly. Better for thousands to die on the battlefield than to gain victory so deceitfully. But the soldiers, faced with a choice between another ten years of manliness, honor, and 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 un~ successfully. One day, however, when the Roman general Camillus was encamped outside the city, he suddenly saw a man leading some children toward him. 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 in- gratiating himself with Camillus, the city’s enemy. Camillus did not take the children hostage. He stripped the teadier, 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 hostage ploy would not have ended the war, at least not right away. By turning the situation around, he earned his enemy’s trust and respecg 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 kind- ness can turn a Capone into a gullible child. As with any emotional ap- proach, 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. I m a g e: T h e Trojan Horse. Your guile is hidden inside a magnificent gift that proves irresistible to your opponent. The walls open. Once inside, wreak havoc. LAW 12 1 93

94 LAW 12 Authority: When Duke Hsien of Chin was about to raid Yii, he presented to them a jade and a team of horses. When Earl Chih was about to raid Cl1’ou~yu, he presented to them grand chariots. Hence the saying: “When you are about to take. you should give." (Han-feivtzn, Chinese philosopher, third century B.C.} REVERSAL When you have a history of deceit behind you, no amount of honesty, gen- erosity, or kindness will fool people. In fact it will only call attention to it- self. 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 can of his career, was about to sell the Eiffel Tower to an unsuspecting indusixialist who believed the govern- ment was auctioning it off for scrap metal. The industrialist was prepared to hand over a huge sum of money to Lustig, who had successfully imper- sonated a government official. At the last minute, however, the mark was suspicious. Something about Lustig bothered him. 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 industlialist 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 mas- ter liar and deceiver spread. At the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), he would spin fabulous stories and make impossible remarlm 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 distin- guish Talleyi-and’s real decepfions 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 your tracks, even making you admired for the honesty of your dishonesty.

13 WHEN ASKING FOR HELP, APPEAL TO PEOPLE’S SELF-INTEREST, NEVER TO THEIR MERCY OR GRATITUDE JUDGMENT Ifyou need to cum to an allyfor help, do not bother to re- mind him ofyour past assistzmm and goad deeds. He will find a way to you. Instead, uncover some- thing in your request, arr in your ailiance with him, that will lzenqit him, and emphasize it out ofall prnportian. Hz: will mspond enthusiastically when he sees smnetkéng to be gainedfor himself ‘95

Illl’ |’l‘,/\."~‘A,'\'| »\'\l) 'I‘l||'.A|’|‘l -Tl{l}l'l A peasant had in his garden an apple-tree. which bore no fruit, but only served as a perch for (he sparrows‘ and grasshoppers. He rc.wlvc'd to our il down, and, taking his ax in lmml, made a hold stmkre at its roots. The grasslxappzm and spar- rows emreated him not I!) cut down the tree that .\‘h€l((‘I’(,'d them, but to spare it, and they would sing (0 him and ltghlen his labors. He paid no nrrmlzrm I0 their request, bu! gave the tree Ll second and [1 third blow with his ax. When he reached I/1e hollow Uflhe true, he found a hive full of honey. Having tasted the honeym11xb, he threw down his ax, am}, looking on the tree as sacred, took great care ofit. .S'clf—tn1ere.s'r alone ntoves sorne men. I—'Am,r:s, Air. P. sixru CEl\'TURY 13 <:. 96 3 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 for» gotten them. His ambition outweighed any gratitude he felt. 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 gov- ernor whom Castruccio had left behind to rule the city. Riots broke out, and the Castmccio 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 wis- est member of the clan, and his family agreed to put their trust in his diplcw macy 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 Stefa.no’s agency, and he was surprised by the city’s calm and peace. Ste- fano 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 family’s past generosity to Castzuccio. For all 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 sup- ported him. Castmccio 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 jus- tice 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 Castruc cios 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 close 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 re- bellion began, to end it and place oneself at his mercy was the most dan— gerous 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 in- fluence 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 obliga- tion. Not only is a man not obliged to be grateful, gratitude is often a terri- ble burden that he gladly discards. And in this case Castruccio rid himself of his obligations to the Poggios by eliminating the Poggios. OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW In 4-33 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 con- flict. Both parties sent ambassadors to Athens to try to win over the Atheni~ ans 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 achnitted, 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 rival state of Sparta. That, unfortunately, was all Oorcyra 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 fi- nally 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 xubjeciive that nothing really intermls zhem bu! 1hmn.reIw.v. T/zr,-y always think of their own casn at man as (war any remark is made, and their whole auenukm is erzgrmxscd and abvorbed by the Inerest clmnre rr:fr:r- mure to anything which uffct/s them personally, be it never so rcrnoze. /\R1‘liUR S(:xmm«‘r~:uALrr-.12. l7XX—l8tI(l LAW I3 97

‘)5’: 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 preemi- nent realists of classical Greece. With them, all the rhetoric, all the emo- tional 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 refer- ences 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 fast pragmatic-—they will rarely act against their own self-interest. It has always been a rule that the weak should be subject to the strong; and besides, we consider that we am worthy ofour power. Up till 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. Conréderatiores ofthis kind have never yet turned people aside [mm the opportunities of agrandizemeni offered by superior strength. A thenmrr. r.’pre.rwata.£ir»s' lo Sf1Irrifi. quulmi in The Pcloponnesian War, '£‘hur._wiz'dn.i, (2. 4(15» 395 14.1.’. 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 ask- ing 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 peopleowho 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 selfdnterest, he merely sees you as desperate or, at best, a waste of time.

In the sixteenth century, Portuguese missionaries tried for years to con vert the people ofjapan to Catholicism, while at the same time Portugal had a monopoly on trade between japan and Europe. Although the mis- sionaries 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 practicalminded Dutch. Japan and Holland were vastly different cultures, but each shared a timeless and universal concern: selfiinterest. Every person you deal with is like another culuire, an alien land with a past that has nothing to do with yours. Yet you can bypass the differences between you and him by appeal- ing to his self—interest. Do not be subtle: You have valuable knowledge to share, you will fill his coffers with gold, you will make him live longer and happier. This is a language that all of us speak and understand. A key step in the process is to understand the other person’s psychol~ ogy. Is he vain? Is he concerned about his reputation or his social standing? Does he have enemies you could help him vanquish? Is he simply mod» vated by money and power? When the Mongols invaded China in the twelfth century, they threab erred 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, IeveI~ ing 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 himself, Ch’u«Ts’ai had come to appreciate the superiority of Chinese cul- ture. He managed to make himself a trusted adviser to Genghis Khan, and persuaded him that he would reap riches out of the place if, instead of de straying it, he simply taxed everyone who lived there. Khan saw the wis- dom in this and did as Ch’u—Ts‘a.i advised. When Khan took the city of Kaifeng, after a long siege, and decided to massaxtre its inhabitants (as he had in other cities that had resisted him), Ch’u~Ts’ai told him 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 well. He was a barbaric peasant who cared nothing for culuire, or indeed for anything other than warfare 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

1 00 LAW 13 way inside the other persorfs mind, to see their needs and interests, to get rid of the screen of your own feelings that obscure the truth. Master this an and there will be no limits to what you can accomplish. Image: A Cord that Binds. The cord of mercy and grati- tude is threadbare. and will break at the first shock. Do not throw such a lifeline. T h e c o r d 0 f mutual self-inter- est is woven of many fibers and cannot easily be severed. It will serve you well for years. Authority: The shortest and best way to make your for tune is to let people see clearly that it is in their interests to promote yours. (jean de La Bruyere. l645—169(i) REVERSAI. Some people will see an appeal to their selfiinterest 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 strong 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. Some people will be put off by it, because they dorft want to seem to be motivated by such things. They need opportunities to display their good heart, Do not be shy. Give them that opportunity. It’s not as if you are con» ning 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, do not appeal to their charity. When they want to look charitable and noble, do not ap- peal to their greed.

LAW 14 P()SElAS.AfiFRIEPJD, VVCHRKQAS.A.SPY’ JUDGMENT Knowing about your rival is critical. Use spies’ to gather valuable infmrmation that will keep you a step ahead. Better stz'll: Play the spy yourself. In polite social encoun~ ters, learn to pmbe. Ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions. There is no occa- sion that is not an ojiponfunityfor artful spying. 107

I02 LAW 14 OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW Joseph Duveen was undoubtedly the greatest art dealer of his time—from 1904 to 194-0 he almost single—handedly rnonopolized America’s million- aire art-collecting market. But one prize plum eluded him: the industrialist Andrew Mellon. Before he died, Duveen was determined to make Mellon a client. Duveen’s friends said this was an impossible dreani. Mellon was a stiff, taciturn man. The stories he had heard about the congenial, talkative Du- veen rubbed him the wrong way—-he had made it clear 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, learning the man’s habits, tastes, phobias. To do this, he secretly put several of Mellon’s staff on his own payroll, worming valuable informa- tion 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 himself 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 mak- ing his way down the corridor to ring for the lift. Duveen’s valet hurriedly helped Duveen with his own overcoat. Sec» onds later, Duveen entered the lift, and lo and behold, there was Mellon. “How do you do, Mr. Mellon?” said Duveen, introducing himself. “I am on my way to the National Gallery to look at some pictures.” How uncanny- that 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 ex- pected. The man was charming and agreeable, and clearly had exquisite taste. When they returned to New York, Mellon visited Duveen’s exclusive 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 client. Interpretation A man as ambitious and competitive as Joseph Duveen left nothing to chance. What’s the point of winging ig of just hoping you may be able to charm this or that client? 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 him a step ahead. A rival of Duveen’s who wanted to make Henry Frick a client noticed that when- ever he visited this wealthy New Yorker, Duveen was there before him, 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 dis- heartened them, until many simply gave up going after the wealthy clients 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 charm- ing, 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, Bmhmins through scriptures and the rest of the people through their normal eyes. Kantily/1, Indian philmoplm; third amtury 3.1:. 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 con- sult the horoscope, or read tarot cards: You have more concrete means 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 in- formation, 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 pa- lite 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 14 103

Ifyon have reaxon to suspect that a [lemon :5 Iellingyuu a lie, Io/Ik ax (hmzgh you lzzlicved ewry word he said. Thix willgive him coumgr: to gr; on; he will become more Vt’/1(,’mI'Nl in Im a.s:m‘ltons, and in the and betray hitnreljj Again, ifyou perceive thal a person iv trying to ¢:zmL'ruI so-nmlhing from you, but with only partial Sl.(f‘l‘t?A‘.\', look as though you did not believe him. The uppo» sition on your part will provoke him into lead- ing out his re:\‘¢'rve of mu/1 and bringing the whole force of it to Imrr upon your l'rIcrez1u7r':y. A R Fl II ;x S\"llOPl-INlIAI.‘l£R, l78X»lX6(l 104 LAW 14 Throughout Talleyrand’s life, people said he was a superb conversa- tionalist—yet he actually said very little. 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 watch- ing the diplomats’ reactions to this madealp 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 personal- ity, 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 learn, you malce 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 strictly avoid you. Emphasize friendly chatter, not valuable information. Your search for gems of information can- not be too obvious, or your probing questions will reveal more about your self 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 false con‘ fession and they will give you a real one. Another trick was identified by the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who suggested vehemently contra- dicting people you’re in conversation with as a way of irritating them, stir— ring them up so that they lose some of the control over their words. In their emotional reaction 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 little traps that make them reveal things about themselves. Chosroes II, a notoriously clever seventlrcentury king of the Persians, had many ways of seeing through his subjects without raising suspicion. If he noticed, for instance, that two of his couruers 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 tmsted 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 him aside to confess, “I meant to kill your friend because of certain information that had reached me, but, when I investigated the mat- ter, I 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 se cret had been revealed. He would ban the second courtier from his court, letting him 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 him. The first courtier, however, had revealed a secret, and him Chosroes would ban from his entire kingdom. It may seem an odd form of spying that reveals not empirical informa: tion 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 learn 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. [ m a 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 them. Nobody is safe from the eye but you. Authority: Now, the reason a brilliant sovereign and a wise general conquer the enemy 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, not by astrologic calcu lations. It must be obtained from men who know the enemy sit- uati0n—-from spies. (Sun-tzu, The Art if War, fourth century B.C.) LAW 14 I05

106 LAW H 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 Mn- ston Churchill said, “Truth is so precious that she should always be at» tended by a bodyguard of lies.” You must surround yourself with such a bodyguard, so that your truth cannot be penetrated. By planting the infor- mation of your choice, you control the game. In 1944 the Nazis’ rocket-bomb attacks on London suddenly escalated. Over two thousand V-1 flying bombs fell on the city, killing more than five thousand people and wounding many more, Somehow, however, the Ger- mans consistently missed their targets. Bombs that were intended for Tower Bridge, or Piccadilly, would fall well short of the city, landing in the less populated suburbs. This was because, in fixing their targets, the Ger- mans relied on secret agents they had planted in England. They did not know that these agents had been discovered, and that in their place, English—c0ntrolled 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 ad vantage. While spying gives you a third eye, disinformation puts out one of your enemy’s eyes. A cyclops, he always misses his target.

LAW 15 (ZRIJSEIYNDLH EPJEhAY'TT)T¥&LIJ{ JUDGMENT All greai leaders since Moses have known that a fe(med enemy must be crushed completely. (Sometimes they have learned this the hard way. ) Ifmze ember is kgfi alight, no matter how dimly it smotders, afim will eventually break out. More is £05: timmgh stopping hagfway than through mtal annihilation: The enemy will recover; and will seek revenge. Crush him, not only in body but in spiiit. f 107

7'/11' remmmzs ofmz erieniy can ht‘(‘t,‘.Vf1t’ uriiw. like lIm,\'r.’ ofa 4I1rm.\(' or fin‘. Ilclzct’. ilmw Sitould be ener- nzinalcd c'mnpIcIr'/y.. . . One xlmultl never igrmro rm manry, k/zow:'ug!1iIn to be weak. He a’u‘z'omes <Ilmr;eruur in due mur.w, It/(P the spark 0/'fir<.' in 14 Izaysluek. Km,» I’iLYA, INIH/\N PHiLi)$l)ir‘HFR, ‘IHIRU t‘l<.‘l'I‘\fR\’ tax. ‘|'Hl~. |‘l(—\P H wM'\|l§y‘\(1| .1 ‘\ On the day Ramiro was eaiemzezt. ’ /’Burgr'a/‘ quit Cl'.)'(?ViLi‘, lreuvmg (he muliluted hudy an the town square, and rr1arrIu>r.i xnu 1/I. Three days lam: hn zrrrtred :11 Farzo, Wht‘I'L‘ he rL'c‘m'vezI the (’IlVU_Vs‘ Uflhe z‘lI_\= of Ancmw, who assured him Of!/l(‘ii’ loyalty. A nmssertger/rurra Vltvllozzo Vmzlli ummunced {lull the little /ldrrzrlic par! of Siniguglin had .s'w‘rw1- rlrrrvd to the C(7l1LlOIll€!1'l /mercenary soldiers] Only Iiw cimrlrrl, in drnrgc afilm Genoese Andrea Daria. still /XL‘/(1 (ml, and l)nmr refllxezi to hand it ovrrr m azzyom: creep: (Tamra /aimse/1. /Borgild rml word Illa! he would l1N1t’(‘. lhe ne :2 rluy, which was far! wine: the 1(}A.‘3\ LAW 15 '1‘RANSGRESS[Ol\' 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 no- bility; large and powerful, given to bouts of violence and temper, a bit dull- witted, 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 some thing 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 13.0., 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 Hsietryang first, and perhaps would assume command of the entire anny. At one point on the northern front, Hsiang’s commander, Sung Yi, hesitated in sending his troops into battle. Furious, Hsiang entered Sung Yi’s tent, proclaimed him a traitor, cut off his head, and assumed sole com~ mand of the army. Without waiting for orders, he left the northern front and marched directly on Hsien—yang. He felt certain he was the better sol- dier and general than Liu, but, to his utter astonishment, his rival, leading a smaller, swifter army, managed to reach Hsien-yang first. Hsiang had an adviser, Fan Tseng, who warned him, “This village headman [Liu Fang] 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 rival before it was too late. He told the general to invite the wily peasant to a banquet at their camp outside Hsien-yang, and, in the midst of a celebratory sword dance, to have his head out off. The invitation was sent; Liu fell for the trap, and came to the banquet. But I-Isiang 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 3. 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 him, and he abandoned the city. Hsiang cap~ tured Hsien-yang, murdered the young prince of Ch’in, and burned the city to the ground. Liu was now Hsiang’s bitter enemy, and he pursued him for many months, finally cornering him in a walled city. Lacking food, his army in disarray, Liu sued for peace. Again Fan Tseng wamed Hsiang, “Crush him now! If you let him 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 ac- knowledge him 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 rival 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 I shall boil your father alive!” Liu calmly arr swered, “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 garri- son. For the first time the tables were turned. Now it was Hsiang who sued for peace. Liu’s top adviser urged him to destroy Hsiang, crush his army, show no mercy. “To let him go would be like rearing a tiger——it will devour you later,” the adviser said. Liu agreed. Making a false treaty, he lured Hsiarig 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 rival if it served his purposes. But with Liu Pang he acted differently. He respected his rival, and did not want to defeat him through deception; he wanted to prove his superiority on the battle field, even to force the clever Liu to surrender and to serve him. Every time he had his rival in his hands, something made him hesitat&——a fatal sympa~ thy 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 once the tables were tamed. This is the fate that faces all of us when we sympathize with our ene mics, when pity, or the hope of reconciliation, makes us pull back from doing away with them. We only strengthen their fear and hatred of us. We have beaten them, and they are humiliated; yet we nurture these resentful vipers who will one day kill us. Power cannot be dealt with this way. It must be exterrninated, crushed, and denied the chance to return to haunt us. This is all the truer with a former friend who has become an enemy. The law governing fatal antagonisnis reads: Reconciliation is out of the question. Only one side can win, and it must win totally. Liu Pang learned this lesson well. After defeating Hsiang Yu, this son condoitien waizlrd m /war. ()I1L‘f’ in’ reurhuzl Sinigriglirx. Ccstire would he an €‘(Lt‘,V pry); caught between the cimrlr-I and tlwir jnruzs ringizzg rlqv town... . '/‘hr condottieri were sure they had milzmry .s'uperim'ity. believing that the Ilepurmre of the Frmch troops lmd left (.‘c.mre with only 11 mm)! firfsic’. In. fact. at-rordirsg zo M(zchiav¢>l1i, ffiarginj had left (‘arena with rm tlroustmd r'nfzm:r_x~’~ men and three thou- sand Iznrse, taking pairls to spin up his nzew so thin‘ they would march along parallel roams beforz? r:onverg- mg on Sirtigagliu. Tilt‘ re'u.ynr1 for such a large force was that he knew. from a crmfmwiozz (’x(mr,'Ie<l from Ramiro ([1! Lara), wlml the condouicri had up their sleeve. He {lIer(‘— fore decided re turn their own imp zrgniozsi them. This was the muslerpiece of trickery Ihal the historian Paolo G'imsio later called “thr- magnijirenr z1i—a»it.“ Al rlzxwn on December 31/1502], Cestlre rcurluzd the nutxkir/.y of Siniguglilz.. .. Led by Mit'ltel()lI() Corvllu. Cesare ad mrzce guard of two ltumlrcd laI1fP.\' look up its prlrltiotl on the (amt! bridge.. . . 'I‘i:is corztml ofrhe bridge effectively prevented the ,c:mr;2z'ra« tors‘ troops from with- ' Ilmwlhlg,. . . Cesare greeted the condouieri offusivcly and irzllitezl them to j()ll’l him.. . . A/Iirlzelorlu LAW 15 I09

hm! prvpurmi the !’aIa7.:'.n l2ermIr(lt'no /or (/m‘a1/u's' l(.~'(', and the zlu/<4: Em-'izwl the condotticri ittxizlr‘. _ . . Once imfoorx the men wvlr (,'HI.x'I1VV nrrzrstvc! by 5,-uarz'l.s' who crept up front line rear. . . . I (‘e.\‘arcI/ gave ttrtiem _/or rm attack on Vitellz ‘.5 am! Orsini Ir .x-ulditvx in the outlying areas. . . . '1'izuzm'ght, while zlmir rmopi were helm; crlmlwd, Miche- lazm rhrnulrd ()Iuw— mtto and Vilelli in me Ilernarrlirm palacrr. . . . .-‘l1 one JP/l .i’wL>up, ,’I3m_<.;iu/ had got rid of his former generals and worxt mtczrlies, ‘rm-: zmnums. haw (‘i.m;:.Ax. 193‘) To have zzizinzlete vmury, you rrnm In: ruihlexs. N/\voLmN B<>N,M’ARTr-,, l 7(i‘)~ 1 821 110 , LAW15 of a farmer went on to become supreme commander of the armies of Ch’u. Crushing his next n'val—the king of Ch’u, his own former leader—l1e 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. Kuutilyu, Indian plzilnsupher, zhml century 11. (I. OBSERVANCE OF ‘THE LAW Wu Chan, born in Ad). 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’a.i Tsung. The imperial harem was a dangerous place, full of young concubines vying to become the emperor’s favorite. Wu’s beauty and forceful charac- ter 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 reliev- ing himself at the royal urinal. Even so, when the emperor died and Ken 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 befiiencling 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 soon 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 government to Wu Chao, who was from then on known as Empress Wu. Although now in a position of great power, Wu hardly felt 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 bean~ tiful young niece was becoming the emperor’s favorite. She poisoned the woman with a clay mixed into her food. In 675 her own son, touted as the

heir apparent, was poisoned as well. The next—eldest son———illegil:'ma.te, 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 flris meant that it was her youngest, most ineffectual son who finally ‘became emperor. In this way she contin- ued 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 le-R from the previous "Pang 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 spell her and. If, every time she got rid of a rival a new one appeared, the solution was simple: She had to crush them all or be killed herself. Other emperors be fore 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 forly—year reign was one of the longest in Chinese his- tory. Although the story of her bloody rise to power is well known, in China she is considered one of the period’s most able and effective rulers. A priest asked the dying Spanish statesman and general Ramon Maria Narvdez (1800-1868), “Does your Excellency forgive all your enemies?” “I do not have to forgive my ene1nies,"anrwmed Narmiez, “I have had them all shat.” 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 returned to haunt the lenient. “Crush the enemy” is a key strategic tenet of Surrtzu, the fourth—century—B.C. author of The Art ofl/Wzr. The idea is simple: Your enemies wish you ill. There is nothing they want more than to elimi- nate 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 re- venge. 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 I71

