This article is a book review of the 48 Laws of Power by Dr Robert Greene. In this 48 Laws of Power summary, we will examine 8 key messages that the book has to offer. These 8 laws of power are my personal favourite and will benefit students / employees working in crowded environments.
So, what is power?
Power entails the ability to make decisions, but this can be done directly through you or by influencing others. Since power is an amoral social game, mastery over human nature helps you understand the tendencies of others.
One of the worst experiences in life is to feel hopeless. Given the decision, everybody would prefer to acquire more power over less power. However, to procure power is socially disapproved of. Therefore, to achieve power, you should be unobtrusive, shrewd, and ruthless.
This is where the 48 laws come in.
Table of Contents
Law 3 – Conceal Your Intentions
Generally, you want to steer people’s expectations of you off-course by guiding them down the wrong path. After hiding your intentions, other people will be unaware of the reason behind your activities. Assuming that they do not know what you are up to, they can’t react to your moves.
On the off chance that individuals develop doubt regarding your trickery, everything is lost. What is more, try not to give them the opportunity to detect what you are doing.
As a result, we throw them off the trail by via red herrings:
- fake sincerity
- send vague indications
- set up misleading bits and pieces of your desires / goals
Again, people are incapable when recognizing the authentic from the deceptive. Ergo they can’t ascertain your genuine objective.
For instance, during seduction you must make vague suggestions. Never report your end goal or uncover them directly in words. Rather you should confuse your targets, making them lose a sense of your directions.
Moreover, to achieve success you send mixed signals and appear inspired by others of the same gender as your target. Then, allude to being keen on the target, followed by indifference. Such examples do not just bewilder, they energize.
48 Laws of Power Summary – Law 3 Further Explained
On the whole, the vast majority pf people are open books.
Usually, they express out loud their viewpoints, constantly uncovering their own motives. In light of multiple factors, it is simple and normal to discuss one’s sentiments and plans for the future. Although, it requires work to control your tongue and screen your intentions.
Your honesty is probably going to insult individuals. Instead, it is substantially more judicious to tailor your words. This involves letting individuals know what they need to hear instead of your personal feelings.
Surprisingly, by being brazenly open you make yourself so predictable. Hence, others won’t dread or regard you and power won’t gather to an individual who can’t motivate such feelings.
Instantly, it is a straightforward truth about human nature to trust appearances. Often, we can’t go around questioning the truth of what we see and hear. Constantly envisioning those appearances as disguises would deplete and unnerve us.
This reality makes it somewhat simple to conceal one’s goals. Basically, hang an item / goal you appear to want, an objective you appear to hold back nothing towards.
Consequently, everyone else’s eyes will take this appearance for the real world. When their eyes centre around the imitation, they will neglect to see what you are truly doing.
Law 5 – So Much Depends on Reputation Guard it With Your Life
Above all, reputation is the foundation of power. That is to say, through notoriety you can threaten and intimidate to achieve your goals. Yet, when it disappears you are helpless and will exposed on all sides.
Make your standing unassailable.
Continuously be aware of expected assaults and impede them before they occur. In the meantime, figure out how to obliterate your adversaries by damaging their reputations.
Then stand to the side, letting the general public assessment hang them. Granted that you want to scrutinize the reputation of your foe, you should:
- Sow doubts in their praiseworthy abilities. Resultantly opponent feels compelled to defend themselves, as suspicion is generated.
- Once you have your own reputation you can ridicule the accomplishments of others. But, this must be done through humour and subtle mockery, to avoid directly highlighting your motives.
Typically, the reputation that you cultivate will safeguard you in the perilous game of appearances. Thus, diverting others from knowing your true goals. Alongside providing you with a level of command over how the world perceives you.
From the outset, you should attempt to refine a reputation for one extraordinary trait. For example, generosity. On balance this quality separates you from everyone else and gets others to discuss you.
Next you spread the word about your quality through action, to however many individuals as would be prudent.
Undeniably, a strong reputation expands your presence and overstates your qualities without your burning through much effort. Likewise, it can surround you in a heavenly aura, fostering fear / respect.
In the long run never defend your actions / reputation against slander.
Law 6 – Court Attention at All Costs
All in all, everything is judged by its appearance. Equally, that which invisible is meaningless if it is never seen. Never let yourself lose all sense of individual identity in the group.
In short stick out.
Be obvious and visible at all expense. Ideally, be a magnet gathering attention – by seeming more colourful, lively, secretive than the tasteless and boring masses.
