This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "The Laws Of Human Nature" by Robert Greene. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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Do you want to know how to become a good leader? Do leaders need to be likable?
There are numerous tactics to learn how to become a good leader. Here, we’ll focus on making people like and trust you, and then establishing good group dynamics.
Keep reading to find out how to become a good leader.
How to Become a Good Leader: Make People Like You
There are several strategies for gaining authority, and they’re effective regardless of where you are in your life—if you’re not yet in a leadership position, the strategies will make you seem destined for one. If you’re already a leader, they’ll help you strengthen your position and learn how to become a good leader.
Strategy #1: Develop goals. Understand that your responsibility as a leader is to guide the group towards goals that are in everyone’s best interests. If you don’t do this, your followers will feel disconnected and the group’s unity will fracture. People will work slower, form factions, become passive-aggressive, or lose respect. This slows down the group’s progress towards the vision.
Strategy #2: Plan for the long-term. Most people can only think about the short term (see Law #13 for more information), so if you can elevate your thoughts and think further ahead, you’ll be able to predict the future and people will trust you. Once you have a vision, create a path to get there. Don’t waver if people doubt you, but be prepared to adapt the path as necessary.
- For example, when 10,000 Greek mercenaries became trapped in Persia, writer Xenophon came up with a plan that would take years to execute but that would eventually get them out.
Strategy #3: Prioritize the group. When people realize you’re working towards the greater good of the group, they’ll be more likely to give you attention and follow you. This is one way of learning how to become a good leader.
Strategy #4: Lead by example. Work harder than anyone else, meet the highest standards, make sacrifices, and be accountable. This will encourage others to do the same. Start leading by example as early as possible—if you try to do it too late, it will look like a ploy.
Strategy #5: Set a precedent for toughness during your first impression. When people break rules or slack off, punish them. You can show your other sides later, but if you show too much softness up front, people will think you’re weak.
Strategy #6: Be authentic. Everyone’s authority style is different because everyone has different strengths and characters, but there are some authority archetypes that everyone fits into. If you can act in accordance with whichever archetype you most identify with, followers will see you as a natural, fated for the job rather than someone who just wants power. Here are the archetypes:
- Saviors hate injustice and want to save people from it.
- Creators like to start new things and progress.
- Visionaries subvert the conventions of their fields.
- Bloodhounds hate lies and want to find the truth.
- Fixers want to fix problems.
- Helpers want to help people find fulfillment and connection.
- Instructors encourage people to do things and help them learn from the results.
Strategy #7: Develop empathy. We need to use empathy to connect with individuals and get them to feel what we’re feeling (reciprocal respect, for example), or alert ourselves to their feelings.
Strategy #8: Don’t be entitled. Entitlement makes us lazy, self-absorbed, and delusional. Instead of being entitled, leaders have to earn their followers’ support. (Leaders are especially susceptible to entitlement because followers regularly hide their true emotions so the leader will like them. This masking makes it harder for leaders to notice ambivalence or even secret resentments that could lead to a coup.)
Strategy #9: Make yourself appear mysterious and complex. You might do this by sending mixed signals, being strategic with your presence and absence, using silence strategically, and being accountable without over apologizing. This will create an aura of mystery and people will be drawn to you. (For more on this, see Law #15: People Want What They Don’t Have). Don’t be too contradictory, though, or people will think you’re unstable.
Strategy #10: Never take anything away from people. Prioritize maintaining resources so you never have to take them from anyone. If the group needs to give something up, such as money or privileges, to achieve its ends, give it up yourself first, and try to make the shortage temporary.
Strategy #11: Don’t break your promises. If you promise people something new and don’t deliver it, people will feel like you’re taking it from them even though they’ve never had it before.
Strategy #12: Remember that people hide their emotions. If you’re in charge of people, they likely won’t feel comfortable showing their true emotions, so assess their actions instead.
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Like what you just read? Read the rest of the world's best book summary and analysis of Robert Greene's "The Laws Of Human Nature" at Shortform .
Here's what you'll find in our full The Laws Of Human Nature summary :
- Why it's in your nature to self-sabotage
- How you behave differently when you're in a group
- Why you're wired to want the wrong things in life
