The 48 Laws Of Power

330 LAW 39

ple’s

emotions,

you

willturntheirlossofcontrolto

youradvantage:

You

keepyour

headwhile

they

are

losing

theirs.

During

an

important

battleintheWaroftheThree

Kingdoms,

inthe

third

century

A.D.,

adviserstothecommanderTs’aoTs’aodiscovereddocu»

ments

showing

thatcertainofhis

generals

had

conspired

withthe

enemy,

and

urged

himtoarrestandexecutethem.Insteadheorderedthedocu-

mentsburnedandthematter

forgotten.

Atthiscriticalmomentinthebat-

tle,

to

get

upset

ordemand

justice

wouldhavereverberated

against

him:

An

angry

actionwouldhavecalledattentiontothe

generals’disloyalty,

which

would

have

harmed

the

troops’

morale.

justice

couldwait-he

would

dealwiththe

generals

intime.Ts‘ao Ts’ao

kept

hisheadandmade

the

right

decision.

Compare

thisto

Napoleon's

response

to

Talleyrand:

Insteadof

taking

the

conspiracypersonally,

the

emperor

shouldhave

played

the

game

like

Ts’ao

Ts’ao,

carefullyweighing

the

consequences

of

any

actionhetook.

Themore

powerful

response

in

theendwouldhavebeento

ignore

Tal~

leyr-and,

orto

bring

theminister

gradually

backtohissideand

punish

him

later.

Angeronly

cutsoffour

options,

andthe

powerful

cannotthrivewith

out

options.

Once

you

train

yourself

nottotakematters

personally,

andto

control

your

emotional

responses,you

willhave

placedyourself

ina

posi-

tionoftremendous

power:

Now

you

can

play

withtheemotional

responses

ofother

people.

Stirtheinsecureintoaction

byimpugning

their

manhood,

and

bydangling

the

prospect

ofan

easyvictory

before

their

faces.Do

as

Houdinididwhen

challengedby

the

less

successful

escape

artist

Kleppini:

Revealan

apparent

weakness

(Houdini

let

Kleppini

stealthecombination

fora

pair

of

cuffs)

tohire

your

opponent

intoaction.Then

you

canbeat

himwithease.Withthe

arrogant

too

you

can

appear

weakerthan

you

are,

taunting

themintoarashaction.

Sun

Pin,

commanderofthearmiesofCh’iand

loyaldisciple

ofSun-

tzu,

onceledhis

troopsagainst

thearmiesof

Wei,

whichoutnumberedhim

twotoone.“Letus

light

ahundredthousandfireswhenour

army

enters

Wei,”

suggested

Sun

Pin,

“fifty

thousandonthenext

day,

and

onlythirty

thousandonthe

third.”

On

thethird

day

theWei

general

exclaimed,

“I

knew

the

menofCh’iwere

cowards,

andafter

only

three

days

morethan

halfofthemhavedeserted!”

So,

leaving

behindhis

slow-movingheavy

in

fantry,

the

general

decidedtoseizethemomentandmove

swiftly

onthe

Ch’i

camp

witha

lightly

armedforce.

Sun

Pin’s

troops

retreated,

luring

Wei’s

army

intoanarrow

pass,

where

they

ambushed

and

destroyed

them.

WiththeWei

general

deadandhisforces

decimated,

SunPinnow

easily

defeatedtherestofhis

army.

Inthefaceofahot—headed

enemy,finally,

anexcellent

response

isno

response.

Followthe

Talleyrand

tactic:

Nothing

isas

infuriating

asaman

who

keeps

hiscoolwhileothers

are

losing

theirs.

If

itwillworkto

your

ad-

vantage

to

unsettle

people,

affectthe

aristocratic,

bored

pose,

neither

mocking

nor

triumphant

but

simply

indifferent.Thiswill

light

theirfuse.