The World's Best Book Summaries
Overview of Law 13: Appeal to People’s Self-Interest, Never to Their Mercy When you need help from someone in a position of power, don’t talk about your needs or something you did for them in the past. Instead, appeal to people’s self-interest, never to their mercy. They’ll be glad to help if they’ll get something important to them in return.
Overview of Law #2: Never Put Too Much Trust in Friends; Learn How to Use Enemies Keep a close eye on your friends — they easily become envious and resentful, and will undermine you. In contrast, if you promote an enemy, he’ll be more loyal than a friend in an effort to prove himself. So use your enemies. If you lack enemies, you should create some. Never put too much trust in friends. Learn how to use enemies.
Overview of Law #4: Always Say Less Than Necessary The less you say, the more intimidating and powerful you are. Always say less than necessary. When you do speak, make it vague and ambiguous, leaving the meaning to others to interpret. They’ll be frustrated and obsessed with trying to figure you out.
What is the 48 Laws of Power list? How can I become more powerful in my life and work? What are the secrets to success? The 48 Laws of Power list is a list of ways to become more powerful, from Robert Greene’s book The 48 Laws of Power. Read on to learn how to use the 48 Laws of Power list to use your enemies, keep others dependent on you, say as little as possible, take credit for others’ work, and control all the options. You can choose to apply or dismiss these rules – but you can’t escape them.
Overview of Law #5: Guard Your Reputation with Your Life Reputation is integral to power. So much depends on reputation—guard it with your life. With a strong reputation, you can influence and intimidate others. Beware of attacks on your reputation and squelch them immediately. Meanwhile, undermine your opponents’ reputations.
Many teams have the dysfunction of trust, where they feel uncomfortable with showing each other vulnerability. If you’re on a team with this dysfunction, you might want to know how to build trust in a team. As we learned in Dysfunction One: Absence of Trust, trust is the quality of being able to feel safe and unjudged by one’s teammates. It is the ability to be vulnerable with one another (by being willing to admit mistakes and reveal weaknesses). Trust is the foundation of team dynamics – in an absence of trust, people will feel unable to disagree in a