I12 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 gexr erally, knew the importance of this law. In i934 the Communist leader and some 75,000 poorly equipped soldiers fled into the desolate mountains of western China to escape Chiang K.ai—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 Commu- nists were no longer a threat. He chose to give up the chase and conceir trate on the Japanese. Ten years later the Communists had recovered enough to rout Chia.ng’s army. Chiang had forgotten the ancient wisdom of crushing the enemy; Mao had not. Chiang was pursued until he and his en- tire 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 practitioner may have been Moses, who learned it from God Him« self, when He parted the Red Sea for the Jews, then let the water {low back over the pursuing Egyptians so that “not so much as one of them re- mained.” When Moses returned from Mount Sinai with the Ten Corn- mandments and found his people worshipping the Golden Calf, he had every last offender slaughtered. And just before he died, he told his follow- ers, finally about to enter the Promised Land, that when they had defeated the tribes of Canaan they should “utterly destroy them . . . make no covenant with them, and show no mercy to them.” The goal of total victory is an axiom of modern warfare, and was codi- fied as such by Carl von Clausewitz, the premier philosopher of war. Ana» lyzing the campaigns of Napoleon, von Clausewitz wrote, “We do claim that direct annihilation of the enemy’s forces must always be the dominant consideration. . . . Once 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 capital, attacking his reserves and anything else that might give his country aid and comfort.” The reason for this is that afier war some 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 bid- ding. This law has applications far beyond the battlefield. Negotiation is the insidious viper that will eat away at your victory, 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 re~ main your enemies no matter what. But whatever wound you inflicted on them, deliberately or not, do not take their hatred personally. just recog» nize 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 ene- mies are rendered harmless. They have no hope of recovering, insinuating themselves and hurting you. And if they cannot be banished, at least un- derstand 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 war-iness. 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 half- deacl 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 Machiavelli, 1469-1527} LAW 15 ; 113

114 LAW 13 RE VE RSAL 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 possi- ble, than to make them suffer by your hand. In warfare, for example, a good general knows that if he attacks an army when it is cornered, its sol- diers 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 ultimately more demoralized by the retreat than by any defeat he might inflict on the battlefield. When you have someone on the ropes, then——-but only when you are sure they have no chance of recovery--you might let them hang themselves. Let them be the agents of their own de- struction. 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 n'sk—it may embolden the enemy, which still harbors a " grudge, but now has some room to operate. It is almost always wiser to crush your enemy. If they plot revenge years later, do not let your guard down, but simply crush them again.

LAW 16 USE ABSENCE TO INCREASE RESPECT AND HONOR UDGM ENT Too much cirtulatémz makes the price go down: The more you are seem and heardfmm, the more common you ap~ [Jean Ifyou are already established in a group, temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked about, even mom admired. You must learn when to leave. Cre- ate value thmugh scarcity. I15

'|‘l|l‘.lJ\\»ll.|. \\l)'l'l|ln Fl l\\'|'I’\(. .\lt(IK*§ The firm man who MW :1 (*an1cI_/lcrii The .\'e¢:r1rnl vnnmred wit/rm zlixtunw; The third dared slip a hnllm mum! il.\' hem}. Fanxiliariiv in (his ex1'5ten(,‘r3 .’l/h':I;e.\' ail’ lizingx tame. for what may seen: '12-rriixlv or bizarre. lV][(’l'l IIIICC’ UHF’ fyffh Have lmrl time lo <:cz‘[z'nzr1¢i:.n. Becomes quite (,‘(lI1N7l()7l[7lLI(7(’. Since I 'm rm mix thaym’, I've lrczmi u_['.verx(im:I.r ]m.s'tml by the shore Who, ,\ponin,g wmzv» thing for-away a/(mu, Crmlrln "I resist the ximms "A suiI!A sail! A mighzy mar2—r:f~ war!" Flive miim.-’es iaiur iris H packet hoot, And then u skiff; and than (I link‘, /lml finally some mcks imbhing Izlmur. I know o_fplmt_y' -\m':l: 7}) whom this rim)» applies- Pcople whom dirlcnrce nmgmfies. Who, (‘low 10, (Inn '1 amount IO much. sral.I=,< rm) I-,«nl,r:s‘. Jlww Ill‘, LA FUNIAINL |t’)2l—l(a95 116 LAW 16 TRANSGRESSION AND OBSPLRVANCE 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 dejaviac. 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 Bar jac, 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 Viemetta. 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 magic, and Pierre and the lady were reconciled. Pierre felt 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 bad hair» pened, but he turned the messengers away. He thought all 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-per- haps 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 helmet, and rode ofi" 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 forgive- ness for whatever slight had caused his anger. Imagine his confusion and despairw-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 him again. The next morning the troubadour regretted what he had done. He rode back to javiac, but the lady would not receive him, and ordered her servants to chase him away, across the drawbridge and over the hill. Guil- laume 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 ex- perienced the absence, the terrible absence, that can only inflame love. He wrote one of his most beautiful poems, “My song ascends for mercy pray- ing.” 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 him back. As penance for his cruelty, she ordered him 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 inadver— tently 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 assumes 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 ardu- ous 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 him away, creating an absence of her own. Absence diminishes minarrpassianr and inflame: great ones, as the wind clauses a candle andfams aflre. La Rot/wfo1u‘auId, 1P§I3-I680 I'M I‘ \|ll'll l',\' (H- l'Hl. z.<)<1k lVhiIu .wr\'iIzg under the Llulw flit:/'l.1(. T'iz’II Jur), rlnwrllirzg his obscure pnrimm, mid to hir rrmslcr‘. “I am goilzg tn wnmlz.-rfar away like :1 M10141 goose, “ “What do you Imnuzn by llml?" inquired the Duke. "Do you see 111:’ trade?" said 'l"ien ./an in reply. “Its 5"/£5! is’ /2 symbol of rivililyz its powerful mlrms rzlggesl xlrmgtlz: ilx (luring m fighr any enemy zimz.~(e.r cuura3ge,'i1.s 1m~Iim;I to invite oIhcr.~: 5 fund is ubminczl shows /r.-mevolenrz-;nru1. [ml but not least, its p1mc— rzmlily In keeping the Iinte I/trough the nigh! gives us an (tr/mtple of wrarilxt In .s'[11't¢‘, /mwcw’r. of v',h(¢Sf‘ five virtmo, Ihe cock is duil_r killed In,/ill a (lixla on your table. Why? The rwmalz is (hm 1'1 Ls‘ fnurzd within our rmrli. On the other hzmrl. the wow goose trovt'rrr5 in zmefligiar (I Ilmmuml ii. Re,vtir1g in your garden. i1 ;>wy'.‘ an _vuur,ti.shu.v am] Inr/(es and pm‘/t'_< your mific»/. Tlmuglz devoid ufany ofllzc CrI1'k3 /in’ virzurls. yet you prize I/nix‘ bird for the silky nfm s~ca:'z'irv. 'I“lu’s bt'iug. . l.s'hal/fly fur like a .\m/w game. " K(?llf?1>'(’J’ AN/.'ll‘N l’ I'lllt‘\F.'>l|-, Iwmm ' Yo Hsu. SLIV. H)” 1974 LAW 16 I17

118 LAW 16 OBSERVANCE 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 northwestern Iran) revolted against them, and finally broke free. Now the Medes had to establish a new government. 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 himself 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 him, and his power increased. Throughout the land, the law had fallen into disrepute-——the judges were corrupt, and no one en- trusted their cases to the courts any more, resorting to violence instead. When news spread of Deioces’ wisdom, incormptibility, and unshakable impartiality, Medean villages far and wide turned to him to settle all man- ner 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 with- drawal 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 ap- point one of our number to rule so that we can live under orderly govern- ment, rather than losing our homes altogether in the present chaos.” And so, despite all that the Medes had suffered under the Assyrian des- potism, 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’ in- fighting 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 con- structed 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 sur- rounded by walls, and completely inaccessible to ordinary people. Deioces then established the terms of his rule: Admission to his presence was for- bidden. Communication with the king was only possible through messen- gers. 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 him gradually turned 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. ln 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 com- pletely, and let the Medes taste what life was like without him. As he ex- pected, they came begging for him 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 him, none could see him 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 him, the legend would grow that he was a being of a different order from more men.” A man said to a Dervish.‘ “Why do I not see you mm ofim?" 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 .9’” Mnlllofami. quoted in [dries S./uzh '5 (Jaravan of I)remns_. 1.968 KEYS TO POWER Everything in the world depends on absence and presence. A strong pres- ence will draw power and attention to you—you shine more brightly than those around you. But a point is inevitably reached where too much pres- ence 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 1over‘s absence stim- ulates your imagination, forming a sort of aura around him 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 seventeenth- century French courtesan Ninon de Lenclos advised constant feints at with drawal 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 yourselfto be treated like anyone else, it is too late--you are swallowed and digested To prevent this you need to starve the other poison of your presence. Force their respect by threatening them with the possibility that they will lose you for good; create a pattern of pres- ence 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 criti~ cisms of you, their arguments with you, and will be filled with regret and guilt. They are missing a presence that will never return. But you do not have to wait until you die: By completely withdrawing for a while, you cre- ate 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 resuirection will cling to you, and people will be relieved at your return. This is how Deioces made him~ self 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 sym~ bol. 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-—t.hey were fetish objects, their value increased by their rarity. “You can get all the pictures you want at fifty thou- sand dollars apiece~—-that’s easy,” he once said. “But to get pictures at a quarter of a million apiece—that wants doing!” I In a g e: The Sun. It 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 offer- ing 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 ruler of the sixteenth century was Charles V. King of Spain, Hapsburg emperor, he governed an empire that at one point in- clucled 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 anti feared him suddenly called him 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 re tired, in 1941, For some her absence came too soon—sl1e was in her mid- thirties—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 esteem. If presence diminishes fame, absence augments it. A man who when absent is regarded as a lion becomes when present something com- mon 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 outstand« ing genius makes use of retirement so that men may honor him and so that the yearning aroused by his absence may cause him to be esteemed. (Baltasar Grecian, l60lvl658) LAW 16 I21

REVERSAL This law only applies once a certain level of power has been attained. The need to withdraw only comes after you have established your presence; leave too early and you do not increase your respect, you are simply for- gotten. When you are first entering onto the world’: stage, create an image that is recognizable, reproducible, and is seen everywhere. Until that status is attained, absence is dangerous—instead of farming the flames, it will ex- tinguish them. In love and seduction, similarly, absence is only effective once you have surrounded the other with your image, been seen by him or her everywhere. Everything must remind your lover of your presence, so that when you do choose to be away, the lover will always be thinking of you, will always be seeing you in his or her mind’s eye. Remember: In the beginning, make yourself not scarce but om- nipresent. Only what is seen, appreciated, and loved will be missed in its absence.

17 KEEP OTHERS IN SUSPENDED TERROR: CULTIVATE AN AIR OF UNPREDICTABILITY _]UDGMENT Humans are creatures ofhabit with an insatiabte need to see familiarity in other people’s actions. Y<mrpredictabz‘l— it)‘ gives them a sense qf contml. Tum ike tables: Be de- liberately unparedictable. Behavior film: seems to have no consistency or purpose will keqb them ofiibalkznce, and they will wear themselves out flying tn explaiez your moves‘ Yhken to an extnefine, this straiegy can intimidate and mmrize. I23

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW In May of 1972, chess champion Boris Spassky anxiously awaited his rival Bobby Fischer in Reylqavik, Iceland. The two men had been scheduled to meet for the World Championship of Chess, but Fischer had not arrived on time and the match was on hold. Fischer had problems with the size of the prize money, problems with the way the money was to be distributed, problems with the logistics of holding the match in Iceland. He might back out at any moment. Spassky tried to be patient. His Russian bosses felt that Fischer was hu— miliating him and told him to walk away, but Spassky wanted this match. He knew he could destroy Fischer, and nothing was going to spoil the greatest victory of his career. “So it seems that all our work may come to nothing,” Spassky told a comrade. “But what can we do? It is Bobby’s move. If he comes, we play. If he does not come; we do not play. A man who is willing to commit suicide has the initiative.” Fischer finally arrived in Reykjavik, but the problems, and the threat of cancellation, continued. He disliked the hall where the match was to be fought, he criticized the lighting, he complained about the noise of the cameras, he even hated the chairs in which he and Spassky were to sit Now the Soviet Union took the initiative and threatened to withdraw their man. The bluff apparently worked: After all the weeks of waiting, the end- less and infuriating negotiations, Fischer agreed to play. Everyone was re- lieved, no one more than Spassky. But on the day of the ofiicial introductions, Fischer arrived very late, and on the day when the “Match of the Century” was to begin, he was late again. This fime, however, the consequences would be dire: If he showed up too late he would forfeit the first game. What was going on? Was he playing some sort of mind game? Or was Bobby Fischer perhaps afraid of Boris Spassky? It seemed to the as- sembled grand masters, and to Spassky, that this young kid from Brooklyn had a terrible case of the jitters. At 5:09 Fischer showed up, exactly one minute before the match was to be canceled. The first game of a chess tournament is critical, since it sets the tone for the months to come. It is often a slow and quiet struggle, with the two play- ers preparing themselves for the war and trying to read each other’s strate- gies. This game was different. Fischer made a terrible move early on, perhaps the worst of his career, and when Spassky had him on the ropes, he seemed to give up. Yet Spassky knew that Fischer never gave up. Even when facing checkmate, he fought to the bitter end, wearing the opponent down. This time, though, he seemed resigned. Then suddenly he broke out a bold move that put the room in a buzz. The move shocked Spassky, but he recovered and managed to win the game. But no one could figure out what Fischer was up to. Had he lost deliberately? Or was he rattled? Unset- tled? Even, as some thought, insane? After his defeat in the first game, Fischer complained all the more loudly about the room, the cameras, and everything else. He also failed to

show up on time for the second game. This time the organizers had had enough: He was given a forfeit. Now he was down two games to none, at position from which no one had ever come back to win a chess champi- onship. Fischer was clearly unhinged. Yet in the third game, as all those who witnessed it remember, he had a ferocious look in his eye, a look that clearly bothered Spassky. And despite the hole he had dug for himself, he seemed supremely confident. He did make what appeared to be another blunder, as he had in the first game—but his cocky air made Spassky smell a trap. Yet despite the Russian’s suspicions, he could not figure out the trap, and before he knew it Fischer had checkmated him. In fact Fischer’s un— orthodox tactics had completely unnerved his opponent. At the end of the game, Fischer leaped up and rushed out, yelling to his confederates as he smashed a list into his palm, “I’m crushing him with brute force!” In the next games Fischer pulled moves that no one had seen from him before, moves that were not his style. Now Spassky started to make blunders. After losing the sixth game, he started to cry. One grand master said, “After this, Spassky’s got to ask himself if it’s safe to go back to Rus- sia." After the eighth game Spassky decided he knew what was happening: Bobby Fischer was hypnotizing him. He decided not to look Fischer in the eye; he lost anyway. After the fourteenth game he called a staff conference and announced, “An attempt is being made to control my mind.” He wondered whether the orange juice they drank at the chess table could have been drugged. Maybe chemicals were being blown into the air. Finally Spassky went pub— lic, accusing the Fischer team of putting something in the chairs that was a1» tering Spassky’s mind. The KGB went on alert: Boris Spassky was embarrassing the Soviet Union! The chairs were taken apart and X—rayed. A chemist found nothing unusual in them. The only things anyone found anywhere, in fact, were two dead flies in a lighting fixture. Spassky began to complain of hallucina- tions. He tried to keep playdng, but his mind was unraveling. He could not go on. On September 2, he resigned. Although still relatively young, he never recovered from this defeat. Interpretation In previous games between Fischer and Spassky, Fischer had not fared well. Spassky had an uncanny ability to read his opponent’s strategy and use it against him. Adaptable and patient, he would build attacks that would defeat not in seven moves but in seventy. He defeated Fischer every time they played because he saw much further ahead, and because he was a bril- liant psychologist who never lost control. One master said, “He doesn’t just look for the best move. He looks for the move that will disturb the man he is playing.” Fischer, however, finally understood that this was one of the keys to Spassky’s success: He played on your predictability, defeated you at your own game. Everything Fischer did for the championship match was an at- LAW 17 125

