"The 48 Laws of Power" is a timeless book about the history of power, over a period of 3,000 years. This bestseller will interest anyone who desires power or wishes to arm himself against power. This 450-page book can be read straight through but it is also meant for browsing and studying the law that is most suited to your particular circumstances. If you are, for example, having problems with your boss, you just have to search in the table of contents and you will find several laws addressing the relationship between the master and his employees.
The first law reminds us that one should never outshine the master. Galileo is a good example of someone who observed the rule. He depended highly on the financial support of rulers for his research. When he discovered the moons of Jupiter in 1610, he dedicated his discovery to the Medicis. This diplomatic move played well, and that same year Cosimo II named Galileo his official court philosopher and mathematician.
Time does not change human nature. Today, the people who attain high standing in life also desire to retain their positions. It is not by displaying your talents that you win your superior’s attention. On the contrary, you might inspire jealousy and risk of being replaced by someone less threatening. With time, all power weakens; the secret is to be patient and wait for the time when you will outlive and even outshine your master.
Another important law concerns one’s reputation that is the cornerstone of power. A solid reputation increases one’s presence and exaggerates one’s strength without having to spend much energy. Rommel’s reputation for cunning maneuvering during World War II terrorized everyone, even when his army was outnumbered. At the news that his forces were approaching cities would be immediately evacuated. Your reputation precedes you. It must be carefully protected:
“Since we must live in society and must depend on the opinions of others, there is nothing to be gained by neglecting your reputation. By not caring how you are perceived, you let others decide this for you. Be the master of your fate, and also of your reputation,” says Greene.
Another interesting law warns us against anything offered for free. When you pay your own way you remain clear of gratitude and deceit. Generosity attracts people, soften their hearts and makes allies out of them. Baron James Rothschild became rich in Paris in 1820 but he still was not accepted by the French upper class. He decided that, the best way to win their hearts would be to entertain them. He soon earned the reputation of organizing the best parties and finally gained social acceptance.
“The great man who is a miser is a great fool, and a man in high places can have no vice so harmful as avarice. Whoever wants to have friends must not love his possessions but must acquire friends by means of fair gifts; for in the same way that the lodestone subtly draws iron to itself, so the gold and silver that a man gives attract the hearts of men,” wrote Guillaume de Lorris (1200-1238).
Hiding one’s attentions and always saying less than necessary are also a key to power. The famous artist Andy Warhol once told a friend: “I learned that you actually have more power when you shut up.”
He used this strategy in a very successful way. He rarely spoke about his work but gave others the chance to interpret his paintings. He admitted that he learned this from Marcel Duchamp who realized early in his career that the less he said about his work, the more people talked about it.
If you have reached a high position and you wish to retain the power you have, you are advised not to trust too much your friends and to learn how to manipulate your enemies. When Emperor Sung came to power, he kept in mind the Chinese proverb that compares friends to the jaws and teeth of a dangerous animal. He rewarded his fellow generals with land and kept them away and instead of relying on friends in the government, he used his enemies:
“A man suddenly spared 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.
Sung succeeded in putting an end to a period of violence and civil war and established the Sung Dynasty that ruled China for more than three thousand years.”
One cannot talk about power without mentioning its greatest danger: isolation. People, who have power through their positions or thanks to their money, often protect themselves from the public by isolating themselves. Machiavelli believed that a fortress is a sign of power’s isolation and an easy target for the enemies because it is far from help:
“Since power is a human creation, it is inevitably increased by contact with other people...You need to be permeable, able to float in and out of different circles and mix with different types...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... 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,” concludes Green.
It is impossible to discuss all the 48 laws that make up this highly entertaining book. A careful reading will take you on a journey into the history of power illustrated by the lives of great men and women. More than a book, this is a handbook to be used at leisure by anyone interested in gaining power and keeping it. This in-depth look into the tactics used by some of the world’s most important figures to retain their power is edifying at times but always fascinating.