Notes from The 48 Laws of Power
The famous Italian politician Niccolo Machiavelli once said, “It is better to be feared than loved, if you can’t have both”. Very cruel and inhumane i always thought it is. If staying in power means to render people around you with fear, how horrible a world that must be. Until recently, I start to realize human nature is rather contradictory to the moral believes most of us are brought up with. We are taught to be honest, yet at times it is lies that keep us afloat while honesty sinks us. I don’t want to be a liar but I somehow need to learn the way to navigate out of the troubled water. Then i found The 48 laws of power. I will never become that type of person who plays power like it is part of him. But I want to learn the strategies so that when someone does play power game with me I can quickly recognize it and also use the strategies to protect myself. The author of The 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene, has several other very interesting and bestselling books including The 33 Strategies of War, Mastery etc..
Law #1: never outshine the masters. However eager you want to prove to your masters, seniors etc that you are capable of what you are doing, don’t shun them out of spotlight and don’t make them feel you’ve surpassed them in areas that they specialize in. Especially in corporate world where seniority-based promotion is fading out, your outshining your managers even for just a moment could lead to the result of you replacing him/her or even the impression that you are trying to do that. Even if you do want to step up to progress your career track, never do so without strategic movements so that nobody’s nerve is pinched and you don’t leave the (wrong) impression that you’ve tempted to become superior to your manager (for whatever ambition that may seem natural to other people). If you feel it is unfair to suppress your eagerness to excel at your job, do it subtly and do it so that it becomes obvious you have no interest in taking the credit.
Law #2: Never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemies. I’ve had wonderful friends and with them I’ve had wonderful memories that delight me when I think of those happy moments in life. But with the same friends I’ve also had moments of feeling used, abandoned, betrayed more than I was being attacked by my enemies. While I from time to time strike well working relationships with people that disagree with me, it is frustrating to have friends that turn me down when I need help. Part of the reason could be when we decide to work with enemies, we bear in mind exactly what we are trying to get from the partnership and we study our enemies (because we know it is not going to be easy to engage them) so we can pitch to their interest as well. It then becomes natural for such partnerships to form successfully since both parties are in for their own benefits and both parties are happy to lose one more enemy. However with friends, often times we engage them for more emotional reasons than rational causes. We don’t necessarily enter a doing together to benefit each other. Because of this, we never reveal the unattractive part of us to each other. When the emotional good wears off friends can turn into enemies especially when they discover the unwanted qualities in each other.
Law #3: conceal your intentions. I find to follow this particular law tricky. Think about situations when you apply for jobs you have to reveal your true intentions and motivations. Not only that, you also have to persuade yourself and your potential employer you really mean it. And that takes 100% devotion and a true belief on your side. However, in an environment that is competitive and you have peers that will take you down at any moment if they sense you are onto a leading position to possibly outshine others, you have to take this law as your motto. Keep your head down, stay at a low key and act as person with very little ambition. But at the same time never slow down for a bit to hone your skills, build your network, set up your strategy and win over your leaders and partners.
Law #4: always say less than necessary. The more we speak, the more mistakes we will make. Often times we may find we are biggest enemy of ourselves. It is an easy and fulfilling feeling to speak what’s on your mind. But as the ancient Chinese saying goes: “misfortune comes out from one’s mouth”. “Speak after think thrice about what you are about to say”, another advice of wisdom preaches. Besides warning against a loosely guarded mouth, this law also suggests to purposely benefit from a particular weakness of human nature: fear of the unknown. When you don’t say, nobody knows yours true intention, strength, weakness and when they wonder they will take a guess or beg for your words and that leaves you at a better position to say what is to your advantage.
Law #5: so much depend on reputation — guard it with your life. Not only you guard your reputation with your life, you create opportunities to enhance it. If your reputation is your strong working relationship with partners, schedule a knowledge share to invite speakers from your network and demonstrate you are capable of maneuvering large initiatives and more importantly have people connections to make that happen.