I26 LAW 17 tempt to put the initiative on his side and to keep Spassl-Ly offibalance. Clearly the endless waiting had an effect on Spassky’s psyche. Most power- ful of all, though, were Fischer’s deliberate blunders and his appearance of having no clear strategy. In fact, he was doing everything he could to scramble his old patterns, even if it meant losing the first match and forfeit- ing the second. Spassky was known for his sangfroid and levelheadedness, but for the first time in his life he could not figure out his opponent. He slowly melted down, until at the end he was the one who seemed insane. Chess contains the concentrated essence of life: First, because to win you have to be supremely patient and farseeing; and second, because the game is built on patterns, whole sequences of moves that have been played before and will be played again, with slight alterations, in any one match Your opponent analyzes the patterns you are playing and uses them to try to foresee your moves. Allowing him nothing predictable to base his strat- egy on gives you a big advantage. In chess as in life, when people cannot figure out what you are doing, they are kept in a state of terror—waiting, uncertain, confused, Life at court is a serious, melancholy game of chess, which requires us to draw up our pieces and batteries, form a plan, pursue it, parry that ofour adversary. Sometimes, however, it is better to take risks and play the most capricious, unpredictable mave. lean (1rI.a Bruyéw, I/545-1696 KEYS TO POWER Nothing is more terrifying than the sudden and unpredictable. That is why we are so frightened by earthquakes and tornadoes: We do not know when they will strike. Alter one has occurred, we wait in terror for the next one. To a lesser degree, this is the effect that unpredictable human behavior has on us. Animals behave in set patterns, which is why we are able to hunt and kill them. Only man has the capacity to consciously alter his behavior, to improvise and overcome the weight of routine and habit. Yet most men do not realize this power. They prefer the comforts of routine, of giving in to the animal nature that has them repeating the same compulsive actions time and time again. They do this because it requires no effort, and be- cause they mistakenly believe that if they do not unsettle others, they will be left alone. Understand: A person of power instills a kind of fear by delib- erately unsettling those around him to keep the initiative on his side. You sometimes need to strike without waming, to make others tremble when they least expect it. It is a device that the powerful have used for centuries. Filippo Maria, the last of the Visconti dukes of Milan in fifteenth» century Italy, consciously did the opposite of what everyone expected of him. For instance, he might suddenly shower a courtier with attention, and then, once the man had come to expect a promotion to higher office,

would suddenly start treating him with the utmost disdain. Confused, the man might leave the court, when the duke would suddenly recall him and start treating him well again. Doubly confused, the courtier would wonder whether his assumption that he would be promoted had become obvious, and offensive, to the duke, and would start to behave as if he no longer ex- pected such honor. The duke would rebuke him for his lack of ambition and would send him away. The secret of dealing with Filippo was simple: Do not presume to know what he wants. Do not try to guess what will please him. Never inject your will; just surrender to his will. Then wait to see what happens. Amidst the confusion and uncertainty he created, the duke ruled supreme, unchal- lenged and at peace. Unpredictability is most often the tactic of the master, but the under- dog too can use it to great effect. If you find yourself outnumbered or cor- nered, throw in a series of unpredictable moves. Your enemies will be so confused that they will pull back or make a tactical blunder. In the spring of 1862, during the American Civil War, General Stonewall Jackson and a force of 4,600 Confederate soldiers were torment» ing the larger Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley. Meanwhile, not far away, General George Brinton McClellan, heading a force of 90,000 Union soldiers, was marching south from Washington, D.C., to lay siege to Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital, As the weeks of the cam- paign went by, Jackson repeatedly led his soldiers out of the Shenandoah Valley, then back to it. His movements made no sense. Was he preparing to help defend Richmond? Was he marching on Washington, now that McClellan’s ab- sence had left it unprotected? Was be heading north to wreak havoc up there? Why was his small force moving in circles? Jacksorfs inexplicable moves made the Union generals delay the march on Richmond as they waited to figure out what he was up to. Mean- while, the South was able to pour reinforcements into the town. A battle that could have crushed the Confederacy turned into a stalemate. Jackson used this tactic time and again when facing numerically superior forces. “Always mystify, mislead, and surprise the enemy, if possible,” he said, “. . . such tactics will win every time and a small army may thus destroy a large ones” This law applies not only to war but to everyday situations. People are always trying to read the motives behind your actions and to use your pre« dictability against you. Throw in at completely inexplicable move and you put them on the defensive. Because they do not understand you, they are unnerved, and in such a state you can easily intimidate them. Pablo Picasso once remarked, “The best calculation is the absence of calculation. Once you have attained a certain level of recognition, others generally figure that when you do something, it’s for an intelligent reason. So it’s really foolish to plot out your movements too carefully in advance. You’re better off acting capriciously.” For a while, Picasso worked with the ait dealer Paul Rosenberg. At first LAW 17 127

128 LAW 17 he allowed him a fair amount of latitude in handling his paintings, then one day, for no apparent reason, he told the man he would no longer give him any work to sell. As Picasso explained, “Rosenberg would spend the next forty-eight hours trying to figure out why. Was I reserving things for some other dealer? I’d go on working and sleeping and Rosenberg would spend his time figuring. In two days he’d come back, nerves jangled, anxious, say» ing, ‘After all, dear friend, you wouldn’t turn me down if I offered you this much [naming a substantially higher figure] for those paintings rather than the price Pve been accustomed to paying you, would you?’” Unpredictability is not only a weapon of terror: Scrambling your pat- terns on a day-to-day basis will cause a stir around you and stimulate intet— est. People will talk about you, ascribe motives and explanations that have nothing to do with the truth, but that keep you constantly in their minds. In the end, the more capricious you appear, the more respect you will garner. Only the terminally subordinate act in a predictable manner. Image: The Cyclone. A wind that cannot be fore- seen. Sudden shifts in the barometer, in— explicable changes in direction and velocity. There is no defense: A cyclone sows terror and confusion. Authority: The enlightened ruler is so mysterious that he seems to dwell nowhere, so inexplicable that no one can seek him. He repose-s in nonaction above, and his ministers tremble below. (Han-fei-tzu, Chinese philosopher, third century B.C.)

REVERSAL Sometimes predictability can work in your favor: By creating a pattern for people to be familiar and comfortable with, you can lull them to sleep. They have prepared everything according to their preconceived notions about you. You can use this in several ways: First, it sets up a smoke screen, a comfortable front behind which you can carry on deceptive actions. Sec ond, it allows you on rare occasions to do something completely against the pattern, unsettling your opponent so deeply he will fall to the ground without being pushed. In 1974 Muhammad Ali and George Foreman were scheduled to fight for the world heavyweight boxing championship. Everyone knew what would happen: Big George Foreman would try to land a knockout punch while Ali would dance around him, wearing him out. That was Ali’s way of fighting, his pattern, and he had not changed it in more than ten years. But in this case it seemed to give Foreman the advantage: He had a devastating punch, and if he waited, sooner or later Ali would have to come to him. Ali, the master strategist, had other plans: In press conferences before the big fight, he said he was going to change his style and punch it out with Foreman. No one, least of all Foreman, believed this for a second. That plan would be suicide on Ali’s part; he was playing the comedian, as usual. Then, before the fight, Ali’s trainer loosened the ropes around the ring, something a trainer would do if his boxer were intending to slug it out. But no one believed this play; it had to be a setup. To everyone’s amazement, Ali did exactly what he had said he would do. As Foreman waited for him to dance around, Ali went right up to him and slugged it out. He completely upset his opponent’s strategy. At a loss, Foreman ended up wearing himself out, not by chasing Ali but by throw- ing punches wildly, and taking more and more counterpunches. Finally, Ali landed a dramatic right cross that knocked out Foreman. The habit of assuming that a person’s behavior will fit its previous patterns is so strong that not even Ali’s announcement of a strategy change was enough to upset it. Foreman walked into a trap-«the trap he had been told to expect. A warning: Unpredictability can work against you sometimes, es pecially if you are in a subordinate position. There are times when it is bet ter to let people feel comfortable and settled around you than to disturb thern. Too much unpredictability will be seen as a sign of indecisiveness, or even of some more serious psychic problem. Rattems are powerful, and you can terrify people by disrupting them. Such power should only be used judiciously. LAW I7 129

130 18 DO NOT BUILD FORTRESSES TO PROTECT YOURSELF- ISOLATION IS DANGEROUS _]UI)GM ENT The world is dangerous and enemies am everywhere-— everyone has to protect themselves. A fowrms seems the safest. But isolation exposes you to mom dangers than it protects youfmm——-it cuts you ojj‘from valuable informa- tion, it makes you conspicuous and an easy target. Better to cirrulate among people, find allies, mingle. You are shieldedfrom your enemies by the crowd.

TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAVV Ch’in Shih Huang Ti, the first emperor of China (221-210 B.C.), was the mightiest man of his day. His empire was vaster and more powerful than that of Alexander the Great. He had conquered all of the kingdoms sur- rounding his own kingdom of Chin and unified them into one massive realm called China. But in the last years of his life, few, if anyone, saw him. The emperor lived in the most magnificent palace built to that date, in the capital of Hsien-yang. The palace had 270 pavilions; all of these were connected by secret underground passageways, allowing the emperor to move through the palace without anyone seeing him. He slept in a differ-— ent room every night, and anyone who inadvertently laid eyes on him was instantly beheaded. Only a handful of men knew his whereabouts, and if they revealed it to anyone, they, too, were put to death. The first emperor had grown so terrified of human Contact that when he had to leave the palace he traveled incognito, disguising himself care fully. On one such trip through the provinces, he suddenly died. His body was borne back to the capital in the emperor’s carriage, with a cart packed with salted fish trailing behind it to cover up the smell of the rotting corpse-—~no one was to know of his death. He died alone, far from his wives, his family, his friends, and his courfiers, accompanied only by a minister and a handful of eunuchs. Interpretation Shih Huang Ti started off as the king of Ch’in, a fearless warrior of unbri- dled ambition. Writers of the time described him as a man with “a waspish nose, eyes like slits, the voice of a jackal, and the heart of a tiger or wolf.” He could be merciful sometimes, but more often he “swallowed men up without a scruple.” It was through trickery and violence that he conquered the provinces surrounding his own and created China, forging a single na- tion and culture out of many. He broke up the feudal system, and to keep an eye on the many members of the royal families that were scattered across the realm’s various kingdoms, he moved 120,000 of them to the cap- ital, where he housed the most important couxtiers in the vast palace of Hsienyang. He consolidated the many walls on the borders and built them into the Great Wall of China. He standardized the country’s laws, its writ- ten language, even the size of its cartwheels. As part of this process of unification, however, the first emperor out- lawed the writings and teachings of Confucius, the philosopher whose ideas on the moral life had already become virtually a religion in Chinese culture. On Shih Huang Ti’s order, thousands of books relating to Confu- cius were burned, and anyone who quoted Confucius was to be beheaded. This made many enemies for the emperor, and he grew constantly afraid, even paranoid. The executions mounted. A contemporary, the writer Han- fei-tzu, noted that “Ch’in has been victorious for four generations, yet has lived in constant terror and apprehension of destruction.” As the emperor withdrew deeper and deeper into the palace to protect 'l HI. \lr\~t)l l-l. HI l'||l‘. HM) I)! \l H The “Ra! DcuII1"lmrl long dew1.sl(:twl the ummry. No pi=.\‘lIIenr:> lluzl (Iver/1¢‘t?r1 . final, or so /u':Iemi.>‘, Blood was LIA‘ A vnmr and its weal-—~Ilrermi:1i:.v, mt /mrmy of Inhorl. 7h€rc' Wflfl‘ sharp palms; and smldmz rlizzirmsxs‘, and than pro/"lure hluetlirzg at the pores, with dix.ioluIu,m .Aiut thy w/mic seizure. [)1"(7gIf.‘SA', and termiuzr mm 0f the d1'.s'c'a.\'c. were [he iIz(‘i(l(mr.i' nfhulfau hour. Bur the Prim:r* Prox- pero was Iznppy and L/£tIU1Il(‘\‘S and mgzzv cirms. When his’ domin- ians were half‘ ilefmjzulnled, Iw Surnrnuned In his pmtr-,nc7c u tlizmxuml lmlr and Ii;:ht»Immi'd _/'rzrmrIx from («mung the koziglzrr and tlturwr of /zir court, and with iliese retired (0 the (leap su'i'im‘rm o_,"mzc nfhis t‘{L\'f{’//Ilffll (II)/JE’y,3. This Win an ex’/t»nsiw 4/ml rnagnificewt s(rm.'tnre'. 1/21,’ <'r(ratir2rc 17] the prince 3' own ¢u':"e'ItIrir yet Lmgmt law. A strong and lofty wall girdlezl it in. Tim wall /wt} gtll£‘.8' ofirmz. The 4 ounier.-;, having marred. lmnzglti fu/nm.'e.x' and nm.s'.vv lmmmc-r.\* um.‘ weltlurl the boltx. 'I'he'y resolved to leave tnmms‘ mirlirr ufingrlasis imr 4'grz>.s:< to (/10 sudrlmz iI17[ml.\'(*.s of <lc.vpuir or 0j‘from:y from It izlzin. Tlzu abbey was amply prowsiolzccl. Willi s'm:h LAW is 131

prr~i:uuIim1.s thr- 4'rmmers migh! bid dr7_fimzr;v IO mnlagiorz. '1 71¢‘ L’.Xl€‘W1tl[ world zruuld take care: of itself In (/16 mmntirize It was [ally to gri(!Vd. or to ririrtk. The pritlue‘ liu1fpr0w'dea' all rlw apgrlamiws rtfpieasalre. Tit!-‘IL’ were bllffaorls, 1/zen‘ were impm~ visrtrori. Iherr wen’ [2t1ll€‘l-lI\!W(‘W'), there were mzi.\'i<rz'r1Iz.s', their was Bmuly, tlwre was wine. All lll(!.$'(3£ll1d .\(‘L‘l.U‘lIV were within. Without was the “Red [)e',aIh.” It was toward the close of rho fifth /tr yixrh momfr oflris swlusirm, and while (hr pr-srilcrrrer mgr-ii most furiously ahmrm’, thin the Prince [’r().s’pem emcrminerl his Ilmumnzl friemlr at Ll muskzezl hull of the must unusmal magnifi- cence. /I was a volup- uumr .ST.‘(’Il€’, (hut ma.\‘qm:rade.. . . . . ./lnd rim revel want wlziriingly on, mm"! m /cngtix {ht-re rom- mmlrerl the vmmding of midnight upon thv clock.. . , And’ thus‘ (00, it lzappmzed, perhaps, lhm before the last t14:i1<ms' of the last rhmw /wd utterly sunk into silmite, them were many /'mlividual.s' in the crowd who had found Ieisurr 10 becmru’ aware of the prresrcmuz of u musket! [igure wlrirh had dN'(’.$‘FL'fl I110 mtemion ofm) single imIivit£zmI' before. . . Hie figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from ham] to fool in thc l1ubiIinu'nts' of the gmve. Th(’Im1.\‘k which concralrd YIN,‘ visage I32 LAW I8 himself, he slowly lost control of the realm. Eunuchs and ministers enacted political policies without his approval or even his knowledge; they also plotted against him. By the end, he was emperor in name only, and was so isolated that barely anyone knew he had died. He had probably been poi- soned by the same scheming ministers who encouraged his isolation. That is what isolation brings: Retreat into a. fortress and you lose con- tact with the sources of your power. You lose your ear for what is happen- ing around you, as well as a sense of proportion. Instead of being safer, you cut yourself off from the kind of knowledge on which your life depends. Never enclose yourself so far from the streets that you cannot hear what is happening around you, including the plots against you. OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW Louis XIV had the palace of Versailles built for him and his court in the 16605, and it was like no other royal palace in the world. As in El, beehive, everything revolved around the royal person. He lived surrounded by the nobility, who were allotted apartments nestled around his, their closeness to him dependent on their rank. The kings bedroom occupied the literal center of the palace and was the focus of everyone’s attention. Every mom~ ing the king was greeted in this room by a ritual known as the lever. At eight A.M., the king's first valet, who slept at the foot of the royal bed, would awaken His Majesty. Then pages would open the door and admit those who had a. function in the lever. The order of their entry was precise: First came the king’s illegitimate sons and his grandchildren, then the princes and princesses of the blood, and then his physician and sur- geon. There followed the grand ollicers of the wardrobe, the king’s oflicial reader, and those in charge of entertaining the king‘ Next would arrive var- ious government officials. in ascending order of rank. Last but not least came those attending the [ever by special invitation. By the end of the cere» many, the room would be packed with well over a hundred royal atten» dams and visitors. The day was organized so that all the palace’s energy was directed at and passed through the king. Louis was constantly attended by courtiers and officials, all asking for his advice and judgment. To all their questions he usually replied, “I shall see.” As Saint-Simon noted, “If he turned to someone, asked him a ques- tion, made an insignificant remark, the eyes of all present were turned on this person. It was a distinction that was talked of and increased prestige.” There was no possibility of privacy in the palace, not even for the king- every room communicated with another, and every hallway led to larger rooms where groups of nobles gathered constantly. Everyone’s actions were interdependent, and nothing and no one passed unnoticed: “The king not only saw to it that all the high nobility was present at his court,” wrote Saint—Simon, “he demanded the same of the minor nobility. At his lever and voucher, at his meals, in his gardens of Versailles, he always looked

about him, noticing everything. He was offended if the most distinguished nobles did not live permanently at court, and those who showed them- selves never or hardly ever, incurred his full displeasure. If one of these de sired something, the king would say proudly: ‘I do not know him,’ and the judgment was irrevocable.” Interpretation Louis XIV came to power at the end of a terrible civil war, the Fronde. A principal instigator of the war had been the nobility, which deeply resented the growing power of the throne and yearned for the days of feudalism, when the lords ruled their own fiefdoms and the king had little authority over them. The nobles had lost the civil war, but they remained a fractious, resentful lot. The construction of Versailles, then, was far more than the decadent whim of a luxury—1oving king. It served a crucial function: The king could keep an eye and an ear on everyone and everything around him. The once proud nobility was reduced to squabbling over the right to help the king put on his robes in the morning. There was no possibility here of pm? vacy--no possibility of isolation. Louis XIV very early grasped the truth that for a king to isolate himself is gravely dangerous. In his absence, con- spiracies will spring up like mushrooms after rain, animosities will crystal- lize into factions, and rebellion will break out before he has the time to react. To combat this, sociability and openness must not only be encour- aged, they must be formally organized and channeled. These conditions at Versailles lasted for Louis’s entire reign, some fifty years of relative peace and tranquillity. Through it all, not a pin dropped without Louis hearing it. Solitude is dangerous to reason, without beingfavorable to virtue. . . . Remember that the solitary mortal is certainly luxurious, probabhv superstitious, and possibly mad. Dr. Sanmeljolirism, l 709m} 784 KEYS TO POWER Machiavelli makes the argument that in a strictly military sense a fortress is invariably a mistake. It becomes a symbol of power's isolation, and is an easy target for its builders’ enemies. Designed to defend you, fortresses ac— tually cut you off from help and cut into your flexibility. They may appear impregnable, but once you retire to one, everyone knows where you are; and a siege does not have to succeed to turn your fortress into a prison. With their small and confined spaces, fortresses are also extremely vulnerv able to the plague and contagious diseases, In a strategic sense, the iso- lation of a fortress provides no protection, and actually creates more problems than it solves. war made so mmrly m l'fi,\‘('inl7lf,’ I/M mimic- mxmr of 1.1 .vlE_/V/nrwd corpse Ilml llit' (‘Ins-in.-z scrutiny mm‘! have lzzm’ clifficulzy in (lowering {he cheat. A ml “wt all this might have l)(’L’Il endured, ifmrt ap]1I'I)v('(l, by the mod rave/l<>r.\' amuml. But the mummer had gone so for as to u.s'.s‘ume the type afzlze Rm! llmth, His v:'.\'mr1’ Wm‘ rlahlrlml in blood-» am! lll.\' brourl blow, with all the ['94:/um»: of the face, wuX.x']1riIIklt?til with the scarlet lwrmr. . .. , . . A throng ufzlze f'i3I'¢llt.'I‘é at once /hrew tin-imelve: mm rlw black apartment, and, wizittg the mummer, wlzoxe ml! figure A‘l()0£l erect and !7llllll)I'll(’.l.)' within the shadow of the ebony rtlmtk, gaspezl m mmltrzra/711' lmrror ul finding the grave cert» mean and ¢torp.i‘e-/ilcx‘ mark, Wl2IClI they handled with so violmt a l’(l(,l(,‘Pl(f.\',S'. mitt-nunwd by any tangible form. And now was mtI<m2wl- edged the prrnwrzzrt: of the RM D:-am. I14-lmd r‘{)t.Vl£’ like 11 Iliirafin the izigltl, And one by one dropped the revellers in the bl47od~herlmver1 halls I)flll-‘fl!’ rm/pl, and dim} mrrlx in (ho rlespmrirzg po.v1ur<I of his [all And the life of Ill? e'l:on_>.* (‘lurk wen! out with that ofrlvc last ofthe gay. And the flames ofihe tripods ccxpirezl. Am! Darl<rlc:'.s and llecay and the Red Death held lllimimhlc rlnnzinimz (Iver all. 'itll-' MAsoI1I«,0l«"1‘m», RED nr,A1'u. EDGAR ALL.-\N Pm; 3809-1849 LAW 18 I32)’

