A Book written by Robert Greene that offers a Series of Strategies for Obtaining and Maintaining Power in various situations. Here I leave you a summary of the 48 Laws:
- Don’t Outshine the Boss: Make your Superiors feel Superior. Don’t expose your Talent too much or you might Trigger their Insecurity.
2.Don’t Trust friends too much, use your Enemies: Friends Betray you more easily, but if you Manage to WIN an Enemy, they will be more Loyal.
- Hide your Intentions: Keep People Off Balance so they can’t anticipate your Actions.
- Always say Less than Necessary: Silence Breeds Power, and Talking too much Reveals your Plans.
- Protect your Reputation at all Costs: Reputation is the Cornerstone of Power.
- Call Attention at all Costs: Be Visible to be Relevant.
- Make others Work for you and Attribute it: Take Advantage of the Work and Effort of others to your Advantage.
- Make others come to you: Don’t Run after Others, make them Look for you.
- Win with Actions, Never Arguments: Prove your Point through Actions, Not Words.
- Avoid Losers and Unhappy: The Misfortune of others is Contagious; stay away from those who Bring you Down.
- Make People Depend on you: If others Depend on you, you’re in Control.
- Disarm with Sincerity and Selective Generosity: Emotional Disarmament will give you an Edge.
- When you ask for Help, Appeal to the Interests of Others: Appeal to what Benefits Others, not Gratitude or Compassion.
- Introduce yourself as a Friend, act as a Spy: Learn to Extract Valuable Information from others without them Noticing.
- Crush your Enemy Completely: Do not let your Enemy Recover, or he will seek Revenge.
- Use Absence to Increase Respect: The Value of something Increases with Scarcity..
- Keep Others in Suspense: Be Unpredictable, you will Confuse Others and Gain Power.
- Do Not Isolate yourself: Loneliness Weakens you; Engage yourself in the Web of Influence.
- Know Who You’re Dealing With: Choose Your Opponents And Partners Wisely.
- Don’t compromise with anyone: Maintain your Independence so you don’t get Caught up in other People’s Affairs.
- Pretend to be a Fool to Catch the Sly: Let others think they have an Advantage over you.
- Use the Surrender Tactic: Sometimes giving in at the Right Time gives you the Advantage.
- Focus your Forces: Keep your Energy Focused on what really Matters.
- Be a Master at Simulation and Disguise: Don’t reveal all your cards.
- Recreate your own identity: Be the architect of your own destiny.
- Keep your hands clean: Make sure the responsibility for the problems falls on others.
- Play with people’s needs to create devotion: Satisfy their deep desires to earn you their loyalty.
- Be bold in acting: Timidity is dangerous, boldness is powerful.
- Plan everything to the end: Having a detailed plan allows you to avoid unpleasant surprises.
- Make your accomplishments look easy: Minimize the effort you put in to make others think you have innate talent.
- Control Other People’s Options: Guide the decisions of others by giving them limited options.
- Play with people’s fantasy: Appeal to people’s emotions and dreams to gain clout.
- Discover the weaknesses of others: Identify what drives people to manipulate their actions.
- Be rule in your behavior: Power lies in the appearance of greatness and dignity.
- Master the art of timing: Don’t rush; everything has its right time.
- Despise what you can’t have: Don’t obsess over things that are out of your reach.
- Create engaging spectacles: Theatrics and spectacles capture attention.
- Think as you wish, but behave like everyone else: Do not openly defy social norms.
- Stir the waters to catch fish: Destabilize others to make mistakes.
- Despise free: What is free usually comes with a hidden cost.
- Avoid imitating great men: Forge your own path instead of following in the footsteps of others.
- Beat the shepherd and the sheep will scatter: He demolishes leaders to weaken his followers.
- Work on the hearts and minds of others: Conquer the spirit of people to control them.
- Disarm and anger with mirror effect: Reflect the actions of others to destabilize them.
- Preach the need for change, but never reform too much: Radical change can generate resistance.
- Never look too perfect: Perfection breeds envy and haters.
- Don’t exceed your goal: When you achieve what you want, retire on time.
- Be amorphous: Be adaptable, don’t limit yourself to a rigid form.
These laws are designed to handle situations of power, but it’s important to consider context and personal ethics when applying them.
