Laws to Improve Your Life and Success
213: 48 Laws of Power Review for Business and Life
One of the big pieces of the whole idea of if someone “gets it” that I touch on frequently in Arb Letter — is understand human nature. Beyond that it’s not just enough to understand human nature — you must be adept at manipulating emotion, responses, and conditions to your advantage if you want to succeed financially, physically, emotionally, and mentally.
Today I have compiled my favorite top 10 rules of power from Robert Greene’s infamous best selling book The 48 Laws of Power.
If you haven;t read this I urge you to order a copy ASAP.
There are few books that provide such a valuable glimpse into human nature and the way the world works.
The book is excellent and should be a staple of all young people going into business, high finance, the corporate world, and government. Although, I would venture further to say that the book is table stakes for those who want to succeed in life.
In this new day and age of woke softness and virtue signaling it’s really never been easier to succeed — since most people fanatically seek comfort and ignore the reality of the world and the way things work. That being said, even good people who “get it” could be offended or turned off by these rules given the cutthroat and sobering picture they paint on human nature and reality.
If you find yourself in that camp, today’s post likely isn’t for you. If conversely, you are a driven, hard working, and ambitious young person trying to make it in the world — this is required reading.
The full book is a bit dry — but I’ve gone ahead and extracted 10 of the most valuable laws I personally think make all the difference in making money, being successful socially, and carving a path for yourself in the world. Each law features the original title and context from author Robert Greene.
I’ve added commentary and real world examples to each law so that they are incredibly straightforward to digest AND easy to relate to your life.
These laws will help you make more money, have more success in relationships, navigate people in your life seamlessly, and assure that you remain likeable and dangerous in the long run.
Those who have not read this book or engaged with these laws are at a serious and I mean SERIOUS disadvantage.
Law 9 - Know Who You’re Dealing With - Do Not Offend The Wrong Person
Judgment - There are many different kinds of people in this world, and you can never assume that everyone will react to your strategies the same way. Deceive or outmaneuver some people and they will spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge. They are wolves in lambs’ clothing. Choose your victims and opponents carefully, then — never offend or deceive the wrong person.
Human beings are fickle creatures. They suffer from anxiety, insecurity, and ego at all ages. This is especially true in the business, corporate, and finance worlds. Over the years, I’ve seen new employees store up resentment with upper management on the first day of work — either because they were true casual in their discourse or worse, because they made an off hand comment that ended up rubbing someone with more power than them the wrong way.
I’ll elaborate on a specific story that incorporates this law and another later — but you’d do well to monitor who you offend or piss off, especially in the corporate world. It could be something as simple as walking into your first day at Goldman Sachs as an analyst with a $10,000 watch on. The VP in your group? He just got divorced, has been running expenses so high he barely saves, and just got informed he is being put on a performance plan for the duration of the year.
He had to sell his Rolex last week to cover his new apartment deposit. And here you walk in, a fresh young guy with ambition and confidence rocking a $10,000 watch like some jabroni.
Think he has the maturity or clarity to not become resentful?
Doubtful. Highly doubtful.
Most would do well to constantly have a read on what other people’s insecurities are — because once you do that you will have a general framework for topics and subjects to avoid less you stir up anger or negative emotion. Scumbag manager who plays politics games and uses scapegoats on the regular? Bite your tongue when you really want to let him have it.
He may suck, but he’s been at the company for 6 years and has the ears of other incompetent higher ups. Maybe he starts to tarnish your reputation behind closed doors.
One thing I will add here is that you could be a harmless, hard working, and diligent employee and STILL have this happen to you. People are amazing in their capacity to act like children when they become insecure or threatened. So understand that oftentimes some of these things are outside your control. Just keep a tab of it in your head and do your best to come off as humble, unassuming, and pleasant.
This ties in brilliantly with Law 1 which is my personal favorite - never outshine the master.
Do so at your own risk — as history shows us this rarely ends well.
Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please and impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite—inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.