The 48 Laws Of Power

86 LAW 1 l

the

signalthey

wereto

pick

the

astrologerup,carry

himtothe

window,

andhurlhimtothe

ground,

hundredsoffeetbelow.

The

astrologer

soon

arrived,

butbefore

giving

the

signal,

Louisde-

cidedtoaskhimonelast

question:

“Youclaimtounderstand

astrology

and

toknowthefateof

others,

sotellmewhat

your

fatewillbeandhow

long

you

havetolive.”

“Ishalldie

just

three

days

beforeYour

Majesty,"

the

astrologer

replied.

The

kingssignal

wasnever

given.

Theman’slifewas

spared.

The

Spider

King

not

onlyprotected

his

astrologer

foras

long

ashewas

alive,

helav-

ishedhimwith

gifts

andhadhimtended

by

thefinestcourtdoctors.

The

astrologer

survivedLouis

by

several

years,

disproving

his

power

of

prophecy

but

proving

his

mastery

of

power.

Thisisthemodel:Makeothers

dependent

on

you.

To

get

ridof

you

mightspell

disaster,

even

death,

and

your

master

dares

not

tempt

fate

by

finding

out.There

are

manyways

toobtainsuch

a

position.

Foremost

among

themisto

possess

atalentandcreativeskillthat

simply

cannotbe

replaced.

During

the

Renaissance,

the

major

obstacletoa

pajntefls

successwas

finding

the

rightpatron.Michelangelo

did

thisbetterthan

anyone

else:

His

patron

was

Pope

julius

H.Butheandthe

popequarreled

overthe

building

ofthe

pope’s

marble

‘comb,

and

Michelangelo

leftRomein

disgust

Tothe

amazementofthoseinthe

pope’s

circle,

not

only

didthe

pope

notfire

him,

he

sought

himoutandinhisown

haughtywaybegged

theartistto

stay.

Michelangelo,

he

knew,

couldfind

another

patron,

buthe

couldneverfind

another

Michelangelo.

Youdonothavetohavethetalentof3.

Michelangelo;

you

dohaveto

haveaskillthatsets

youapart

fromthecrowd.Youshouldcreateasitua-

tioninwhich

you

can

always

latch

ontoanothermasteror

patron

but

your

mastercannot

easily

findanotherservantwith

yourparticular

talent.And

if,

in

reality,you

arenot

actuallyindispensable,you

must

find

a

way

to

makeitlookasif

you

are.

Having

the

appearance

of

specialized

knowledge

and

skill

givesyouleeway

in

yourability

todeceivethose

above

you

into

thinkingthey

cannotdowithout

you.

Real

dependence

on

your

master’s

part,

however,

leaves

him

morevulnerableto

you

thanthefaked

variety,

anditis

always

within

yourpower

tomake

your

skill

indispensable.

Thisiswhatismeant

by

the

intertwining

offates:Like

creepingivy,

you

have

wrappedyourself

aroundthesourceof

power,

sothatitwould

cause

great

traumatocut

youaway.

And

you

donot

necessarily

havetoen-

twine

yourself

aroundthe

master;

another

person

will

do,

as

long

asheor

shetoois

indispensable

inthechain.

One

day

HarryColin,

president

ofColumbia

Pictures,

wasvisitedin

hisoffice

by

a

gloomygroup

ofhisexecutives.Itwas

1951,

whenthewitch-

hunc

against

Communistsin

Hollywood,

carried

on

by

theUS.

Congress’s

HouseUn-AmericanActivities

Committee,

wasatits

height.

Theexecu-

tiveshadbadnews:Oneoftheir

employees,

the

screenwriterjolm

Howard

Lawson,

hadbeen

singled

outasaCommunist.

They

hadto

get

ridofhim

nightaway

orsuffer

the

wrathofthecommittee.