Real-Life Observations from the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene (1/8)

I wonder why these books and included strategies aren’t taught in schools; only if kids are exposed to this wisdom, then they can prepare themselves for what lies in front of them in their professional careers.

I’ve had this book on my shelf since August 2006 and had read it on and off, this time though I picked it up and went from cover to cover and it had been an adventure. A caution for the readers is that this is not a user guide but a book of warning to watch your back from individuals around you. This is a power pack of history, psychology and management all stuffed into one. The author keeps you hanging and wanting for more at every moment and never ever disappoints. The characters mentioned in the narratives are real-life heroes and villains who lived these laws and faced the benefits or consequences during their lifetimes.

I personally had an admiration for the rich Chinese history and leadership lessons and can now appreciate the patience and dignity with which the nation is now pursuing its goals of global domination, they’ve had experience and a lineage to get this going.  Going through the book, the only challenge that I faced was that the stories quoted, although truly relevant were from yesteryears and this is where I decided to run my own series by relating stories and instances from my professional career or from my friends and colleagues that would relate to the laws mentioned in the book.

As all stories related are real as the characters so I would refrain from using actual names or locations. The purpose is not to expose anyone but rather to bring forth the learnings of this book to reality. Any similarity to an event would be totally incidental.

Also, I would leave a space for the readers to fill in their own narrations for the related law, they can have it printed or scanned as they see fit to make this exercise fulfilling and interesting.

So here we go.

LAW 1: NEVER OUTSHINE THE MASTER

Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity. Make your master appear more brilliant than they are, and you will attain heights of power.        

CASE 1: A Sheep Leading an Army

Sometimes life gives you lemons and you don’t even get to make lemonade out of this bounty. A close friend worked for an organization that had chanced upon a brilliant product that was just right for its time. He was dedicated to an extent of creating an engine of growth for that organization and had gotten right at work. His boss, an insecure douc bag had grievances from day one as he was surrounded by wild sycophants. Well, my friend having exceptional credentials cared less for politics and upped his targets every quarter further infuriating his docile manager. Every challenge thrown at my friend was met by graceful execution and this turned his manager into a raging volcano. Although this manager was making tons of money but somehow felt threatened by the presence of this overachiever. In the end, this company that had relied on just one product also came crashing down and even with the insistence of my friend to get alternate products and businesses fell on deaf ears. It had been a blessing that my friend escaped the horrible organization before its timely demise. But it was the surrounding hyenas who stayed back until the end.

CASE 2: Watch your back when you are next to the King

This is my story of working with one of the most aggressive businessmen known in the market. A man who had barely gone to school and had built a multibillion-dollar empire through sheer grit, hard work and cunning. He was considered the don of the marketplace and me being a corporate hoodlum came to his organization and was provided with the task of setting up a retail and van sales operation with an open budget. This businessman fostered a grievance with a competitor and wanted me to roll out the operation at warp speed. The challenge was that this gentleman had two other partners and I was supposed to report to all three of them simultaneously. Like any other pyramid organization, there were little peddlers associated with all three partners trying to vie for favours all the time. One can imagine being in a daily circus being pulled from all directions while trying to deliver results. I was reporting to all three partners while trying to watch my back from attacks emanating from the touts. In the end, I was asked to leave because the touts convinced the partners that they could do a much better job for almost no cost. Three months down the line the whole retail and distribution operation closed down and the team I had hired, dozens of individuals were laid off. Did this ultimate demise help me, not really but it did teach me a lesson to keep watching my back not just from the big guys but also from the sidekicks who are in a limelight.

CASE 3: WHAT’S YOUR STORY?

LAW 2: NEVER PUT TOO MUCH TRUST IN FRIENDS, LEARN HOW TO USE ENEMIE

Be wary of friends, they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused by envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.S        

CASE 1: Pulling 2 rugs silently when it was least expected

A master manipulator, Zobair had hired his close friend to head one of the key growth verticals of a growing organization. He had convinced the boss to recruit Ashish from a competitor and let him develop the team. As expected, Ashish did a phenomenal job of obtaining new contracts and expanding the operations across territories. All the while Zobair stayed under shadows like deadwood and learnt the tricks of the trade while contacting Ashish’s customers in parallel, innocently and without creating any waves. He was also taking all credit for bringing Ashish into the organization by highlighting it to the boss who was prone to flattery. It all went on for some time until the organization was established as a major player in the market. This is when Zobair made his move and started getting every project that was initiated by Ashish to be rejected by the boss and the Management Board. Just as he was polishing the boss, he was also spending quality time with the Board Members while Ashish had been busy bringing results. Zobair got Ashish’s hands so tied that he couldn’t operate anymore and the hero of yesterday had to resign citing his frustrations. In the meantime, Zobair blamed the bad performance that had started to appear on the wrong decisions of the Boss and even convinced the Board that it was the Boss’s idea to bring Ashish to the company in the first place getting the Board to terminate the Boss and appointing Zobair as the head of the company. Zobair killed two birds with one stone and enjoyed his days in the company while they lasted

CASE 2: WHAT’S YOUR STORY?

