The 48 Laws Of Power

knewthathisfortunewould
bring

him

status,

butthatif

heremainedso

cially

alienatedneitherhisstatusnorhisfortunewouldlast.

Sohelooked

at

the

society

ofthetimeandaskedwhatwouldwintheirhearts.

Charity?

TheFrenchcouldn’tcareless.Politicalinfluence?He

already

had

that,

andif

anything

it

only

made

people

more

suspicious

ofhim.The

oneweak
spot,

he

decided,

wasboredom.Inthe

period

of

the

restoration

ofthe

monarchy,

theFrench

upper

classeswerebored. SoRothschild

began

to

spendastounding

sums

of

money

on

entertaining

them.Hehired

thebestarchitectsinFranceto

design

his

gardens

and

ballroom;

hehired

Marie-Antoine
Caréme,

themostcelebratedFrench

chef,

to

prepare

the

mostlavish

parties

Parishadever

witnessed;

noFrenchmancould

resist,

evenifthe

parties

were

givenby

aGerman

Jew.

Rothschild’s

weekly

soirées

began

toattract

bigger

and

bigger

numbers. Overthenextfew

years

hewonthe

only

thing

thatwouldsecureanoutsider’s

power:

social

acceptance.

Interpretation

Strategicgenerosity

is

always

a

greatweapon

in

building

a

support

base,

particularly

fortheoutsider.ButtheBarondeRothschildwasclevererstill:

Heknewitwashis
money

thathadcreatedthebarrierbetweenhimand

the

French,making

himlook

ugly

and

untrustworthy.

Thebest

way

to

overcomethiswas

literally

towaste

huge

sums,

a

gesture

toshowhe

valued

Frenchcultureand

society

over

money.

WhatRothschilddidresembled

diefamous

potlatch

feastsoftheAmericanNorthwest:

Byperiodically

de-

stroying

itswealthina

giant

orgy

offestivalsand

bonfires,

anIndiantribe

would

symbolize

its

power

overothertribes.The

baseofits

power

wasnot

money

butits

ability

to

spend,

anditsconfidenceina

superiority

that

would
restoreto
it
allthatthe

potlatch

had

destroyed.

In

the

end,

thebaron’ssoiréesreflectedhisdesireto

mingle

not

just

in

France’sbusinessworldbutinits

society.Bywastingmoney

onhis

pet-

latches,

he

hoped

todemonstratethathis

power

went

beyondmoney

into

themore

precious

realmofculture.Rothschild

may

havewonsocial

accep-

tance

byspendingmoney,

butthe

support

basehe

gained

wasonethat

money

alonecouldnot

buy.

Tosecurehisfortunehehadto“waste”it.That

is

strategicgenerosity

inanutshell——the

ability

tobeflexiblewith

your

wealth,
putting

itto

work,

notto

buyobjects,

buttowin

people’s

hearts.

ObservanceIII

TheMedicisofRenaissanceFlorencehadbuilttheirimmense
power

on

thefortune

they

hadmadein

banking.

Butin

Florence,

centuries—oldre-

public

thatit

was,

theideathat

moneyboughtpower

went

against

all

the

city’sproud

democratic

Values.

Cosimode’

Medici,

thefirst

of

the

family

to

gaingreat
fame,
workedaroundthis

bykeeping

alow

profile.

Henever

flauntedhiswealth.But
by

thetimehis

grandson

Lorenzocameof

age,

in

the
1470s,
the

family’s

wealthwastoo

large,

andtheirinfluencewenotice-

able,

tobe

disguisedanylonger.

Lorenzo

solved

the

problem

in

hisown

waybydeveloping

thestrat-

egy

ofdistractionthathasserved

people

ofwealtheversince:Hebecame

TH1-LI-l,'\MF-(1()l.()Hl~‘,l)

(ILOAK

During

the

Campaign

ofChmbyses

in

Egypt,

a

greatmany

Greeks

visitedthat

countryfor

Oil?VCUSUU

07

another:

some,

aswastobe

expected,for(rude,

sometoserveinthe

army,

others,

no

doubt,

out

of

mere

curiosity,

to

seewhat

they

couldsee.

Amongst

the

sighlseers

wasAeacer'5son

Sylv-

son,[lieexiledbrother

ofPolycralmof

Samos.

Whilehewasin

Egypt,

S

ylosun

hat!myextra-

onlinary

stroke

ofluck:

hewas

hanging

about

thestreets

of

Memphis

rimrscd

inu

flame-

rolored

Cloak,

when

Darius,

whoat(hat

timewasamember

of

Camb

yxes

'3

guard

and

not

yerofanyparticu-

lar

importancri,

happened

to

catch

sightof

him

and,seized

withasudden

longing

to

p0.rse.\*s

the

cloak,

came

up

to

Syloson

andmadehiman

offer

for

It.

Hisextreme

anxiety

to

get

itwayobvious

enough

to

Syloson,

whowas

inspired

to

say:

“I

am

not

sellmg

this

for

anymoney,

but

ifyou

musthave

it,

I

will

give

it 10

youfor

free.

"

Darius

thereupon

thankedhim

warmly

andtookit.

Syloron

at

themoment

merely

thought

hehadlostit

by

his

fr>olis’hgood

nature,‘

thencamethe

death

ofCamhyxes

and

therevolt

of

theseven

against

the

Magus,

and

Dariusascendedthe

throne.

Sylavon

now

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