l34 LAW 18 Because humans are social creatures by nature, power depends on so- cial interaction and circulation. To make yourself powerful you must place yourself at the center of things, as Louis XIV did at Versailles. All activity should revolve around you, and you should be aware of everything hap- pening on the street, and of anyone who might be hatching plots against you. The danger for most people comes when they feel threatened. In such times they tend to retreat and close ranks, to find security in a kind of fortress. In doing so, however, they come to rely for information on a smaller and smaller circle, and lose perspective on events around them. They lose maneuverability and become easy targets, and their isolation makes them paranoid. As in warfare and most games of strategy, isolation often precedes defeat and death. In moments of uncertainty and danger, you need to fight this desire to turn inward. Instead, make yourselfmore accessible, seek out old allies and make new ones, force yourself into more and more different circles. This has been the trick of powerful people for centuries. The Roman statesman Cicero was born into the lower nobility, and had little chance of power unless he managed to make a place for himself among the aristocrats who controlled the city. He succeeded brilliantly, identifying everyone with influence and figuring out how they were con- nected to one another. He mingled everywhere, knew everyone, and had such a vast network of connections that an enemy here could easily be counterbalanced by an ally there, The French statesman Talleyrand played the game the same way. Al- though he came from one of the oldest aristocratic families in France, he made a point of always staying in touch with what was happening in the streets of Paris, allowing him to foresee trends and troubles. He even got a certain pleasure out of mingling with shady criminal types, who supplied him with valuable information. Every time there was a crisis, a transition of power--the end of the Directory, the fall of Napoleon, the abdication of Louis XVIII-~he was able to survive and even thrive, because he never closed himself up in a small circle but always forged connections with the new order. This law pertains to kings and queens, and to those of the highest power: The moment you lose contact with your people, seeking security in isolation, rebellion is brewing. Never imagine yourself so elevated that you can afford to cut yourself off from even the lowest echelons. By retreating to a fortress, you make yourself an easy target for your plotting subjects, who view your isolation as an insult and a reason for rebellion. Since humans are such social creatures, it follows that the social arts that make us pleasant to be around can be practiced only by constant ex- posure and circulation. The more you are in contact with others, the more graceful and at ease you become. Isolation, on the other hand, engenders an awkwardness in your gestures, and leads to further isolation, as people start avoidmg you. In 1545 Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici decided that to ensure the immor-

tality of his name he would commission frescoes for the main chapel of the church of San Lorenzo in Florence. He had many great painters to choose from, and in the end he picked jacopo da Pontonno. Getting on in years, Pontormo wanted to make these frescoes his chef d’oeuvre and legacy. His first decision was to close the chapel off with walls, partitions, and blinds. He wanted no one to witness the creation of his masterpiece, or to steal his ideas. He would outdo Michelangelo himself. When some young men broke into the chapel out of curiosity, jacopo sealed it off even further. Pontormo filled the chape1’s ceiling with biblical scenes—the Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah's ark, on and on. At the top of the middle will he painted Christ in his majesty, raising the dead onjudgment Day. The artist worked on the chapel for eleven years, rarely leaving it, since he had de— veloped a phobia for human contact and was afraid his ideas would be stolen. Ponrormo died before completing the frescoes, and none of them has survived. But the great Renaissance writer Vasari, a friend of Pontormds who saw the frescoes shortly after the artist’s death, left a description of what they looked like. There was a total lack of proportion. Scenes bumped against scenes, figures in one story being juxtaposed with those in another, in maddening numbers. Pontormo had become obsessed with de» tall but had lost any sense of the overall composition. Vasari left off his de~ scription of the frescoes by writing that if he continued, “I think I would go mad and become entangled in this painting, just as I believe that in the eleven years of time jacopo spent on it, he entangled himself and anyone else who saw it.” Instead of crowning Pontormo’s career, the work became his undoing. These frescoes were visual equivalents of the effects of isolation on the human mind: a loss of proportion, an obsession with detail combined with an inability to see the larger picture, a kind of extravagant ugliness that no longer communicates. Clearly, isolation is as deadly for the creative arts as for the social arts. Shakespeare is the most famous writer in history be- cause, as a dramatist for the popular stage, he opened himself up to the masses, making his work accessible to people no matter what their educa- tion and taste. Artists who hole themselves up in their fortress lose a sense of proportion, their work communicating only to their small circle. Such art remains cornered and powerless. Finally, since power is a human creation, it is inevitably increased by Contact with other people. Instead of falling into the fortress mentality, view the world in the following manner: It is like a vast Versailles, with every room communicating with another. You need to be permeable, able to float in and out of different circles and mix with different types. That kind of mobility and social contact will protect you from plotters, who will be unable to keep secrets from you, and from your enemies, who will be unable to isolate you from your allies. Always on the move, you mix and mingle in the rooms of the palace, never sitting or settling in one place. No hunter can fix his aim on such a svvifbmoving creature. LAW 18 135

I36 LAW 18 Image: The Fortress. High up on the hill, the citadel be comes a symbol of all that is hateful in power and authority. The citizens of the town betray you to the first enemy that comes. Cut off from communication and in- telligence, the citadel falls with ease. Authority: A good and wise ptince, desirous of maintaining that character, and to avoid giving the opportunity to his sons to be- come oppressive, will never build fortresses, so that they may place their reliance upon the good will of their subjects, and not upon the strength of citadels. {Niccolo Machiavelli, 1469-4527) REVE RSAL It is hardly ever right and propitious to choose isolation. Without keeping an ear on what is happening in the streets, you will be unable to protect yourself. About the only thing that constant human contact cannot facili~ tate is thought. The weight of society's pressure to conform, and the lack of distance from other people, can make it impossible to think clearly about what is going on around you. As a temporary recourse, then, isolation can help you to gain perspective. Many a serious thinker has been produced in prisons, where we have nothing to do but think. Machiavelli could write The Prince only once he found himself in exile and isolated on a farm far from the political intrigues of Florence. The danger is, however, that this kind of isolation will sire all kinds of strange and perverted ideas. You may gain perspective on the larger pic- ture, but you lose a sense of your own smallness and limitations. Also, the more isolated you are, the harder it is to break out of your isolation when you choose to——it sinks you deep into its quicksand without your noticing. If you need time to think, then, choose isolation only as a last resort, and only in small doses. Be careful to keep your way back into society open.

LAW 19 KNOW WHO YOU’RE DEALING WITH- DO NOT OFFEND THE WRONG PERSON JUDGMENT 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. Deeeive or outmaneuver some [maple and they will spend the rest oftheir lives seek- ing revenge. They are wolves in lambs’ clothing. Choose your victims and opponents carefully, then-—never of- fend or deceive the wrong person. 13?’

When you rneet a swordsman, draw your rwnrd: Do not recita poetry 10 one who is YXDYHIYUPI. Fuom /\ CH‘/\N Bcnmusi CLASSIC. OU(7TF]') IN ‘lHllNl)l—iR INTHE; sou’, TR.-\:~sL.r\TEo BY THOMAS (l/I,F,ARY. 1993 TI II: ll|",\ l,\(.l' I)!‘ I.()|‘|‘, l>I: \(;l IHKIC [Ln]/e dc] Agltirreir riharactcr 1'’ amply illustrate‘/1 in im urirc» dour from (ht? chronicle uf(}¢Ir(7il11.rlI de‘ la Vega. who related that in 1548 Aguirre was a member ofa platoon of wliliers excortirig Indian slaves from the mine: at Paton’ [Bolivia] to a royal treasury 11512111. The Indians were illegally lmrtlrmezl with great quantities ofstlver, and II [oral 0/flrriul urrevteil Aguirre. senwricing him to receive two hundred lashes in lieu oft: fine for appraising the Indians. “The soldier Aguirre, lutving rrrcmvrerl a notificatitm nflhe verztertce, hesuughl the alcalde that, iris‘t1'ml of/lugging him he would put him In death, for that he‘ was a gentleman by birth. . . . All this had no effect on the alcalde, who ordered the execu- tioner to bring a beast, and eiemte the .\'(mteI1(‘e. The 1-,xer:u— tionrr came to the 138 LAW 19 OPPON ENTS, SUCKERS, AND VICTIMS: Preliminary Typology In your rise to power you will come across many breeds of opponent, sucker, and victim. The highest form of the art of power is the ability to dis- tinguish the wolves from the lambs, the foxes from the hares, the hawks from the vultures. If you make this distinction well, you will succeed with» out needing to coerce anyone too much. But if you deal blindly with whomever crosses your path, you will have a life of constant sorrow, if you even live that long. Being able to recognize types of people, and to act ac- cordingly, is critical. The following are the five most dangerous and diffi- cult types of mark in the jungle, as identified by artists—con and othetwise——of the past The Arrogant and Proud Man. Although he may initially disguise it, this man’s touchy pride makes him very dangerous. Any perceived slight will lead to a vengeance of overwhelming violence. You may say to yourself, “But I only said such-and-such at a party, where everyone was drunk. . . .” It does not matter. There is no sanity behind his over-reaction, so do not waste time trying to figure him out. If at any point in your deal ings with a person you sense an oversensitive and overactive pride, flee. Whatever you are hoping for from him isn't worth it. The Hopelessly Insecure Man. This man is related to the proud and ar- rogant type, but is less violent and harder to spot. His ego is fragile, his sense of self insecure, and if he feels himself deceived or attacked, the hurt will simmer. He will attack you in bites that will take forever to get big enough for you to notice. If you find you have deceived or harmed such a man, disappear for a long time. Do not stay around him or he will nibble you to death. Mr. Suspicion. Another variant on the breeds above, this is a future _]oe Stalin. He sees what he wants to see—usually the worst—in other people, and imagines that everyone is after him. Mr. Suspicion is in fact the least dangerous of the three: Genuinely unbalanced, he is easy to deceive, just as Stalin himself was constantly deceived. Play on his suspicious nature to get him to turn against other people. But if you do become the target of his sus- picions, watch out. The Serpent with a Long Memory. If hurt or deceived, this man will show no anger on the surface; he will calculate and wait. Then, when he is in a position to turn the tables, he will exact a revenge marked by a cold- blooded shrewdness. Recognize this man by his calculation and cunning in the different areas of his life. He is usually cold and unaffectionate. Be dou- bly careful of this snake, and if you have somehow injured him, either crush him completely or get him out of your sight. The Plain, Unassuming, and Often Unintelligent Man. Ah, your ears prick up when you find such a tempting victim. But this man is a lot harder

to deceive than you imagine. Falling for a ruse often takes intelligence and imagina1J'on—-a sense of the possible rewards. The blunt man will not take the bait because he does not recognize it. He is that unaware. The danger with this man is not that he will harm you or seek revenge, but merely that he will waste your time, energy, resources, and even your san~ ity in trying to deceive him. Have a test ready for a mark—ajoke, a story. If his reaction is utterly literal, this is the type you are dealing with. Continue at your own risk. TRANSGRESSIONS OF THE LAW Transgression I In the early part of the thirteenth century, Muhammad, the shah of Khwarezm, managed after many wars to forge a huge empire, extending west to present-day Turkey and south to Afghanistan. The empire’s center was the great Asian capital of Samarkand. The shah had a powerful, well- trained army, and could mobilize 200,000 waniors within days. In 1219 Muhammad received an embassy from a new tribal leader to the east, Genghis Khan. The embassy included all sorts of gifts to the great Muhammad, representing the finest goods from Khan’s small but growing Mongol empire. Genghis Khan wanted to reopen the Silk Route to Europe, and offered to share it with Muhammad, while promising peace between the two empires. Muhammad did not know this upstart from the east, who, it seemed to him, was extremely arrogant to try to talk as an equal to one so clearly his superior. He ignored Khan’s offer. Khan tried again: This time he sent a caravan of a hundred camels filled with the rarest articles he had plun- dered from China. Before the caravan reached Muhammad, however, Inalchik, the governor of a region bordering on Samarkand, seized it for himself, and executed its leaders. ' Genghis Khan was sure that this was a mistake—that Inalchik had acted without Muhammad’s approval. He sent yet another mission to Muhammad, reiterating his offer and asking that the governor be punished. This time Muhammad himself had one of the ambassadors beheaded, and sent the other two back with shaved heads-a horrifying insult in the Mon- gol code of honor. Khan sent a message to the shah: “You have chosen war. What will happen will happen, and what it is to be we know not; only God knows.” Mobilizing his forces, in 1220 he attacked Inalchik’s province, where he seized the capital, captured the governor, and ordered him exe- cuted by having molten silver poured into his eyes and ears. Over the next year, Khan led a series of guern‘lla~1ike campaigns against the sha.h’s much larger army, His method was totally novel for the time—his soldiers could move very fast on horseback, and had mastered the art of firing with bow and arrow while mounted. The speed and flexi- bility of his forces allowed him to deceive Muhammad as to his intentions and the directions of his movements. Eventually he managed first to sur- prison, and put Aguirre on the beast.. . . The beast war driven on, and he receiver! the l£15llt’..X. . . W'l1en freed. Aguirre announced his intarr /ion 0_/‘killing the offi- cial who lmzl St’Ilf€I1C(’(l him, the alcaldri Esquivel, Esquiuelly term nfoffire l’X[7Ir£?(l and he/led to Lima, three lmmlred tweruy leagues away, but within /ifrcen days Aguirre hm] mzvkezl him there. Theft-ighr melt judge i()IlI‘ll€_W:'(l tn Quim, a Irip offour /zmzdred l€agN€.\‘, and in twenty days Aguirre arn'w=d. “When Erquivul /ward of his presemr,” rurconlirig In Gzzrcilaso, “he made anotl1t>r}'()ur- my uffiw: humlreil leagues tn Cuzco; but in a few days Aguirre also arrived, liming tmvcllrcrl on foot and William‘ .sI1oc.\‘, saying that (1 Wllipped man has‘ no l)u.sir1¢r.s,\‘ to rirlc u h()P‘.Yt’., or to go where he would be sezrtz by 01/mrs. In this way, /iguzrrr fnllowmi his judge for three years. and/our Inmztlls." Wcarying of the pur.s'uz'I, Esquire] remained at Cu.'./so, :2 city mr1erIzlygoverr:.ezI /hat lzefclt he would be safe from Agufrre. He look a house near /he rnrlmdral and never \’€I’ltll7'(,’£l outdnorr wirlwul a swan! and (1 dagger. “llnwevcr. on a ('£’l'l£lln M omlay, ut mum. Aguirre entered his lwu.\‘(.', and having walked all over ii. and having rrawtr.red u corridor. :1 mloon, (2 L'lzurnber.mn1 an inner LAW I9 139

chamber where the judge kept his books. he at last found him axlcep over one ofltis hm)/<.\', and stahbcd him 10 death. The murderer then went out, but when he came to the door of the house, he format’ that he had forgotten his hat, and had the temerity 10 return amf fetch it. and then walked down the street.” 'lHE GOLDEN l'lREAVl.‘ SI:F,Kl:llS 01- t~:L uotmuo. WALKIER CIIAPMAN. 1967 ‘fill’. (.R()V€ AND Tllli I~»Ill‘l|'iP A troublesome Crow seated herselfon the back of a Slzccp. The Sheep, much against his will. carried her back— ward and forward for (I long time, and at last said. “ifyou had trcatetl a dug in this way. yrtu would have: had your desert: from his sharp teeth," To this the Crow rteplictl, “I dexpiye the weak, and yield to the strong. I know whom I may bully, and whom I must firmer; and thtm I hope to prolong my life to t1 AB, R SIXTH (‘l:NTlIRY B1,‘. 140 LAW )9 round Samarkand, then to seize it. Muhammad fled, and a year later died, his vast empire broken and destroyed. Genghis Khan was sole master of Samarkand, the Silk Route, and most of northern Asia. Interpretation Never assume that the person you are dealing with is weaker or less impor- tant than you are. Some men are slow to take offense, which may make you misjudge the thickness of their skin, and fail to wony about insulting them. But should you offend their honor and their pride, they will over- whelm you with a violence that seems sudden and extreme given their slowness to anger. If you want to turn people down, it is best to do so po~ litely and respectfully, even if you feel their request is impudent or their offer ridiculous. Never reject them with an insult until you know them bet- ter; you may be dealing with a Genghis Khan. Transgression II In the late 1910s some of the best swindlers in America formed a con-artist ring based in Denver, Colorado. In the winter months they would spread across the southern states, plying their trade. In 1920 Joe Furey, a leader of the ring, was working his way through Texas, making hundreds of thou- sands of dollars with classic con games. In Fort Worth, he met a sucker named j. Frank Norileet, a cattleman who owned a large ranch. Nortleet fell for the con. Convinced of the riches to come, he emptied his bank ac» count of $45,000 and handed it over to Furey and his Confederates. A few days later they gave him his “millions,” which turned out to be a few good dollars wrapped around a packet of newspaper clippings. Furey and his men had worked such cons a hundred times before, and the sucker was usually so embarrassed by his gullibility that he quietly learned his lesson and accepted the loss. But Norfleet was not like other suckers. He went to the police, who told him there was little they could do. “Then I’ll go after those people myselfl” Norfleet told the detectives. “I’ll get them, too, ifit takes the rest of my life.” His wife took over the ranch as Norileet scoured the country, looking for others who had been fleeced in the same game. One such sucker came forward, and the two men identified one of the con artists in San Francisco, and managed to get him locked up, The man committed suicide rather than face a long term in prison. Norfleet kept going. He tracked down another of the con artists in Montana, roped him like a calf, and dragged him through the muddy streets to the town jail. He traveled not only across the country but to England, Canada, and Mexico in Search ofjoe Furey, and also of Furey’s right-hand man, W B. Spencer. Finding Spencer in Montreal, Norfleet chased him through the streets. Spencer escaped but the rancher stayed on his trail and caught up with him in Salt Lake City. Preferring the mercy of the law to Nortleet’s wrath, Spencer turned himself in. = Norfleet found Furey in Jacksonville, Florida, and personally hauled him off to face justice in Texas. But he wouldn’t stop there: He continued on to Denver, determined to break up the entire ring. Spending not only

large sums of money but another year of his life in the pursuit, he managed to put all of the con n'ng’s leaders behind bars. Even some he didn’t catch had grown so terrified of him that they too turned themselves in. After five years of hunting, Norfleet had single-handedly destroyed the country’s largest confederation of con artists. The efiort bankrupted him and mined his marriage, but he died a satisfied man. Interpretation Most men accept the humiliation of being conned with a sense of resigna- tion. They learn their lesson, recognizing that there is no such thing as a free lunch, and that they have usually been brought down by their own greed for easy money. Some, however, refuse to take their medicine. In stead of reflecting on their own gullibility and avarice, they see themselves as totally innocent victims. Men like this may seem to be crusaders for justice and honesty, but they are actually immoderately insecure. Being fooled, being conned, has activated their self-doubt, and they are desperate to repair the damage. Were the mortgage on N0rfleet’s ranch, the collapse of his marriage, and the years of borrowing money and living in cheap hotels worth his revenge over his embarrassment at being fleeced? To the Norfleets of the world, overcoming their embarrassment is worth any price. All people have insecurities, and often the best way to deceive a sucker is to play upon his insecurities. But in the realm of power, everything is a question of degree, and the person who is decidedly more insecure than the average mortal presents great dangers. Be warned: If you practice de~ ception or trickery of any sort, study your mark well. Some people’s inse- curity and ego fragility cannot tolerate the slightest offense. To see if you are dealing with such a type, test them first—make, say, a mild joke at their expense. A confident person will laugh; an overly insecure one will react as if personally insulted. If you suspect you are dealing with this type, find an- other victim. Transgression III In the fifth century B.C., Ch’ung-erh, the prince of Ch’in (in present-day China), had been forced into exile. He lived modestly——even, sometimes, in poverty—waiting for the time when he could return home and resume his princely life. Once he was passing through the state of Cheng, where the ruler, not knowing who he was, treated him rudely. The r1.1ler’s minis- ter, Shu Chan, saw this and said, “This man is a worthy prince. May Your Highness treat him with great courtesy and thereby place him under an obligation!” But the ruler, able to see only the prince’s lowly station, ig- nored this advice and insulted the prince again. Shu Chan again warned his master, saying, “If Your Highness cannot treat Ch’ung~erh with cour- tesy, you should put him to death, to avoid calamity in the future.” The ruler only scoffed. Years later, the prince was finally able to return home, his circum- stances greatly changed. He did not forget who had been kind to him, and LAW 19 I41