LAW 3: CONCEAL YOUR INTENTION

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 defence. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelop them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.S        

CASE 1: Checkmate

Ridhwan and Fahmi both worked for a major industrial complex in the technical department reporting to the CTO. Both were exceptional in their work with impeccable track records and a pedigree of working for blue-chip organizations. The CTO however had his misgivings and had worked for the company for decades rising from the ranks with almost no international exposure. Any relevance to LAW#1 as mentioned above would threaten his fragile ego and one had to walk on eggshells to make sure that his feelings aren’t scathed at all. Fahmi was quite an expert in keeping all sides happy and would butter up the CTO by relating stories from his past and praising him by claims of having this job as the best learning opportunity for him; none of the multinationals could prepare him as what he’s been able to learn under the CTO. However, Ridhwan wouldn’t care about challenging the CTO for his inadequacies and lack of regular common sense and would even tell him that it was all but a miracle for him to get to this position. Although the boss burned inside but wanted to be close to Ridhwan because he was at least telling him the truth and his outbursts exposed the other two faceted enemies in the company as well. Fahmi always kept a low profile and a silent disposition and kept receiving the necessary promotions. In a critical juncture when a major promotion had to be decided and this could have been jeopardized by Ridhwan’s presence and feedback, Fahmi had him transferred to a remote location for six months. Ridhwan had to go through life-threatening situations while at the new assignment while Fahmi got the promotion he was looking for. Fahmi was Ridhwan’s boss by the time his assignment came to an end, and it was ensured that his tenure doesn’t last too long after that.

CASE 2: WHAT’S YOUR STORY?

LAW 4: ALWAYS SAY LESS THAN NECESSAR

When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even f you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open ended, and sphinx-like. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.Y        

CASE 1: Chatter Box Galore

The gentleman had a solution to every problem, most of those problems were also created by him had been another story altogether. He was my colleague at the onset of my career, and it was almost impossible to see him sitting quietly, this man could talk to the dead while they were being prepared for the burial; he just couldn’t shut up. He also had a habit of dragging the whole technical team to projects that he had visited a few days earlier and deliberately initiated a fault in the system. The customer would call and complain about the problem and usually wanted an immediate solution. One of those customers had been a Television Station and their equipment had started to malfunction. Our friend requested the management that the whole technical team was required as a lot of work had to be done and the TV Station would have major challenges in case of any delays. Almost fifteen people went with him unknowingly that the TV Production Studios are kept at freezing temperatures to counter for bright lights, we weren’t dressed for the occasion and spent our time shivering as if we were in Alaska. To top this off, fourteen of the fifteen people just sat and sulked while our champion, after playing around with the tools reached the exact location where the apparent problem had been and voila, with a shout, fixed it like a magician. The only good part of that trip was the KFC that had been generously served to all. He was a master bullshitter and the management somehow loved buying his crap every time he brought it to them.

CASE 2: WHAT’S YOUR STORY?

LAW 5: SO MUCH DEPENDS ON REPUTATION – GUARD IT WOTH YOUR LIFE

Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once it slips, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked from all sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart these before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand and let public opinion hang them.E        

CASE 1: Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels

A friend let’s call him Manoj worked for a local organization specializing in distribution and sales. The owner of the company had started off by smuggling goods across the border and had a reputation for a dupe, low-cut double crosser but he had finally made it in the world of business and was now a respectable member of the entrepreneur community. He also was a magnet for all sorts of shady characters and had quite a few of them working for him. Manoj had joined this company without fact-checking and not knowing what he was getting into. The first two lieutenants assigned to him came from the vilest of human stables and would flaunt their vices as medals obtained in major battles. They would cheat, curse, boast of their philandering, steal, and bribe and all with the knowledge of the big guy. They were also quite proud of their contacts with the meanest and shadiest people in town. I met these guys and was astonished to see how some people never cared for their names. They both drove the best cars and had the perfect accessories but were incapable of making basic presentations, and to top it all, they also hated each other. Manoj had initially stationed them in the same room and the ensuing daily ruckus had him change his decision. Manoj also had a habit of writing and drawing on whiteboards and they both requested him not to delete it ever because they wanted to show their juniors that it was them who had indeed written these things on the board, that’s how bad it was. Manoj, as expected, was the first one to leave followed by these two champions but the business owner with his super bullshit capabilities still does great business.

CASE 2: WHAT’S YOUR STORY?

LAW 6: COURT ATTENTION AT ALL COST

Everything is judged by its appearance, what is unseen counts for nothing. Never get yourself get lost in the crowd, then, buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all costs. Make yourself a magnet for attention by appearing larger, more colourful, more mysterious than the bland and the timid masses. S        

CASE 1: The Casanova Job Seeker

Books like the 48 Laws of Power aren’t read in public, usually, these are the kind of books that are concealed BUT I had a colleague who had mastered the 6th law to a level where he would read the “Law of Seduction”, also by Robert Greene in the plane in clear view and would practice the laws on anyone whom he came across. The gentleman was a perpetual job seeker and made every minute of the day count in networking. This champ had marked the people for attention and made every effort to garner their time. He had a standing job offer while our company had started to show signs of oblivion and the next company he joined had a similar career path all set for him. The funny thing was that he got terminated for corruption from the next company only to find a better position in the next. The gentleman had a knack for identifying his targets and used to think five years ahead of everyone. Everything from his mannerism to his clothes and accessories was impeccable. 

CASE 2: WHAT’S YOUR STORY?

This brings us to the conclusion of the first part, I had planned to write 10 laws for each article but that would have been too long of a reading.

So stay tuned for the next part coming in the next few days.

Keep in touch at kazi.najib@playtorium.com