Without delay, let others notice you by generating an unforgettable disputable picture. Uniquely, be willing to court scandal. Effectively make yourself appear to be larger than life over the people around you.
As has been not you should see no difference amongst the sorts of notoriety that will bring you power. In either case it is better to be defamed and gone after than overlooked.
Here is the underlying truth about inviting attention:
As soon as people’s eyes are on you, you possess a special legitimacy.
Towards the start of your ascent to the top, ensure you burn through all your energy on standing out. A point usually overlooked is that the nature of attention does not matter.
Henceforth, you should append your name and notoriety to a trait / picture, that separates you from others. This picture can be something like a trademark style of dress or a character idiosyncrasy.
Subsequently, this entertains individuals and gets discussed. Whenever the image is laid out people subconsciously design parallels to the expected character behaviour.
48 Laws of Power Summary – Law 6 Further Explained
Once at the centre of attention you should constantly recharge it by adjusting your techniques to draw attention. Conversely, if you don’t adapt the public will grow tired and underestimate you.
Therefore, this game requires consistent watchfulness and imagination.
Furthermore, it is a prerequisite for you to DEVELOP AN AIR OF MYSTERY. In a mundane predictable world what appears puzzling draws consideration.
Undeniably, never make it too clear what you are doing or going to do. Immediately, try not to show everyone your cards. Thereupon, a layer of secrecy uplifts your presence. Similarly, it makes everyone anticipate your next moves, as they will watch you to see what occurs.
Law 11 – Learn to Keep People Dependent on You
Ordinarily In order for you to be free, others should always require your services / presence. In summary, the more people dependent on you, the more opportunity you have.
Indeed, by causing individuals to rely upon you for their joy and thriving – you don’t have anything to fear. Ergo, never show them enough so they can manage without you.
Logically, nobody will come to rely upon you if they already well of. Yet a relationship can be supplemented between yourself and a powerless leader.
Additionally, your position is affirmed if you turn into their strength, brains, spine. Envision yourself as the foundation of this house of cards.
Universally, need controls the world. Normally, individuals seldom act except unless they are forced to. Appropriately, your assistance, will neutralize their shortcomings. The leader will dispose of you if you make no requirement for yourself, .
In like manner try not to be one of the populace, who erroneously mix independence with autonomy. After all, power includes a connection between individuals, you will constantly require others as:
- partners
- pawns
- feeble bosses who act on your behalf.
Given that most of us are not vital to others, we must figure out how to feign this appearance.
Resembling the image that you own specialized information, gives you breathing space in your capacity to mislead those above you. Alternatively, you could make yourself seem to be the answer to their problems.
Correspondingly, they would react to your whims since you are using the bait of appearing subordinate to their goals.
Essentially, your fates are intertwined.
Law 13 – When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest, Never to Their Mercy or Gratitude
Assuming you ask a partner for help, try not to remind them of your past and great deeds. Accordingly, they will find a way to exploit this momentary weakness or ignore your plea.
All things considered, reveal something beneficial pertaining to your partnership. In addition, you can mention how they will stagnate without your aid.
Not to mention, they will answer excitedly when they see something to be acquired for themselves. Beyond reminding them of impractical obligations, which inversely make them resent proactivity, you ought to:
Speak in terms of their self-interest and benefits.
Frequently, the vast majority never prevail at this, since they are totally caught in their own needs and wants. By all means, they falsely believe that these individuals have a magnanimous interest in supporting them.
Hence, they opt to advertise the bigger picture over the ordinary little benefits. Forthwith, people who ask for help have to focus on the practical real advantages of their co-operation.
Generally, it is imperative to understand the other person’s psychology.
What do they value?
- Are they vain and concerned about their reputation or social standing?
- Do they have enemies you could help them defeat?
- Are money and power their key drivers?
While some people seemingly enjoy the option to practice benevolence, in reality they want to look superior to you.
Thence, when you ask them for assistance, you are required to underline their power and position.
Law 21 – Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker – Seem Dumber Than Your Mark
Truly, nobody likes feeling more intellectually inferior to the person next to them. In other words, you need to allow the other person to feel smart.
Particularly, they need to envision themselves as smarter than you are. Once persuaded of this, they won’t ever think that you might have ulterior intentions.
To be sure, we all want to avoid the feeling that another person is more intelligent than us. More often than not, they own something we don’t.