142 j LAW 19 who had been insolent, during his years of poverty. Least of all did he for» get his treatment at the hands of the ruler of Cheng. At his first opportunity he assembled a vast army and marched on Chang, taking eight cities, de~ straying the kingdom, and sending the ruler into an exile of his own. Interpretation You can never be sure who you are dealing with. A man who is of little im- portance and means today can be a person of power tomorrow. We forget a lot in our lives, but we rarely forget an insult. How was the ruler of Cheng to know that Prince Ch’ung-erh was an ambitious, calculating, cunning type, a serpent with along memory? There was really no way for him to know, you may say-—but since there was no way, it would have been better not to tempt the fates by finding out. There is nothing to be gained by insulting a person unnecessarily Swallow the impulse to offend, even if the other person seems weak. The satisfaction is meager compared to the danger that someday be or she will be in a posi tion to hurt you. Transgresskm IV The year of 1920 had been a particularly bad one for American art dealers. Big buyers«-«the robber-baron generation of the previous century-~were getting to an age where they were dying off like flies, and no new million» aires had emerged to take their place. Things were so bad that a number of the major dealers decided to pool their resources, an unheard-of event, since art dealers usually get along like cats and dogs. Joseph Duveen, art dealer to the richest tycoons of America, was suf- fering more than the others that year, so he decided to go along with this alliance. The group now consisted of the five biggest dealers in the country. Looking around for a new client, they decided that their last best hope was Henry Ford, then the wealthiest man in America. Ford had yet to venture into the art market, and he was such a big target that it made sense for them to work together. The dealers decided to assemble a list, “The 100 Greatest Paintings in the World” (all of which they happened to have in stock), and to offer the lot of them to Ford. With one purchase he could make himself the world’s greatest collector. The consortium worked for weeks to produce a magnifi- cent object: a three-volume set of books containing beautiful reproductions of the paintings, as well as scholarly texts accompanying each picture. Next they made a personal visit to Ford at his home in Dearborn, Michigan. There they were surprised by the simplicity of his house: Mr. Ford was ob‘ viously an extremely unaffected man. Ford received them in his study. Looking through the book, he ex- pressed astonishment and delight. The excited dealers began imagining the millions of dollars that would shortly flow into their coflers. Finally, how— ever, Ford looked up from the book and said, “Gentlemen, beautiful books like these, with beautiful colored pictures like these, must cost an awful lot!” “But Mr. Ford!” exclaimed Duveen, “we don’t expect you to buy these

books. We got them up especially for you, to show you the pictures. These books are a present to you.” Ford seemed puzzled. “Gentlemen,” he said, “it is extremely nice of you, but I really don’t see how I can accept a beau- tiful, expensive present like this from strangers.” Duveen explained to Ford that the reproductions in the books showed paintings they had hoped to sell to him. Ford finally understood. “But gentlemen,” he exclaimed, “what would I want with the original pictures when the ones right here in these books are so beautiful?” Interpretation Joseph Duveen prided himself on studying his victims and clients in ad Vance, figuring out their weaknesses and the peculiarities of their tastes be fore he ever met them. He was driven by desperation to drop this tactic just once, in his assault on Henry Ford. It took him months to recover from his misjudgrnent, both mentally and monetarily. Ford was the unassuming plain—ma.n type who just isn’t worth the bother. He was the incarnation of those literal-minded folk who do not possess enough imagination to be de ceived. From then on, Duveen saved his energies for the Mellons and Mor- gans of the world——men crafty enough for him to entrap in his snares. KEYS T() POWER The ability to measure people and to know who you’re dealing with is the most important skill of all in gathering and conserving power. Without it you are blind: Not only will you offend the wrong people, you will choose the Wrong types to work on, and will think you are flattering people when you are actually insulting them. Before embarking on any move, take the measure of your mark or potential opponent. Otherwise you will waste time and make mistakes. Study people's weaknesses, the chinks in their armor, their areas of both pride and insecurity. Know their ins and outs be- fore you even decide whether or not to deal with them. Two final words of caution: First, in judging and measuring your oppo~ nent, never rely on your instincts. You will make the greatest mistakes of all if you rely on such inexact indicators. Nothing can substitute for gathering concrete knowledge. Study and spy on your opponent for however long it takes; this will pay off in the long run. Second, never trust appearances. Anyone with a serpent’s heart can use a show of kindness to cloak it; a person who is blustery on the outside is often really a coward. Learn to see through appearances and their contra- dictions. Never trust the version that people give of themselves——it is ut- terly unreliable. LAW 19 ; 143

Image: The Hunter, He does not lay the same trap for a wolf as for a fox. He does not set bait where no one will take it. He knows his prey thoroughly, its habits and hideaways, and hunts accordingly. Authority: Be Convinced, that there are no persons so insignificant and inconsiderable, but may, some time or other, have it in their power to be of use to you; which they cer- tainly will not, ifyou have once shown them contempt. Wrongs are often forgiven, but contempt never is. Our pride remembers it for ever. (Lord Chesterfield, 1694-1773) REVERSAL What possible good can come from ignorance about other people? Leam to tell the lions from the lambs or pay the price. Obey this law to its fullest extent; it has no reversal—-do not bother looking for one. I44 LAW 19

LAW 20 I)C)PJCYT CXDLJBJIT 'TC)1&DTY()PJE JUDGMENT It is thefool who always rushes to take sides. Do not com- mil to any side or cause but yourself By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others—— playing people against one another, making them pursue you. ' I45

M6 ? LAW 20 PART I: DO NOT COMMIT TO ANYONE, BUT BE COURTED BY ALL Ifyou allow people to feel they possess you to any degree, you lose all power over them. By not committing your affections, tfwy will only try harder to win you over Stay aloof and you gain the power that comes from their at— tention and frustrated desire. Play the Virgin Queen: Give them hope but never satisfaction. OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW When Queen Elizabeth I ascended the throne of England, in 1558, there was much to-do about her finding a husband. The issue was debated in Par- liament, and was a. main topic of conversation among Englishmen of all classes; they often disagreed as to whom she should marry, but everyone thought she should marry as soon as possible, for a queen must have a king, and must bear heirs for the kingdom. The debates raged on for years. Meanwhile the most handsome and eligible bachelors in the realm-Sir Robert Dudley, the Earl of Essex, Sir Walter Ra.leigh———vied for Elizabetlfs hand. She did not discourage them, but she seemed to be in no hurry, and her hints as to which man might be her favorite often contradicted each other. In 1566, Parliament sent a delegation to Elizabeth urging her to marry before she was too old to bear children. She did not argue, nor did she discourage the delegation, but she remained a virgin nonetheless. The delicate game that Elizabeth played with her suitors slowly made her the subject of innumerable sexual fantasies and the object of cultish worship. The court physician, Simon Forman, used his diary to describe his dreams of deflowering her. Painters represented her as Diana and other goddesses. The poet Edmund Spenser and others wrote eulogies to the Vir- gin Queen. She was referred to as “tha, wor1d’s Empresse,” “that virtuous Virgo” who rules the world and sets the stars in motion. In conversation with her, her many male suitors would employ bold sexual innuendo, a dare that Elizabeth did not discourage. She did all she could to stir their in terest and simultaneously keep them at bay. Throughout Europe, kings and princes knew that a marriage with Eliz- abeth would seal an alliance between England and any nation. The king of Spain wooed her, as did the prince of Sweden and the archduke of Austria. She politely refused them all. The great diplomatic issue of Elizabetlfs day was posed by the revolt of the Flemish and Dutch Lowlands, which were then possessions of Spain. Should England break its alliance with Spain and choose France as its main ally on the Continent, thereby encouraging Flemish and Dutch indepen- dence? By 1570 it had come to seem that an alliance with France would be England’s wisest course. France had two eligible men of noble blood, the dukes of Anjou and Alencon, brothers of the French king. Would either of them marry Elizabeth? Both had advantages, and Elizabeth kept the hopes of both alive. The issue simmered for years. The duke of Anjou made sev-

eral visits to England, kissed Elizabeth in public, even called her by pet names; she appeared to requite his affections. Meanwhile, as she flirted with the two brothers, a treaty was signed that sealed peace between France and England. By 1582 Elizabeth felt she could break off the courtship. In the case of the duke of Anjou in particular, she did so with great relief: For the sake of diplomacy she had allowed herself to be courted by a man whose presence she could not stand and whom she found physically repulsive. Once peace between France and England was secure, she dropped the unctuous duke as politely as she could. By this time Elizabeth was too old to bear children. She was accord- ingly able to live the rest of her life as she desired, and she died the Virgin Queen. She left no direct heir, but ruled through a period of incomparable peace and cultural fertility. “ Interpretation Elizabeth had good reason not to marry: She had witnessed the mistakes of Mary Queen of Scots, her cousin. Resisting the idea of being ruled by a woman, the Scots expected Mary to many and marry wisely. To wed a for- eigner would be unpopular; to favor any particular noble house would open up terrible rivalries. In the end Mary chose Lord Damley, a Catholic. In doing so she incurred the wrath of Scotland’s Protestants, and endless turmoil ensued. Elizabeth knew that marriage can often lead to a female ru1er’s undo- ing: By marrying and committing to an alliance with one party or nation, the queen becomes embroiled in conflicts that are not of her choosing, con~ flicts which may eventually overwhelm her or lead her into a futile war. Also, the husband becomes the de facto ruler, and often tries to do away with his wife the queen, as Darnley tried to get rid of Mary. Elizabeth learned the lesson well. She had two goals as a ruler: to a‘ ‘old marriage and to avoid war. She managed to combine these goals by Lnngling the possi- bility of marriage in order to forge alliances. The moment she committed to any single suitor would have been the moment she lost her power. She had to emanate mystery and desirability, never discouraging anyone’s hopes but never yielding. Through this lifelong game of flirting and withdrawing, Elizabeth dominated the country and every man who sought to conquer her. As the center of attention, she was in control. Keeping her independence above all, Elizabeth protected her power and made herself an object of worship. I would rather be a beggar and single than a queen and married. Queen l‘?l1':alzzth I, 15 33-161]? KEYS 'l‘(..) POWER Since power depends greatly on appearances, you must learn the tricks that will enhance your image. Refusing to commit to a person or group is one of these, When you hold yourself back, you incur not anger but a kind LAW 20 § 147

148 LAW 20 of respect. You instantly seem powerful because you make yourself un- graspable, rather than succumbing to the group, or to the relationship, as most people do. This aura of power only grows with time: As your reputa- tion for independence grows, more and more people will come to desire you, wanting to be the one who gets you to commit. Desire is like a virus: If we see that someone is desired by other people, we tend to find this person desirable too. The moment you commit, the magic is gone. You become like every- one else. People will try all kinds of underhanded methods to get you to commit. They will give you gifts, shower you with favors, all to put you under obligation. Encourage the attention, stimulate their interest, but do not commit at any cost. Accept the gifts and favors if you so desire, but be careful to maintain your inner aloofness, You cannot inadvertently allow yourself to feel obligated to anyone. Remember, though: The goal is not to put people off, or to make it seem that you are incapable of commitment. Like the Virgin Queen, you need to stir the pot, excite interest, lure people with the possibility of having you. You have to bend to their attention occasionally, then——but never too far: The Greek soldier and statesman Alcibiades played this game to per- fection. It was Alcibiades who inspired and led the massive Athenian at- mada that invaded Sicily in 414 BC. When envious Athenians back home tried to bring him down by accusing him of trumpedup charges, he de- fected to the enemy, the Spartans, instead of facing a trial back home. Then, after the Athenians were defeated at Syracuse, he left Sparta for Persia, even though the power of Sparta was now on the rise. Now, however, both the Athenians and the Spartans courted Alcibiades because of his influence with the Persians; and the Pen tans showered him with honors because of his power over the Athenians and the Spartans. He made promises to every side but committed to none, and in the end he held all the cards. If you aspire to power and influence, try the Alcibiades tactic: Put yourself in the middle between competing powers. Lure one side with the promise of your help; the other side, always wanting to outdo its enemy, will pursue you as well. As each side vies for your attention, you will im- mediately seem a person of great influence and desirability. More power will accrue to you than if you had rashly committed to one side. To perfect this tactic you need to keep yourself inwardly free from emotional entan- glements, and to view all those around you as pawns in your rise to the top. You cannot let yourself become the lackey for any cause. In the midst of the 1968 U.S. presidential election, Henry Kissinger made a phone call to Richard Nixon’s team. Kissinger had been allied with Nelson Rockefeller, who had unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomina- tion. Now Kissinger offered to supply the Nixon camp with valuable inside information on the negotiations for peace in Vietnam that were then going on in Paris. He had a man on the negotiating team keeping him informed of the latest developments. The Nixon team gladly accepted his offer. At the same time, however, Kissinger also approached the Democratic nominee, Hubert Humphrey, and offered his aid. The Humphrey people

asked him for inside information on Nixon and he supplied it. “Look,” Kissinger told Hurnphrey’s people, “I’ve hated Nixon for years.” In fact he had no interest in either side. What he really wanted was what he got: the promise of a high-level cabinet post from both Nixon and Humphrey. Whichever man won the election, Kissingefs career was secure. The winner, of course, was Nixon, and Kissinger duly went on to his cabinet post. Even so, he was careful never to appear too much of a Nixon man. When Nixon was reelected in 1972, men much more loyal to him than Kissinger were fired. Kissinger was also the only Nixon high official to survive Watergate and serve under the next president, Gerald Ford. By maintaining a little distance he thrived in turbulent times. Those who use this strategy often notice a strange phenomenon: People who rush to the support of others tend to gain little respect in the process, for their help is so easily obtained, while those who stand back find themselves besieged with supplicants. Their aloofness is powerful, and everyone wants them on their side. When Picasso, after early years of poverty, had become the most suc- cessful aitist in the world, he did not commit himself to this dealer or that dealer, although they now besieged him from all sides with attractive offers and grand promises. Instead, he appeared to have no interest in their ser- vices; this technique drove them wild, and as they fought over him his prices only rose. When Henry Kissinger, as U.S. secretary of state, wanted to reach détente with the Soviet Union, he made no concessions or concil- iatory gestures, but courted China instead. This infuriated and also scared the Soviets——-they were already politically isolated and feared further isola tion if the United States and China, ,ca.me together. Kissinger’s move pushed them to the negotiating table. The tactic has a parallel in seduction: When you want to seduce a woman, Stendhal advises, court her sister first. Stay aloof and people will come to you. It will become a challenge for them to win your affections. As long as you imitate the wise Virgin Queen and stimulate their hopes, you will remain a magnet of attention and desire. Image: The Virgin Queen. The center of attention, desire, and worship. Never succumbing to one suitor or the other, the Virgin Queen keeps them all revolving around her like planets, unable to leave her orbit but never getting any closer to her. Authority: Do not commit yourself to anybody or any thing, for that is to be a slave, a slave to every man. . . . Above all, keep yourself free of com- mitments and obligations—— they are the device of another to get you into his power. . . . (Baltasar Gracian, 1601-1658) LAW 20 149

'11“ l\!H',.\‘ HM’ (,|{0\\.~'. .\\l) TU!‘ t-(9.\ 731¢’ lrilcs am] the rrmvx made an ngn=um'n1 mmmg zhcmwlves {lust ilujv 3'/wuld go hrtivcza in out-rytlziivg obttlitzal in t}1efor¢:1'I. One day Hwy saw u jbx that Jim! b{'t.’iZ WUI1‘t16,(’(I by hunter: tying Iiel]If€.s'.\‘ mulrr a trim‘, and gath- ered mmm‘ it. Thy rnzws said. “We will’ mkc the upper half uftlw fax." “'I'£n:Ia nu: It (I! (aim the [own h1:i_1'.'"x12i1I the lcilzas, The {cu ?(lughl’d at this; am! mid. “! aIwa_v.s‘ thought the kims u-‘ere superior in crenlirm to the crcmix; XIX ,s‘u<:h tlujv muxt gel the uppzr half afnzy hm:!_V~ nfwhich In}: haul, warh the brain (mil other rte-!t'<‘t4!e rlu'ng.\~ m r1,_/"arms 1! portion." “Uh, },‘n’.\'. that (Y right," xutot the kites’, "we will haw that gun of Ihl,‘ fox." “./'\/at cu <11/."st1id the rmwx, “um must have ' ‘already agr('v1I," Titan :1 war (time I)<'Iwcen the rival ]mrliz'.\. and at great many fvll rm I>r1rI1.<irIm, am! the rmttuirttrzg few z'.s'<’apr-d with zli_I]1'('uIIy. The tax mutuuwr1' them for snnw {l{1}>,\‘, ‘/50 , LAW2n PART 11: DO NOT C.(.)MMl'1‘ TO ANYONE—- STAY ABOVE THE FRAY Do not let people drag you into their petty fights and squabbles. Seem inter- ested and suppcwtive, but find a way to mnain neutral; let others do the fighting while you stand back, watch and wait. When the fighting patties am good and tired thvy will be ripe for the picking. You can make it a prac- tice, in fact, to stir up quarrels between other people, and then offer to medi- ate, gaining power as the go-between. OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW In the late fifteenth century, the strongest city~states in Italy-——Venice, Flo- rence, Rome, and Milan~—-found themselves constantly squabbling. Hover- ing above their struggles were the nations of France and Spain, ready to grab whatever they could from the weakened Italian powers. And trapped in the middle was the small state of Mantua, ruled by the young Duke Gianfrancesco Gonzaga. Mantua was strategically located in northern Italy, and it seemed only a matter of time before one of the powers swal- lowed it up and it ceased to exist as an independent kingdom. Gonzaga was a fierce warrior and a skilled commander of troops, and he became a kind of mercenzuy general for whatever side paid him best. In the year 1490, he married Isabella d’Este, daughter of the ruler of another small Italian duchy, Ferrara. Since he now spent most of his time away iron Mantua, it fell to Isabella to rule in his stead. lsabellzfs first true test as ruler came in 1498, when King Louis XII of France was preparing armies to attack Milan. In their usual perfidious fash« ion, the Italian states immediately looked for ways to profit from Mila.n’s difficulties. Pope Alexander VI promised not to intervene, thereby giving the French carte blanche. The Venefians signaled that they would not help Milan, either—and in exchange for this, they hoped the French would give them Mantua. The ruler of Milan, Lodovico Sforza, suddenly found him- self alone and abandoned. He turned to Isabella d’Este, one of his closest friends (also rumored to be his lover), and begged her to persuade Duke Gonzaga to come to his aid. Isabella tried, but her husband balked, for he saw Sforza’s cause as hopeless. And so, in 1499, Louis swooped down on Milan and took it with ease. Isabella now faced a dilemma: If she stayed loyal to Lodovico, the French would now move against her. But if, instead, she allied herself with France, she would make enemies elsewhere in Italy, compromising Man- tua once Louis eventually withdrew. And if she looked to Venice or Rome for help, they would simply swallow up Mantua under the cloak of coming to her aid. Yet she had to do something. The mighty king of France was breathing down her neck: She decided to befxiend him, as she had be~ friended Lodovico Sforza before him——-with alluring gifts, witty, intelligent letters, and the possibility of her company, for Isabella was famous as a woman of incomparable beauty and charm.

In 1500 Louis invited Isabella to a great party in Milan to celebrate his victory. Leonardo da Vinci built an enormous mechanical lion for the af- fair: When the lion opened its mouth, it spewed fresh lilies, the symbols of French royalty. At the party Isabella wore one of her celebrated dresses (she had by far the largest wardrobe of any of the Italian princesses), and just as she had hoped, she charmed and captivated Louis, who ignored all the other ladies vying for his attention. She soon became his constant com- panion, and in exchange for her friendship he pledged to protect Mantua’s independence from Venice. As one danger receded, however, another, more worrying one arose, this time from the south, in the form of Cesare Borgia Starting in 1500, Borgia had marched steadily northward, gobbling up all the small king- doms in his path in the name of his father, Pope Alexander. Isabella under» stood Cesare perfectly: He could be neither tnisted 1101' in any way offended. He had to be cajoled and kept at arm’s length. Isabella began by sending him gifts——falcons, prize dogs, perfumes, and dozens of masks, which she knew he always wore when he walked the streets of Rome. She sent messengers with flattering greetings (although these messengers also acted as her spies). At one point Cesare asked if he could house some troops in Mantua; Isabella managed to dissuade him politely, knowing full well that once the troops were quartered in the city, they would never leave. Even while Isabella was charming Cesare, she convinced everyone around her to take care never to utter a harsh word about him, since he had spies everywhere and would use the slightest pretext for invasion. When Isabella had a child, she asked Cesare to be the godfather. She even dangled in front of him the possibility of a marriage between her family and his. Somehow it all worked, for although elsewhere he seized every- thing in his path, he spared Mantua. In 1503 Cesare’s father, Alexander, died, and a few years later the new pope, Julius II, went to war to drive the French troops from Italy. When the ruler of Fe1rara——Alfonso, Isabella’s brother—sided with the French, Julius decided to attack and humble him. Once again Isabella found herself in the middle: the pope on one side, the French and her brother on the other. She dared not ally herself with either, but to offend either would be equally disastrous. Again she played the double game at which she had be- come so expert. On the one hand she got her husband Gonzaga to fight for the pope, knowing he would not fight very hard. On the other she let French troops pass through Mantua to come to Ferrara’s aid. While she publicly complained that the French had “invaded” her territory, she pri- vately supplied them with valuable information. To make the invasion plausible to Julius, she even had the French pretend to plunder Mantua. It worked once again: The pope left Mantua alone. In 1513, after a lengthy siege, Julius defeated Ferrara, and the French troops withdrew. Worn out by the effort, the pope died a few months later. With his death, the nightmarish cycle of battles and petty squabbles began to repeat itself. leisurely /keding on the dead kites and crows. and then left the place Italy and hearty, observing, "The Ivmk hem?/it by Ilze 1]M(lI‘I‘tf].¥ of (he mighty." INDIAN EARLF3 Men ofgreat abilities are slow :0 act. for it is easier In avoid ncca« .s'irm.r for commiltirzg yourself than to (‘only well nut (Ifa commit- mml. Such 0L'L'llSf07lS test yourjudgmeut; it is safer to avoid them than to emerge victurr nus from them. One obligation loads to a greater one. and you mme very neur tn the brink 0/'di.m.\'ter. BALTASAR GR/u'1A:\‘. 16014658 LAW 20 I51

'11 Eli‘. l§A<;l E AND T} il-Z .‘~'()\X' Art eagle built a nest on a tree, and hatched out some euglets. And fl wild sow brought her litter umier the tree. T111’ aagfe used tofly off’after her prey. and bring it back to her young. And the sow rooted around the tree and hunted in the woods, and when night came she would bring her young something to eat. And the eagle and the sow lived in neighborly fashion. And a grimalkin laid her plum‘ to destroy the eaglezs and the little Sucrking pigr She went to the eagle, and said: "Eagle, you had better nalfly very far away. Beware ofthe sow;shc ix planning an evil design. She is going (0 undemzine the roots of the tree. You see she is‘ rooting ah? the time." Then the grmuzlkin went to the sow and mid: "Saw, you have not 42 good tteighbor. Last Uvfntng I heard the eagle saying to her eagles‘: ‘My dear (title eaglels,1 am going to treat you to a nice little pig. Just as soon as the row is gone, I will bring you it little young sucking pig.‘ " From that time the eagle ceased tojiy out after prey, mad the sow did not go any more into thr_fnre.vt. The euglets and the young pigs perished of .§‘!l1t'\’fl~ tion. mm‘ grimztlkin fenstrci on them. mnx.r=.s, 1,150 To LSTOY. [R28-#1010 152' LAW 20 A great deal changed in Italy during Isabella’s reign: Popes came and went, Cesare Borgiarose and then fell, Venice lost its empire, Milan was in vaded, Florence fell into decline, and Rome was sacked by the Hapsburg Emperor Charles V. Through all this, tiny Mantua not only survived but thrived, its court the envy of Italy. Its wealth and sovereignty would remain intact for a century after Isabella’s death, in 1539. Interpretation Isabella d’Este understood Italy’s political situation with amazing clarity: Once you took the side of any of the forces in the field, you were doomed. The powerful would take you over, the weak would wear you down. Any new alliance would lead to a new enemy, and as this cycle stirred up more conflict, other forces would be dragged in, until you could no longer extri- cate yourself. Eventually you would collapse from exhaustion. Isabella steered her kingdom on the only course that would bring her safely through. She would not allow herself to lose her head through loy~ alty to a duke or a king. Nor would she try to stop the conflict that raged around her---that would only drag her into it. And in any case the conflict was to her advantage. If die various parties were fighting to the death, and exhausting themselves in the process, they were in no position to gobble up Mantua. The source of Isabella’s power was her clever ability to seem interested in the affairs and interests of each side, while actually commib ting to no one but herself and her kingdom. Once you step into a. fight that is not of your own choosing, you lose all initiative. The combatants’ interests become your interests; you become their tool. Learn to control yourself, to restrain your natural tendency to take sides and join the fight. Be friendly and charming to each of the com~ batants, then step back as they collide. V/Wth every battle they grow weaker, while you grow stronger with every battle you avoid. When the snipe and the mussel struggle, thefishetman gets the benefit. Ancient Chinese saying KEYS TO POWER To succeed in the game of power, you have to master your emotions. But even if you succeed in gaining such self-control, you can never control the temperamental dispositions of those around you. And this presents a great danger. Most people operate in a whirlpool of emotions, constantly react‘ ing, churning up squabbles and conflicts. Your sell’—contIol and autonomy will only bother and infuriate them. They will my to draw you into the whirlpool, begging you to take sides in their endless battles, or to make peace for them. If you succumb to their emotional entreaties, little by little you will find your mind and time occupied by their problems. Do not allow whatever compassion and pity you possess to suck you in. You can never win in this game; the conflicts can only multiply. On the other hand, you cannot completely stand aside, for that would

cause needless offense. To play the game properly, you must seem inter- ested in other people‘s problems, even sometimes appear to take their side. But while you make outward gestures of support, you must maintain your inner energy and sanity by keeping your emotions disengaged. No matter how hard people try to pull you in, never let your interest in their affairs and petty squabbles go beyond the surface. Give them gifts, listen with a sympathetic look, even occasionally play the charmer-—but inwardly keep both the friendly kings and the perfidious Borgias at arm’s length. By refus~ ing to commit and thus maintaining your autonomy you retain the initia- tive: Your moves stay matters of your own choosing, not defensive reactions to the push-and~pu1l of those around you. Slowness to pick up your weapons can be a weapon itself, especially if you let other people exhaust themselves fighting, then take advantage of their exhaustion. In ancient China, the kingdom of Chin once invaded the kingdom of Hsing. Huan, the ruler of a nearby province, thought he should rush to Hsing’s defense, but his adviser counseled him to wait: “Hsing is not yet going to ruin,” he said, “and Chin is not yet exhausted. If Chin is not exhausted, [we] cannot become very influential. Moreover, the merit of supporting a state in danger is not as great as the virtue of reviving a ruined one.” The adviser’s argument won the day, and as he had pre- dicted, Huan later had the glory both of rescuing Hsing from the brink of destruction and then of conquering an exhausted Chin. He stayed out of the fighting until the forces engaged in it had worn each other down, at which point it was safe for him to intervene. That is what holding back from the fray allows you: time to position yourselfto take advantage of the situation once one side starts to lose. You can also take the game a step further, by promising your support to both sides in a conflict while maneuvering so that the one to come out ahead in the struggle is you. This was whatCastn1ccio Castracani, ruler of the Italian town of Lucca in the fourteenth century, did when he had designs on the town of Pistoia. A siege would have been expensive, costing both lives and money, but Castruccio knew that Pistoia contained two rival factions, the Blacks and the Whites, which hated one another. He negotiated with the Blacks, promising to help them against the Whites; then, without their knowledge, he promised the Whites he would help them against the Blacks. And Castruccio kept his promiseswhe sent an army to a Black- controlled gate to the city, which the sentxies of course welcomed in. Meanwhile another of his armies entered through a White—control1ed gate. The two armies united in the middle, occupied the town, killed the leaders of both factions, ended the internal war, and took Pistoia for Castruccio. Preserving your autonomy gives you options when people come to blows—~you can play the mediator, broker the peace, while really securing your own interests. You can pledge support to one side and the other may have to court you with a higher bid. Or, like Castruccio, you can appear to take both sides, then play the antagonists against each other. Dftentimes when a conflict breaks out, you are tempted to side with the stronger party, or the one that offers you apparent advantages in an al- THE Pliltlli OF E'\'\"Y While a poor woman stood in the marker- place selling cheeses, (1 cat came along and carried offu cheese. A dog saw the pilferer and Iried to lake the cheese away from him. The cat stood up la the dog. So they pitched into each other. The dog barked and mapped; the ca! spa: and scratched, but they could bring the battle to no decision, “Let's go to the fox and have him referee the mailer," the cat finally suggested. “Agreed," said the dog. So they wen! In the fox. The fox listened to their arguments with ajurli~ ciaus air. “Foolish animals," he chided them, “why carry on like that? If both ofyou are willing, I'll divide the cheese in two and you’ll both be satisfied." “/lgrecrl. "said die cut and the dog. 50 the fax took out his knife and cut the ltheese in two, but, instead of czuting it lengthwise, he‘ Cut it in the width. "My lmlfis smaller!" protested the dog. The for looked judi- ciously through his .s'pectarle.r at the dog's share, "You're right, quite right!" he decided. So he went and bit off a piece ofrhe catk share. “That will make it evem”' he said. When the cm‘ saw what Ihe fox did she began 10 yowl: LAW 20 153

“Jam! look.’ My port 3* .\'ma[l4'r noun‘" The fox again put on his \pm‘/m,'It'.\' um! looked jutliciously 41! the calis‘ .8/luff. “Right you are/"mid (hv fox. “./last (0 /Iumzmt, and I’ll make it ng/tr.“ And he went and bit 0/fa ])l('('i", from {hr dog’; vlzeevv ’I7'Ii.\‘ wen! mi \'1; long, with the fox nibbling ;‘5r.\‘.t as the (logic and then at /he cat}: simre. that 1ie*fEna:’!_v are up (he whale cheese brforc’ their ey<'.s'. A 'lKEASUi<Y or .lF.WL\H F()i,,KL<)Rl:. NA'l'iI»\N Atr<\:1;H.1‘r).. 1 948 154 LAW 20 Hence. This is risky business. First, it is often difficult to foresee which side will prevail in the long run. But even if you guess right and ally yourself with the stronger party, you may find yourself swallowed up and lost, or conveniently forgotten, when they become victors. Side with the weaker, on the other hand, and you are doomed. But play a waiting game and you cannot lose. In Frances July Revolution of 1830, after three days of riots, the states- man Talleyrand, now elderly, sat by his Paris window, listening to the peel- ing bells that signaled the riots were over. Turning to an assistant, he said, “Ah, the bells! We’re winning.” “Who’s ‘we,’ man puma?” the assistant asked. Gesturing for the man to keep quiet, Talleyrand replied, “Not a word! I’ll tell you who we are tomorrow.” He well knew that only fools rush into a situalion—tl1a.t by committing too quickly you lose your ma~ neuverability. People also respect you less: Perhaps tomorrow, they think, you will commit to another, dilferent cause, since you gave yourself so eas ily to this one. Good fortune is a fickle god and will often pass from one side to the other. Commitment to one side deprives you of the advantage of time and the luxury of waiting. Let others fall in love with this group or that; for your part don’t rush in, don’t lose your head. Finally, there are occasions when it is wisest to drop all pretence of ap- pearing supportive and instead to trumpet your independence and self» reliance. The aristocratic pose of independence is particularly important for those who need to gain respect. George Washington recognized this in his work to establish the young American republic on firm ground As president, Washington avoided the temptation of making an alliance with France or England, despite the pressure on him to do so. He wanted the country to earn the world’s respect through its independence. Although a treaty with France mighthave helped in the short toxin, in the long run he knew it would be more effective to establish the nation’s autonomy. Eu- rope would have to see the United States as an equal power. Remember: You have only so much energy and so much time. Every moment wasted on the affairs of others subtracts from your strength. You may be afraid that people will condemn you as heartless, but in the end, maintaining your independence and selfvreliance will gain you more re spect and place you in a position of power from which you can choose to help others on your own initiative.

Image: A Thicket of Shrubs. In the forest, one shrub latches on to another. entzmgling its Iwighboi‘ with its thorns, the thicket slowly extending its impen- etrable domain‘ Only what keeps its clistancze and stands apart can grow and rise above the thicket. Authority: Regard it as more courageous not to become involved in an engagement than to win in battle, and where there is already one interfering fool, take care that there shall not be two. (Baltasar Gracian, 1601-1658} REVERSAL Both parts of this law will turn against you if you take it too far. The game proposed here is delicate and difficult. If you play too many parties against one another, they will see through the maneuver and will gang up on you. If you keep your growing number of suitors waiting too long, you will in- spire not desire but distrust. People will start to lose interest. Eventually you may find it worthwhile to commit to one sidevwif only for appearances’ sake, to prove you are capable of attachment. Even then, however, the key will be to maintain your inner indepen- dence-—to keep yourself from getting emotionally involved. Preserve the unspoken option of being able to leave at any moment and reclaim your freedom if the side you are allied with starts to collapse. The friends you made while you were being courted will give you plenty of places to go once you jump ship. LAW 20 755

156 ; LAW 21 PLAY A SUCKER TO CATCH A SUCKER-——~SEEM DUMBER THAN YOUR MARK JUDGMISNT No one likes feeling st-upider than the next person. The hick, tiwn, is to make your victims feel smart——-and not just smart, but smarter than you am. Once convinced of this, they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW In the winter of 1872, the U.S. financier Asbury Harpending; was visiting London when he received a cable: A diamond mine had been discovered in the American West. The cable came from a reliable source—-William Ralston, owner of the Bank of Califomia—-but Harpending nevertheless took it as a practical joke, probably inspired by the recent discovery of huge diamond mines in South Africa. True, when reports had first come in of gold being discovered in the western United States, everyone had been skeptical, and those had turned out to be true. But a diamond mine in the West‘ Haipending showed the cable to his fellow financier Baron Roth schild (one of the richest men in the world), saying it must be a joke. The baron, however, replied, “Don’t be too sure about that. America is a very large country. It has furnished the world with many surprises already. Per- haps it has others in store.” Harpending promptly took the first ship back to the States. When Harpending reached San Francisco, there was an excitement in the air recalling the Gold Rush days of the late 1840s. Two crusty prospec- tors named Philip Arnold and john Slack had been the ones to find the di- amond mine. They had not divulged its location, in Wyoming, but had led . aliighly respected mining expert to it several weeks back, taking a circular route so he could not guess his whereabouts. Once there, the expert had watched as the miners dug up diamonds. Back in San Francisco the expert had taken the gems to various jewelers, one of whom had estimated their worth at $15 million. Ha:-pending and Ralston now asked Amold and Slack to accompany them back to New York, where the jeweler Charles Tiffany would verify the original estimates. The prospectors responded uneasily--they smelled a trap: How could they must these city slickers? Vifhat if Tiffany and the fi- nanciers managed to steal the whole mine out from under them? Ralston tried to allay their fears by giving them $100,000 and placing another $300,000 in escrow for them. If the deal went through, they would be paid an additional $300,000. The miners agreed. The little group traveled to New York, where a meeting was held at the mansion of Samuel L. Barlow. The cream of the city’s aristocracy was in at- tx-,ndance——General George Brinton McClellan, commander of the Union forces in the Civil War; General Benjamin Butler; Horace Greeley, editor of the newspaper the New Ybrk Tribune; Harpending; Ralston; and Tiffany. Only Slack and Arnold were missing—-as tourists in the city, they had de- cided to go sight-seeing. When Tiffany announced that the gems were real and worth a. fortune, the financiers could barely control their excitement. They wired Roth- _, schild and other tycoons to tell them about the diamond mine and inviting them to share in the investment. At the same time, they also told the prospectors that they wanted one more test: They insisted that a mining ex- I pert of their choosing accompany Slack and Arnold to the site to verify its ' wealth. The prospectors reluctantly agreed. In the meantime, they said, Now. tlnm: is nothing of which a mun is prouder than of Imel- iecvuul ubiliIy,for 11 is this that gives him his’ mmmarzding plan: In the animal world. 1: is an e.rz:eerIingIy rush thing to let anyone we (ha: you are decidedly 3:upcriur10him in [his respect, and to let other people see it too. . . . Hence, while rank and riciies may always rec kon upon deferen- Iial rreamzmr in sncirrzy; that is s()mc,'2’hiIIg u,hin'z inzeitrrctmil ability can never expect: To be ignored is the grecltcsl favour rliowri 10 it; and ifpr-‘opts rwlice it at all, it is lwcausc they regard If as a pI'.c’r‘e of impertmrmrr, or else as $(>metIn'ng tn whirl: its p:n:¢e.v.s'rn' [ms no legiti- marc right, and upon which he dares In pride hirIm’If.' and in remind- lion and revenge for his conduct, people soc-relly Irv am! lzunn'ii- ale hill! in some other way.’ and if they wait to do this, 1'1 15 only for 41 fitting oppm'mm'iy. A man may be rLHm!11bIv as p().s'.riI7lcii1 his ilemcunour. and ye! /mrdly ever get people to overlook his crime in xru/irling imeI[ecm- ally above them. In the Garden of Roses. Sadr‘ make-5 thz: remark.- "You should know that fuoli.s‘]1 [imply an! a humiredfnlzi mon- uwerse 10 meeting (he wire than I/In’ wise are irutir/:<m’ci /or (he company of me foolish." LAW 21 15?‘

()n (he other /mm]. It i.\' 11 rml remrrinwmlulirm to be stupizl. For m.s.‘tz/1.x‘ wumulz is agrcrtuh/¢' to the (Indy. .\'l7 it rlmtv the mind gum! lo feel its \'upz'Vmri!y.' and 41 man will seek <'Im1])unV likely to give him I/nix‘ fwlnzg, us inmmzrvcly us he Will uppruuc/1 the _firr'plm*v or walk m the .\‘IlVl if he warns to get warm. Bu! llzlr mcam‘ that In: will be ills/ikurl rm tlttffltttll ufhix supe- riority; umi 1'/cl man ix /0 be Iilrml. he mm‘! really be in/'eriur in pain! ofinrcllecl. A R I Hi ZR Sr II(wl~.N|IAL=|~:R. l7h‘2*l~l?<(»() 158 1 LAW 21 they had to return to San Francisco. The jewels that Tiffany had examined they left with Harpending for safekeeping. Several weeks later, a man named Louis Janin, the best mining expert in the country, met the prospectors in San Francisco. _]ani.n was a born skeptic who was determined to make sure that the mine was not a fraud. Accompanying janin were Harpending, and several other interested fi~ nanciers. As with the previous expert, the prospectors led the team through a complex series of canyons, completely confusing them as to their where abouts. Arriving at the site, the financiers watched in amazement as janin dug the area up, leveling anthills, turning over boulders, and finding emer- alds, rubies, sapphires, and most of all diamonds. The dig lasted eight days, and by the end, was convinced: He told the investors that they now possessed the richest field in mining history. “With a hundred men and proper machinery," he told them, “I would guarantee to send out one mil lion dollars in diamonds every thirty days." Returning to San Francisco a few days later, Ralston, Harpending, and company acted fast to form a $10 million corporation of private investors. First, however, they had to get rid of Arnold and Slack. That meant hiding their excitement—they certainly did not want to reveal the field’s real value. So they played possum. Who knows if _]anin is right, they told the prospectors, the mine may not be as rich as we think. This just made the prospectors angry. Trying a different tactic, the financiers told the two men that if they insisted on having shares in the mine, they would end up being fleeced by the unscrupulous tycoons and investors who would run the cor- poration; better, they said, to take the $700,000 already offerecl—an enor» mous sum at the time—and put their greed aside. This the prospectors seemed to understand, and they finally agreed to take the money, in return signing the rights to the site over to the financiers, and leaving maps to it. News of the mine spread like wildfire. Prospectors fanned out across Wyoming. Meanwhile Harpending and group began spending the millions they had collected from their investors, buying equipment, hiring the best men in the business, and furnishing luxurious offices in New York and San 0 Francisco. A few weeks later, on their first trip back to the site, they learned the hard truth: Not a single diamond or ruby was to be found. It was all a fake. They were mined. Harpending had unwittingly lured the richest men in the world into the biggest scam of the century. Interpretation Arnold and Slack pulled off their stupendous con not by using a fake engi- neer or bribing Tiffany: All of the experts had been real. All of them hon- estly believed in the existence of the mine and in the value of the gems. What had fooled them all was nothing else than Arnold and Slack them- selves. The two men seemed to be such rubes, such hayseeds, so naive, that no one for an instant had believed them capable of an audacious scam. The prospectors had simply observed the law of appearing more stupid than the mark-—the deceiver’s First Commandment.