Clearly, there are various ways we try to justify our superiority:
Phrases |
With the same amount of money, I would be better. |
They have a more privileged social upbringing. |
Their intelligence won’t matter in the real world. |
They just got lucky. |
Significantly, knowledge is an integral part of the everyone’s vanity and identity. To clarify it is basic etiquette to never affront or condemn an individual’s mental ability.
For that is an unpardonable sin.
However, if you can manipulate this rule to your advantage, it opens up a wide range of roads of trickiness.
To illustrate, you can console individuals that they are more astute than you are. This can be evidenced by demonstrations of features that make you somewhat of an imbecile.
Now enjoy running rings around them.
Their prior suspicions will disperse since you construct the intoxicating sensation of scholarly prominence.
48 Laws of Power Summary – Law 21 Further Explained
Together with intelligence, sophistication and taste also comprises people’s ego. Coupled with subservience in insight, you can make a point to lower your rank in refinement.
Also due to your awareness of the bridge between both of you, you won’t appear threatening. In fact, they might try and advance you since you happen to be so agreeable and compliant.
Therefore, make yourself seem lower on the hierarchy, to camouflage your true intent. This is performed by:
- Saying less than necessary
- Appearing to have no grand aspirations
- Exaggerating the reason why they look down on you
In spite of this, there are still cases where you need to flaunt your intellect. Case and point, you need to substantiate your mental prowess when attracting clients to your business.
Law 24 – Play the Perfect Courtier
Presently, the ideal courtier flourishes in a reality where everything rotates around power and political expertise. Overall, they are amazing at;
- indirection
- compliments
- yielding to their bosses
- indirectly / gracefully stating control over others.
Markedly, it would be in your best interest to learn and apply the laws of courtiership. As a result, there will be no restriction to how far you can rise in the court.
But what do we mean by the ‘court’?
Aside from keeping the ruler entertained, the courts were a method for hardening the order of sovereignty. Besides, courts convey how subjects were loyal to the ruler.
On the whole, courts serve the of the ruler, furnishing him with a microcosmic world that satisfies him. For example, courtiers mirrored the king if he fell during a hunt. When applied to real life you might want to mirror the mistakes of your superior.
First and foremost, the effective courtier needs to navigate a precarious situation, satisfying however not satisfying excessively. Comparatively they comply with the king whilst separating himself from different retainers.
All the while, never allowing the ruler to feel unstable by their presence.
Either way courtiers have mastery over controlling individuals. They ensure that the ruler feels more royal and make other courtiers dread their power. All the more, they mask their charitable front with hidden graceful hostility.
Due to mastery over communication, they never express more than required.
In any case, they are magnets of joy, as individuals feel urged to associate with them. Despite these achievements they neither grovel nor embarrass themselves.
Likewise, courtiers are scarce in their flattery, downplaying their contribution to make their superior shine brighter. In a similar vein, they ensure they are noticed.
Law 31 – Control the Options: Get Others to Play with the Cards You Deal
Normally, the best misdirections are the ones that appear to give the other individual a decision. In brief, your victims feel they are in charge, yet are in fact following your original intentions.
Equally important is to give individuals choices that turn out in support of yourself whichever one they pick. Compel them to pursue decisions between the lesser of two evils, as both options fill your need.
In essence, let the other person pick their poison.
For instance, withdrawal and vanishing are exemplary approaches to controlling the choices. To enumerate, provide individuals with a feeling of how things will self-destruct without you, and you offer them a “decision”.
I stay away and you endure the disastrous outcomes or I return under conditions that I direct.
Granted, that this method of controlling involves individual choices, they feel powerful regarding their freedom of choice. Additionally, you indirectly pressure them to devolve power.
Given that there exists a choice between A and B, the notion of deception escapes everyone’s mind. Notably, you can colour the choices by exaggerating the presentation of the preferred choice. If the person is weak-minded highlight the dangers of the unwanted choices.
After all, procrastinators are moved by personal fears and emotions.
The ‘Help the Introvert’ Scale
48 Laws of Power
Rating: 5 stars
Pros: Above all, this book tells us how to avoid common pitfalls in the world of work / school. As a result, it mentions how power can be gained by effectively managing our social relations. Therefore, people learn how to conduct themselves and their image, to maximise reputation. Personally, I adore all the anecdotal dos and don’ts – which provide a guideline. | Cons: However, by following these rules there is the danger of only forming surface level friendships. In addition, there is significant overlap between some laws and many of the chapters are repetitive. |
If you enjoyed reading this 48 Laws of Power summary, then read all 48 laws by buying the book here.
Similarly, if you want to know the fundamentals of texting, then read this article.