The logistics of the con were quite simple. Months before Arnold and Slack announced the “discovery” of the diamond mine, they traveled to Europe, where they purchased some real gems for around $12,000 (part of the money they had saved from their days as gold miners). They then salted the “mine” with these gems, which the first expert dug up and brought to San Francisco. The jewelers who had appraised these stones, in» cluding Tiffany himself, had gotten caught up in the fever and had grossly overestimated their value. Then Ralston gave the prospectors $l00,000 as security, and immediately after their trip to New York they simply went to Amsterdam, where they bought sacks of uncut gems, before ramming to San Francisco. The second time they salted the mine, there were many more jewels to be found. The effectiveness of the scheme, however, rested not on tricks like these but on the fact that Arnold and Slack played their parts to perfection. On their trip to New York, where they mingled with millionaires and ty— coons, they played up their clodhopper image, wearing pants and coats a size or two too small and acting incredulous at everything they saw in the big city. No one believed that these country simpletons could possibly be conning the most devious, unscrupulous financiers of the time. And once Harpending, Ralston, and even Rothschild accepted the mine’s existence, anyone who doubted it was questioning the intelligence of the world’s most successful businessmen. In the end, Harpending’s reputation was mined and he never recov- ered; Rothschild learned his lesson and never fell for another con; Slack took his money and disappeared from view, never to be found. Arnold simply went home to Kentucky. After all, his sale of his mining rights had been legitimate; the buyers had taken the best advice, and if the mine had run out of diamonds, that was their problem. Arnold used the money to greatly enlarge his farm and open up a bank of his own. KEYS TO POWER The feeling that someone else is more intelligent than we are is almost in- tolerable. We usually try to justify it in difierent ways: “He only has book knowledge, whereas I have real knowledge.” “Her parents paid for her to get a good education. If my parents had had as much money, if I had been as privileged.. . .” “He’s not as smart as he thinks.” Last but not least: “She may know her narrow little field better than I do, but beyond that she’s re- ally not smart at all. Even Einstein was a boob outside physics.” Given how important the idea of intelligence is to most people’s van- ity, it is critical never inadvertently to insult or impugn a person’s brain power. That is an unforgivable sin. But if you can make this iron rule work for you, it opens up all sorts of avenues of deception. Sublirninally reassure people that they are more intelligent than you are, or even that you are a bit of a moron, and you can run rings around them. The feeling of intellee tual superiority you give them will disarm their suspiciorrmuscles. In 1865 the Prussian councillor Otto von Bismarck wanted Austria to LAW 21 ; I59

I60 3 LAW 2] sign a certain treaty. The treaty was totally in the interests of Prussia and against the interests of Austria, and Bismarck would have to strategize to get the Ausmans to agree to it But the Austrian negotiator, Count Blorne, was an avid cardplayer. His particular game was quinze, and he often said that he could judge a man’s character by the way he played quinze. Bis- marck knew of this saying of Blome’s. The night before the negotiations were to begin, Bismarck innocently engaged Blome in a game of quinze. The Prussian would later write, “That was the very last time I ever played quinze. I played so recklessly that everyone was astonished. I lost several thousand talers [the currency of the time], but I succeeded in fooling [Blome], for he believed me to be more venturesome than I am and I gave way.” Besides appearing reckless, Bis- marck also played the witless fool, saying ridiculous things and bumbling about with a surplus of nervous energy. All this made Blome feel he had gadiered valuable information. He knew that Bismarck was aggressive———the Prussian already had that reputa- tion, and the way he played had confirmed it. And aggressive men, Blome knew, can be foolish and rash. Accordingly, when the time came to Sign the treaty, Blome thought he had the advantage. A heedless fool like Bis- marck, he thought, is incapable of cold—blooded calculation and deception, so he only glanced at the treaty before signing it—he failed to read the fine print. As soon as the ink was dry, a joyous Bismarck exclaimed in his face, “Well, I could never have believed that I should find an Austrian diplomat willing to sign that document!” The Chinese have a phrase, “Masqueracling as a swine to kill the tiger.” This refers to an ancient hunting technique in which the hunter clothes himself in the hide and snout of a pig, and mimics its grunting. The mighty tiger thinks a pig is coming his way, and lets it get close, savoring the prospect of an easy meal. But it is the hunter who has the last laugh. Masquerading as a swine works wonders on those who, like tigers, are arrogant and overconfident: The easier they think it is to prey on you, the more easily you can turn the tables. This trick is also useful if you are ambi- tious yet find yourself low in the hierarchy: Appearing less intelligent than you are, even a bit of a fool, is the perfect disguise. Look like a harmless pig and no one will believe you harbor dangerous ambitions. They may even promote you since you seem so likable, and subservient. Claudius before he became emperor of Rome, and the prince of France who later became Louis XIII, used this tactic when those above them suspected they might have designs on the throne. By playing the fool as young men, they were left alone. When the time came for them to strike, and to act with vigor and decisiveness, they caught everyone oi?-guard. Intelligence is the obvious quality to downplay, but why stop there? Taste and sophistication rank close to intelligence on the vanity scale; make people feel they are more sophisticated than you are and their guard will come down. As Arnold and Slack knew, an air of complete naiveté can work wonders. Those fancy financiers were laughing at them behind their

backs, but who laughed loudest in the end? In general, then, always make people believe they are smarter and more sophisticated than you are. They will keep you around because you make them feel better about themselves, and the longer you are around, the more opportunities you will have to do ceive them. I m a. g e 2 The Opossum. In playing dead, the opossum plays stupid. Many a predator has therefore left it alone. Who could believe that such an ugly, unintelligent, nervous little creature could be capable of such deception? Authority: Know how to make use of stupidity: The wisest man plays this card at times. There are occasions when the highest wisdom consists in appearing not to know—you must not be ign0— rant but capable of playing it. It is not much good being wise among fools and sane among lunatics. He who poses as a fool is not a fool. The best way to be well received by all is to clothe yourself in the skin of the dumbest of brutes. (Baltasar Gracién, 1601-1658) REVE RS A14 To reveal the true nature of your intelligence rarely pays; you should get in the habit of downplaying it at all times. If people inadvertently learn the truth—-that you are actually much smarter than you look--«they will admire you more for being discreet than for making your brilliance show. At the start of your climb to the top, of course, you cannot play too stupid: You may want to let your bosses know, in a subtle way, that you are smarter than the competition around you. As you climb the ladder, however, you should to some degree try to dampen your brilliance. There is, however, one situation where it pays to do the opposite- when you can cover up a deception with a show of intelligence. In matters of smarts as in most things, appearances are what count. If you seem to have authority and knowledge, people will believe what you say. This can be very useful in getting you out of a scrape. The art dealer Joseph Duveen was once attending a soirée at the New York home of a tycoon to whom he had recently sold a Diirer painting for LAW 21 I51

I62 LAW ‘ll a high price. Among the guests was a young French art critic who seemed extremely knowledgeable and confident. Wanting to impress this man, the tyeoon’s daughter showed him the Diirer, which had not yet been hung. The critic studied it for a time, then finally said, “You know, I don’t think this Diirer is right.” He followed the young woman as she hurried to tell her father what he had said, and listened as the magnate, deeply unsettled, turned to Duveen for reassurance. Duveen just laughed. “How very amus- ing,” he said. “Do you realize, young man, that at least twenty other art ex- perts here and in Europe have been taken in too, and have said that painting isn’t genuine? And now you’ve made the same mistake.” His con- fident tone and air of authority intimidated the Frenchman, who apolo- gized for his mistake. Duveen knew that the art market was flooded with fakes, and that many paintings had been falsely ascribed to old masters. He tried his best to distinguish the real from the fake, but in his zeal to sell he often over- played a work’s authenticity. What mattered to him was that the buyer be- lieved he had bought a Diii-er, and that Duveen himself convinced everyone of his “expertness” through his air of irreproachable authority, Thus, it is important to be able to play the professor when necessary and never impose such an attitude for its own sake.

LAW 22 USE THE SURRENDER TACTIC: TRANSFORM WEAKNESS INTO POWER J U D G M E NT When you are weaker, neverfightfor honor’: sake; choose surrender instead. Surrender gives you time to recover; time to torment and irritate your conqueror, time to wait for his power to wane. Do not give him the satisfaction of fighting and defeating you——surrenderfirst. By turning the other cheek you infuriate and unsettle him. Make surrender a tool ofpower. 153

‘lI‘1I".l‘|lI 'NI'Vl'| \7\l) |‘I[la |'|(. '|‘l(|'l A man who had climbed upon (I certain fig tree, was [muting the banghs toward him and plmrking the ripe fruit, which he then put mm his mouth to (ie.rIrr>y and gnaw with his hard teeth. The vlzertnut. seeing this‘. l().l’Se(l in’ long bt‘(ltu.'ht’.\' and with ttnnultuotts VILYIIL’ excluintell: "Oh Fig! How much less protected by zmture you are than I. See how my mien! offspring are set in Close array,’/irst clorhzrrl in soft wrap- pers over which is the hard but softly lined Itusk. Aml not mntenl with this much care, nature has also given us these slmrp and close-re! Sptne.s‘, so that the hunt! ofman rrammt hurt us. " Then tlmfig tree began 10 laugh. and after the laug/tier it mitt: "You know well that man is 0f.rm,h ingmttity that he will berenve even you of your children. But in your ease he will do it by metms of rods and stones; and when they are fellc-tl he will trample them Wtfll his feet or hit them With .\fI)Il(‘,.\‘, so that your of)‘;-prizzg will emerge from their armor crushed and niaimed.‘ while I am lutlched carefully by his hands, and never, like you, with r0llgltflt’.XS." LLONARDQ DAVINCI. 14324519 164 LAW 22 TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW The island of Melos is strategically situated in the heart of the Mediter- ranean. In classical times, the city of Athens dominated the sea and coastal areas around Greece, but Sparta, in the Peloponnese, had been Mel0s’s original colonizer. During the Peloponnesian War, then, the Melians re- fused to ally themselves with Athens and remained loyal to Mother Sparta. In 416 B.C. the Athenians sent an expedition against Melos, Before launch- ing an all—out attack, however, they dispatched a delegation to persuade the Melians to surrender and become an ally rather than suffer devastation and defeat. “You know as well as we do,” the delegates said, “that the standard of justice depends on the equality of power to compel, and that in fact the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept.” When the Melians responded that this denied the notion of fair play, the Athenians said that those in power determined what was fair and what was not. The Melians argued that this authority belonged to the gods, not to mortals, “Our opinion of the gods and our knowledge of men,” replied a member of the Athenian delegation, “lead us to conclude that it is a general and necessary law of nature to rule whatever one can.” The Melians would not budge. Sparta, they insisted, would come to their defense. The Athenians countered that the Spartans were a conserva- tive, practical people, and would not help Melos because they had nothing to gain and a lot to lose by doing so. Finally the Melians began to talk of honor and the principle of resisting brute force. “Do not be led astray by a false sense of honor,” said the Athe- nians. “Honor often brings men to ruin when they are faced with an obvi- ous danger that somehow affects their pride. There is nothing disgraceful in giving way to the greatest city in Hellas when she is offering you such rea- sonable terms.” The debate ended. The Melians discussed the issue among themselves, and decided to trust in the aid of the Spartans, the will of the gods, and the tightness of their cause. They politely declined the Athenians’ offer. A few days later the Athenians invaded Melos. The Melians fought nobly, even without the Spartans, who did not come to their rescue. It took several attempts before the Athenians could surround and besiege their main city, but the Melians finally surrendered. The Athenians wasted no tirne—they put to death all the men of military age that they could capture, they sold the women and children as slaves, and they re.-populated the is land with their own colonists. Only a handful of Melians survived. Interpretation The Athenians were one of the most eminently practical people in history, and they made the most practical argument they could with the Melians: When you are weaker, there is nothing to be gained by fighting a useless fight. No one comes to help the weak—by doing so they would only put themselves in jeopardy. The weak are alone and must submit. Fighting

gives you nothing to gain but martyrdom, and in the process a lot of people who do not believe in your cause will die. Weakness is no sin, and can even become a strength if you learn how to play it right. Had the Melians surrendered in the first place, they would have been able to sabotage the Athenians in subtle ways, or might have gotten what they could have out of the alliance and then left it when the Athenians themselves were weakened, as in fact happened several years later. Fortunes change and the mighty are often brought down. Surrender conceals great power: Lulling the enemy into complacency, it gives you time to recoup, time to undermine, time for revenge. Never sacrifice that time in exchange for honor in a battle that you cannot win. Weak people never give way when they ought to. Cardinal tle R212, 16] 3-16 79 OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW Sometime in the 19205 the German writer Bertolt Brecht became a convert to the cause of Communism. From then on his plays, essays, and poems re- flected his revolutionary fervor, and he generally tried to make his ideolog- ical statements as clear as possible. When Hitler came to power in Germany, Brecht and his Communist colleagues became marked men. He had many friends in the United States—Amerlcans who sympathized with his beliefs, as well as fellow German intellectuals who had lied Hitler. In 1941, accordingly, Brecht emigrated to the United States, and chose to set- tle in Los Angeles, where he hoped to make a living in the film business. Over the next few years Brecht wrote screenplays with a pointedly an— ticapitalist slant. He had little success in Hollywood, so in 1947, the war having ended, he decided to return to Europe. That same year, however, the US. Cong;ress’s House Un—American Activities Committee began its investigation into supposed Communist infiltration in Hollywood. It began to gather information on Brecht, who had so openly espoused Marxism, and on September 19, 1947, only a month before he had planned to leave the United States, he received a subpoena to appear before the committee. In addition to Brecht, a number of other writers, producers, and directors were summoned to appear as well, and this group came to be known as the Hollywood 19. Before going to Washington, the Hollywood 19 met to decide on a plan of action. Their approach would be confrontational. Instead of answering questions about their membership, or lack of it, in the Communist Party, they would read prepared statements that would challenge the authority of the committee and argue that its activities were unconstitutional. Even if this strategy meant imprisonment, it would gain publicity for their cause. Brecht disagreed. What good was it, he asked, to play the martyr and gain a little public sympathy if in the process they lost the ability to stage their plays and sell their scripts for years to come? He felt certain they were Voltaire was living in exile in London at :1 time when untifrenclr 3.-enrimem was in its highest. One day walking I/trough the streets, he found himself summnderl by an tmgry crowd. “Ilrmg him. Ilzmg the French man,” llzagv yelled. Voltaire calmly adrlrresmrl the mob with the following words: "Men of England/ You wish to kill mt‘ because I am a Frmchman. Am I no: ymnirhed enough in not Ming ham an Eirgléxhmarz?" T/tr: crowd charred /zis thoughtful wnrrlx, and escorted him safely back m his lodgings. ins, LITTLE. BROWN noon or m+:n)o'rF.s. CI.lF'l'().\' FADIMAN, I-.t).. 1985 LAW 22 I65

166 LAW 22 all more intelligent than the members of the committee. Why lower them- selves to the level of their opponents by arguing with them? Why not out fox the committee by appearing to surrender to it while subtly mocking it? The Hollywood 19 listened to Brecht politely, but decided to stick to their plan, leaving Brecht to go his own way. The committee finally summoned Brecht on October 30. They ex- pected him to do what others among the Hollywood 19 who had testified before him had done: Argue, refuse to answer questions, challenge the committee's right to hold its hearing, even yell and hurl insults. Much to their surprise, however, Brecht was the very picture of Congeniality. He wore a suit (something he rarely did), smoked a cigar (he had heard that the committee chairman was a passionate cigar smoker), answered their questions politely, and generally deferred to their authority. Unlike the other witnesses, Brecht answered the question of whether he belonged to the Communist Party: He was not a member, he said, which happened to be the truth. One committee member asked him, “is it true you have written a number of revolutionary plays?” Brecht had writ- ten many plays with overt Communist messages, but he responded, “I have written a number of poems and songs and plays in the fight against Hitler and, of course, they can be considered, therefore, as revolutionary because I, of course, was for the overthrow of that government.” This state ment went unchallenged. Brecht’s English was more than adequate, but he used an interpreter throughout his testimony, a tactic that allowed him to play subtle games with language. When committee members found Communist leanings in lines from English editions of his poems, he would repeat the lines in Ger man for the interpreter, who would then retranslate them; and somehow they would come out innocuous. At one point a committee member read one of Brechfs revolutionary poems out loud in English, and asked him if he had written it. “No,” he responded, “I wrote a German poem, which is very different from this.” The author's elusive answers baffled the commit- tee members, but his politeness and the way he yielded to their authority made it impossible for them to get angry with him. After only an hour of questioning, the committee members had had enough. “Thank you very much,” said the chairman, “You are a good ex- ample to the {other} witnesses.” Not only did they free him, they offered to help him if he had any trouble with immigration oficials who might detain him for their own reasons. The following day, Brecht left the United States, never to return. Interpretation The Hollywood 19’s confrontational approach won them a lot of sympa~ thy, and years later they gained a kind of vindication in public opinion. But they were also blacklisted, and lost valuable years of profitable working time. Brecht, on the other hand, expressed his disgust at the committee more indirectly. It was not that he changed his beliefs or compromised his values; instead, during his short testimony, he kept the upper hand by ap-

pearing to yield while all the time running circles around the committee with vague responses, outright lies that went unchallenged because they were wrapped in enigmas, and word games. In the end he kept the free- dom to continue his revolutionary writing (as opposed to suffering impris onment or detainment in the United States), even while subtly mocking the committee and its authority with his pseudo-obedience. Keep in mind the following: People trying to make a show of their au- thority are easily deceived by the surrender tactic. Your outward sign of submission makes them feel important; satisfied that you respect them, they become easier targets for a later counterattack, or for the kind of indi» rect ridicule used by Brecht. Measuring your power over time, never sacri- fice long-term maneuverability for the short-lived glories of martyrdom. When the great lord passes, the wise peasant bows deeply and silently farts. Ethiopian prozuzllr KEYS T0 POWER What gets us into trouble in the realm of power is often our own overreac~ tion to the moves of our enemies and rivals. That overreaction creates problems we would have avoided had we been more reasonable. It also has an endless rebound effect, for the enemy then overreacts as well, much as the Athenians did to the Melians. It is always our first instinct to react, to meet aggression with some other kind of aggression. But the next time someone pushes you and you find yourself starting to react, try this: Do not resist or fight back, but yield, turn the other cheek, bend. You will find that this often neutralizes their behavior——they expected, even wanted you to react with force and so they are caught ofiguard and confounded by your lack of resistance. By yielding, you in fact control the situation, because your surrender is part of a larger plan to lull them into believing they have defeated you. This is the essence of the surrender tactic: Inwardly you stay firm, but outwardly you bend. Deprived of a reason to get angry, your opponents will often be bewildered instead. And they are unlikely to react with more violence, which would demand a reaction from you. Instead you are al lowed the time and space to plot the countermoves that will bring them down. In the battle of the intelligent against the brutal and the aggressive, the surrender tactic is the supreme weapon. It does require self~control: Those who genuinely surrender give up their freedom, and may be crushed by the humiliation of their defeat You have to remember that you only appear to surrender, like the animal that plays dead to save its hide. We have seen that it can be better to surrender than to fight; faced with a. more powerful opponent and a sure defeat, it is often also better to sur- render than to run away. Running away may save you for the time being, but the aggressor will eventually catch up with you. you surrender in- stead, you have an opportunity to coil around your enemy and strike with your fangs from close up. LAW 22 167

I65 LAW 22 In 473 B.C., in ancient China, King Goujian of Yue suffered a horrible defeat from the ruler of Wu in the battle of Fujiao. Goujian wanted to flee, but he had an adviser who told him to surrender and to place himself in the service of the ruler of Wu, from which position he could study the man and plot his revenge. Deciding to follow this advice, Goujian gave the ruler all of his riches, and went to work in his conqueror’s stables as the lowest ser- vant. For three years he humbled himself before the ruler, who then, finally satisfied of his loyalty, allowed him to return home. Inwardly, however, Goujian had spent those three years gathering information and plotting re- venge. When a terrible drought struck Wu, and the kingdom was weak ened by irmer turmoil, he raised an army, invaded, and won with ease. That is the power behind surrender: It gives you the time and the flexibility to plot a devastating counterblow. Had Goujian run away, he would have lost this chance. When foreign trade began to threaten Japanese independence in the mid—nineteenth century, the Japanese debated how to defeat the foreign- ers. One minister, Hotta Masayoshi, wrote a memorandum in 1857 that in- fluenced Japanese policy for years to come: “I am therefore convinced that our policy should be to conclude friendly alliances, to send ships to foreign counhies everywhere and conduct trade, to copy the foreigners where they are at their best and so repair our own shortcomings, to foster our national strength and complete our armaments, and so gradually subject the foreigrr ers to our influence until in the end all the countries of the world know the blessings of perfect tranquillity and our hegemony is acknowledged throughout the globe.” This is a brilliant application of the Law: Use sur- render to gain access to your enemy. Learn his ways, insinuate yourself with him slowly, outwardly conform to his customs, but inwardly maintain your own culture. Eventually you will emerge victorious, for while he con— siders you weak and inferior, and takes no precautions against you, you are using the time to catch up and surpass him. This soft, penneable form of in» vasion is often the best, for the enemy has nothing to react against, prepare for, or resist. And had japan resisted Western influence by force, it might well have suffered a devastating invasion that would have permanently al- tered its culture. Surrender can also offer a way of mocking your enemies, of turning their power against them, as it did for Brecht. Milan Kundera’s novel 7719 Jake, based on the author’s experiences in a penal camp in Czechoslovakia, tells the story of how the prison guards organized a relay race, guards against prisoners. For the guards this was a chance to show off their physi- cal superiority. The prisoners knew they were expected to lose, so they went out of their way to oblige-—miming exaggerated exertion while barely moving, running a few yards and collapsing, limping, jogging ever so slowly while the guards raced ahead at full speed. Both by joining the race and by losing ig they had obliged the guards obediently; but their “overobedience” had mocked the event to the point of mining it. Overobe- dience—su.rrender—was here a way to demonstrate superiority in a re- verse manner. Resistance would have engaged the prisoners in the cycle of

violence, lowering them to the guards’ level. Overobeying the guards, how» ever, made them ridiculous, yet they could not rightly punish the prison» ers, who had only done what they asked. Power is always in flux—since the game is by nature fluid, and an arena of constant struggle, those with power almost always find themselves even- tually on the downward swing. If you find yourself temporarily weakened, the surrender tactic is perfect for raising yourselfup again»-it disguises your ambition; it teaches you patience and self—control, key skills in the game; and it puts you in the best possible position for taking advantage of your up- pressofs sudden slide. If you run away or fight back, in the long run you cannot win. If you surrender, you will almost always emerge victorious. Image: An Oak Tree. The oak that resists the wind loses its branches one by one, and with nothing left to protect it, the trunk fi- nally snaps. The oak that bends lives long- er, its trunk grow- ing wider, its roots deeper and more tenacious. Authority: Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let them have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. (Jesus Christ, in Matthew 5:38-41) LAW 22 169

170 LAW 22 R EV E RSAI. The point of surrendering is to save your hide for a later date when you can reassert yourself. It is precisely to avoid martyrdom that one surren- ders, but there are times when the enemy will not relent, and martyrdom seems the only way out Furthermore, if you are willing to die, others may gain power and inspiration from your example. Yet martyrdom, surrender’s reversal, is a. messy, inexact tactic, and is as violent as the aggression it combats. For every famous martyr there are thousands more who have inspired neither a religion nor a rebellion, so that if martyrdom does sometimes grant a certain power, it does so unpre- dictably. More important, you will not be around to enjoy that power, such as it is. And there is finally something selfish and arrogant about martyrs, as if they felt their followers were less important than their own glory, When power deserts you, it is best to ignore this Law’s reversal. Leave martyrdom alone: The pendulum will swing back your way eventually, and you should stay alive to see it.

23 CONCENTRATE Y()[JR.F()R(3ES JUDGMENT Conserve your forces and energies by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point. You gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper, than byflit— tingfrom one shallow mine to another-—intensity dzfeats extensity every time. When lookingforsources ofpower to elevate you, find the one key patnm, the_fat cow who will give you milk fora long time to came. 12’!

TH} (.‘UU.<l; AND Till’. IIOHSF A game who was plucking grass upon u common thought her.\'el_faffronter! by a horse who fed near her; mm’. in hi.\'.s'ing ll(‘L‘(Wll.\', thus addressed him: “I am certainly a more noble and perfect animal than yozr for tin’ whole range and extent afyourfarcrtlties is confined to one element. I can walk upon the groom! as well (:5 you,’ I have, basidtas, wings, with which I can raise myself in the air; and when I please. I can sport on pomls and lakes, and n7f*'.'Sh myst,-ifin 1119 ‘ml waters: 1 enfmirlle dlffermzr powers Ufa bird, (1 fish, am! a qumiruped." The horse, $tl(5!‘!§Izg sonrrwhat distltzinjizliy. replied: “I: is mic: you inhabit three eiemems. but you make no very disrirzguisiieri/ignre in any one ofthem. You fly, imlerd; but your flight is so heavy and clmnsy, that Von luau-‘e no right to put yourself nn a level with the [ark or the swallow. You can swim on the surface of the watch», but you Ltmnoi live in them as fishes r1o:you cannot find your food in rho! riemenl, nor gfirlr .\'nzoor?:1y (aitmg the bottom of rite waves. Ami when you walk, or rather wtlcltlle, upon the ground, with your liroad fret and your long neck xlretchred out, TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW In China in the early sixth century B.C., the kingdom of Wu began a was with the neighboring norlhem provinces of the Middle Kingdom. Wu was a. growing power, but it lacked the great history and civilization of the Mid dle Kingdom, for centuries the center of Chinese culture. By defeating the Middle Kingdom, the king of Wu would instantly raise his status. The war began with great fanfare and several victories, but it soon bogged down. A victory on one from would leave the Wu armies vulnera~ ble on another. The king’s chief minister and adviser, Wu Tzu-hsiu, warned him that the barbarous state of Yueh, to the south, was beginning to notice the kingdom of V\’u’s problems and had designs to invade. The king only laughed at such w0rries~one more big victory and the great Middle King— dom would be his. In the year 490, Wu T212-hsiu sent his son away to safety in the king- dom of Ch’i. In doing so he sent the king a signal that he disapproved of the war, and that he believed the king’s selfish ambition was leading Wu to min. The king, sensing betrayal, lashed out at his minister, accusing him of a lack of loyalty and, in a fit of anger, ordered him to kill himself. Wu Tzu- hsiu obeyed his king, but before he plunged the knife into his chest, he cried, “Tear out my eyes, oh King, and fix them on the gate of Wu, so that I may see the triumphant entry of Yueh.” As Wu Tzwlrsiu had predicted, within a few years a Yueh army passed beneath the gate of Wu. As the barbarians surrounded the palace, the king remembered his minister’s last Words-——~and felt the dead man’s disembod- ied eyes watching his disgrace. Unable to hear his shame, the king killed himself, “covering his face so that he would not have to meet the reproaclr ful gaze of his minister in the next world.” Interpretation The story of Wu is a paradigm of all the empires that have come to min by overreachlng. Drunk with success and sick with ambition, such empires ex‘ pand to grotesque proportions and meet a min that is total. This is what happened to ancient Athens, which lusted for the faraway island of Sicily and ended up losing its empire. The Romans stretched the boundaries of their empire to encompass vast territories; in doing so they increased their vulnerability, and the chances of invasion from yet another barbarian tribe. Their useless expansion led their empire into oblivion. For the Chinese, the fate of the kingdom of Wu serves as an elemental lesson on what happens when you dissipate your forces on several fronts, losing sight of distant dangers for the sake of present gain. “If you are not in danger,” says Sun-tzu, “do not fight.” It is almost a physical law: What is bloated beyond its proportions inevitably collapses. The mind must not wander from goal to goal, or be distracted by success from its sense of pur- pose and proportion. What is concentrated, coherent, and connected to its past has power. What is dissipated, divided, and distended rots and falls to the ground. The bigger it bloats, the harder it falls.

OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW’ The Rothschild banking family had humble beginnings in the Jewish ghetto of Frankfurt, Germany. The city‘s harsh laws made it impossible for Jews to mingle outside the ghetto, but the Jews had turned this into a virtuemit made them self—reliant, and zealous to preserve their culture at all costs. Mayer Amschel, the first of the Rothschilds to accumulate wealth by lending money, in the late eighteenth century, well understood the power that comes from this kind of concentration and cohesion. First, Mayer Amschel allied himself with one family, the powerful princes of Thom und Taxis. Instead of spreading his services out, he made himself these princes’ primary banker. Second, he entrusted none of his business to outsiders, using only his children and close relatives. The more unified and tight-knit the family, the more powerful it would become. Soon Mayer Amschel’s five sons were running the business. And when Mayer Amschel lay dying, in 1812, he refused to name a principal heir, instead set- ting up all of his sons to continue-the fa.mily' tradition, so that they would stay united and would resist the dangers of dillusion and of infiltration by outsiders. Once Mayer Amschel’s sons controlled the family business, they de- cided that the key to wealth on a. larger scale was to secure a foothold in the finances of Europe as a whole, rather than being tied to any one country or prince. Of the five brothers, Nathan had already opened up shop in Lon- don. In 1813 James moved to Paris. Amschel remained in Frankfurt, Salomon established himself in Vienna, and Karl, the youngest son, went to Naples. With each sphere of influence covered, they could tighten their hold on Europe’s financial markets. This widespread network, of course, opened the Rothschilds to the very danger of which their father had warned them: diliusion, division, dis- sension. They avoided this danger, and established themselves as the most powerful force in European finance and politics, by once again resorting to the strategy of the ghetto-——excluding outsiders, concentrating their forces. The Rothschiids established the fastest courier system in Europe, allowing them to get news of events before all their competitors. They held a virtual monopoly on information. And their internal communications and corre- spondence were written in Frankfurt Yiddish, and in a code that only the brothers could decipher. There was no point in stealing this information—- no one could understand it. “Even the shewdest bankers cannot find their way through the Rothschild maze,” admitted a financier who had tried to infiltrate the clan. In 1824 James Rothschild decided it was time to get married. This pre- sented a problem for the Rothschilds, since it meant incorporating an out- sider into the Rothschild clan, an outsider who could betray its secrets. jarnes therefore decided to marry within the family, and chose the daugh- ter of his brother Salomon. The brothers were ecstatic—~this was the per- fect solution to their marriage problems. james‘s choice now became the family policy: Two years later, Nathan married off his daughter to fzissirig at ewrrvmze who passes by, you bring upon yourself the deri5z'orx ofall belmid- err. I confess that I am only formed to move upon the ground, but how graceful is my rmzkef How well tumml my lz'mb.r.’ How highly finished my whole burly! How great my strength! Haw aston- irhing my speed/I had much rather be confined to one elerm-nt, and be arlmirml m that, than be 11 goose m 011.’” mm lzs mom um~r:At“cio .-mo CHAUCER. Du. .l<)H.N Arum, l747~»lR22 Beware t)j'tIi.r.\'i[:aIiIig your p(:wer.r: Xtriw: consrmnly to concen- trate (hem. Genius I/rinks it can do wizar- ever it reps others doing. but it is sure to repent u/every ill- jutlgcd outlay. JOEIANN VON Gm-:rmz. 1749-1832 LAW 23 I73

Ir-4 ‘ LAW 23 Salornon’s son. In the years to come, the five brothers arranged eighteen matches among their cluldren, sixteen of these being contracted between first cousins. “We are like the mechanism of a watch: Each part is essential,” said brother Salomon. As in a watch, every part of the business moved in con- cert with every other, and the inner workings were invisible to the world, which only saw the movement of the hands. While other rich and powerful families suffered irrecoverable downturns during the tumultons first half of the nineteenth century, the tight-knit Rothschilds managed not only to pre- serve but to expand their unprecedented wealth. Interpretation The Rothschilds were born in strange times. They came from a place that had not changed in centuries, but lived in an age that gave birth to the In- dustrial Revolution, the French Revolution, and an endless series of up- heavals. The Rothchilds kept the past alive, resisted the patterns of dispersion of their era and for this are emblematic of the law of concentra- tion. No one represents this better than _]ames Rothschild, the son who es- tablished himself in Paris. in his lifetime james witnessed the defeat of Napoleon, the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, the bourgeois monar- chy of Orleans, the return to a republic, and finally the enthronement of Napoleo 1 III. French styles and fashions changed at a relentless pace dur- ing all this turmoil. Without appearing to be a relic of the past, James steered his family as if the ghetto lived on within them. He kept alive his clan’s inner cohesion and strength. Only through such an anchoring in the past was the family able to thrive amidst such chaos. Concentration was the foundation of the Rothschilds’ power, wealth, and stability. The best stmzngy is always to be very strong; flrst in general, than at the decisive point.. . . There is no higher and simpler law of strategy than that afkeeping ones/brces concentrated. . . . In short the first principle is: act with the utmost concentration. 011 War, Carl mm, fllausewitz, 1780-1831 KEYS TO POWER The world is plagued by greater and geater division-——within countries, political groups, families, even individuals. We are all in a state of total dis- traction and diffusion, hardly able to keep our minds in one direction be- fore we are pulled in a thousand others. The modern world’s level of conflict is higher than ever, and we have internalized it in our own lives. The solution is a form of retreat inside ourselves, to the past, to more concentrated forms of thought and action. As Schopenhauer wrote, “Intel- lect is a magnitude of intensity, not a magnitude of extensity.” Napoleon knew the value of concentrating your forces at the enemy’s weakest spot——

it was the secret of his success on the battlefield. But his willpower and his mind were equally modeled on this notion. Single-mindedness of purpose, total concentration on the goal, and the use of these qualifies against peo ple less focused, people in a state of distraction—such an arrow will find its mark every time and overwhelm the enemy. Casanova attributed his success in life to his ability to concentrate on a single goal and push at it until it yielded. It was his ability to give himself over completely to the women he desired that made him so intensely se- ducfive. For the weeks or months that one of these women lived in his orbit, he thought of no one else. When he was imprisoned in the treacher- ous “leads” of the doge’s palace in Venice, a prison from which no one had ever escaped, he concentrated his mind on the single goal of escape, day after day. A change of cells, which meant that months of digging had all been for naught, did not discourage him; he persisted and eventually es- caped. “I have always believed,” he later wrote, “that when a man gets it into his head to do something, and when he exclusively occupies himself in that design, he must succeed, whatever the diliiculties. That man will be- come Grand Vizier or Pope.” Concentrate C 1 a single goal, a single task, and beat it into submission. In the world of power you will constantly need help from other people, usually those more powerful than you. The fool flits from one person to an- other, believing that he will survive by spreading himself out. It is a corol- lary of the law of concentration, however, that much energy is saved, and more power is attained, by affixing yourself to a single, appropriate source of power. The scientist Nikola Tesla. mined himself by believing that he somehow maintained his independence by not having to serve a single master. He even turned down P. Morgan, who offered him a rich con- tract. In the end, Tesla’s “independence” meant that he could depend on no single patron, but was always having to toady up to a dozen of them. Later in his life he realized his mistake. All the great Renaissance painters and writers wrestled with this prob- lem, none more so than the sixteenth-century writer Pietro Aretino. Throughout his life Aretino suffered the indignities of having to please this prince and that. At last, he had had enough, and decided to woo Charles V, promising the emperor the services of his powerful pen. He finally dis- covered the freedom that came from attachment to a single source of power. Michelangelo found this freedom with Pope Julius II, Galileo with the Medicis. In the end, the singie patron appreciates your loyalty and be- comes dependent on your services; in the long run the master serves the slave. Finally, power itself always exists in concentrated forms. In any orga- nization it is inevitable for a small youp to hold the strings. And often it is not those with the titles. In the game of power, only the fool llails about without fixing his target. You must find out who controls the operations, who is the real director behind the scenes. As Richelieu discovered at the beginning of his rise to the top of the French political scene during the LAW 23 I 75

I 76 LAW 23 early seventeenth century, it was not King Louis XIII who decided things, it was the king’s mother. And so he attached himself to her, and catapulted through the ranks of the courtiers, all the way to the top. It is enough to strike oil once—your wealth and power are assured for a lifetime. Image: The Arrow. You cannot hit two targets with one arrow. If your thoughts stray, you miss the enemy’s heart. Mind and arrow must become one. Only with such concentration of mental and physical power can your arrow hit the target and pierce the h e a r t. Authority: Prize intensity more than extensity. Perfection re» sides in quality, not quantity. Extent alone never rises above mediocrity, and it is the misfortune of men with wide general interests that while they would like to have their finger in every pie, they have one in none. Intensity gives eminence, and rises to the heroic in matters sublime. (Baltasar Gracian, 1601-1658) REVERSAI. There are dangers in concentration, and moments when dispersion is the proper tactical move. Fighting the Nationalists for control of China, Mao Tse~tung and the Communists fought a protracted war on several fronts, using sabotage and ambush as their main weapons. Dispersal is often suit- able for the weaker side; it is, in fact, a crucial principle of guerrilla warfare. When fighting a stronger army, concentrating your forces only makes you an easier ta.rget—better to dissolve into the scenery and frustrate your enemy with the elusiveness of your presence. Tying yourself to a single source of power has one preeminent danger: If that person dies, leaves, or falls from grace, you suffer. This is what hap- pened to Cesare Borgia, who derived his power from his father, Pope Alexander VI. It was the pope who gave Cesare armies to fight with and wars to wage in his name. When he suddenly died (perhaps from poison),

Cesare was as good as dead. He had made far too many enemies over the years, and was now without his father’s protection. In cases when you may need protection, then, it is ofien wise to entwine yourself around several sources of power. Such a move would be especially prudent in periods of great tumult and violent change, or when your enemies are numerous. The more patrons and masters you serve the less risk you run if one of them falls from power. Such dispersion will even allow you to play one off against the other. Even if you concentrate on the single source of power, you still must practice caution, and 1 cepare for the day when your master or patron is no longer there to help you. Finally, being too singlerminded in purpose can make you an intolera~ ble bore, especially in the arts. The Renaissance painter Paolo Uccello was so obsessed with perspective that his paintings look lifeless and contrived. Whereas Leonardo da Vinci interested himself in everything«-architec- ture, painting, warfare, sculpture, mechanics. Diffusion was the source of his power. But such genius is rare, and the rest of us are better off erring on the side of intensity. LAW 23 1??’