The 48 Laws Of Power

354 LAW 41

areasinculturethathavebeenleftvacantandinwhich

you

canbecome

thefirstand

principalfigure

toshine.

WhenPericlesofAthenswasabouttolaunch

acareer

as

a

statesman,

helookedfortheone

thing

thatwas

missing

inAthenian

politics.

Mostof

the

greatpoliticians

ofhistimehadalliedthemselveswiththe

aristocracy;

indeedPericleshimselfhadaristocratictendencies.Yethedecidedtothrow

inhishatwiththe

city’s

democraticelements.Thechoicehad

nothing

to

dowithhis

personal

beliefs,

butitlaunchedhimonabrilliantcareer.Out

of

necessity

hebecameamanofthe

people.

Insteadof

compefing

inan

arenafilledwith

great

leadersboth

past

and

present,

hewouldmakea

nameforhimselfwherenoshadowscouldobscurehis

presence.

Whenthe

painterDiego

de

Velazquezbegan

his

career,

heknewhe

couldnot

compete

inrefinementand

technique

withthe

great

Renaissance

painters

whohadcomebeforehim.Insteadhechosetoworkina

style

that

by

thestandardsofthetimeseemedcoarseand

rough,

ina

way

thathad

neverbeenseenbefore.Andinthis

style

heexcelled.Thereweremem-

bersofthe

Spanish

courtwhowantedtodemonstratetheirownbreakwith

the

past;

thenewnessof

Velé.zquez’sstyle

thrilledthem.Most

people

are

afraidtobreakso

boldly

with

tradition,

but

they

secretly

admirethosewho

canbreak

up

theoldformsand

reinvigorate

theculture.Thisis

why

there

issomuch

power

tobe

gained

from

entering

vacuumsandvoids.

There

isakindof

stubborn

stupidity

thatrecurs

throughouthistory,

andisa

strongimpediment

to

power:

The

superstitious

beliefthatifthe

person

before

you

succeeded

bydoing

A,B,

and

C,

you

can

re-createtheir

success

bydoing

thesame

thing.

Thiscookie-cutter

approach

willseduce

the

uncreative,

foritis

easy,

and

appeals

totheir

timidity

andtheirlaziness.

Butcircumstancesnever

repeat

themselves

exactly.

WhenGeneral

Douglas

MacArthurassumedcommand

of

American

forcesinthe

Philippinesduring

WorldWar

II,

anassistanthandedhima

book

containing

thevarious

precedents

established

by

thecommanders

before

him,

themethodsthat hadbeensuccessfulforthem.MacArthur

askedtheassistanthow

manycopies

therewereofthisbook.

Six,

theassis-

tantanswered.

“Well,”

the

generalreplied,“youget

allthosesix

copies

to-

gether

and burn

them—-every

one of them. I’ll not be

‘bound

by

precedents.

Any

timea

problem

comes

up,

I’llmake thedecisionat

once—immediately.”Adopt

thisruthless

strategy

towardthe

past:

Bumall

the

books,

and

train

yourself

toreacttocircumstances

as

theyhappen.

You

may

believe

that

you

have

separatedyourself

fromthe

predeces

sororfather

figure,

butas

yougrow

older

you

mustbe

eternallyvigilant

lest

you

becomethefather

you

hadrebelled

against.

Asa

young

man,

Mao

Tse-tung

dislikedhisfatherandinthe

struggleagainst

himfoundhisown

identity

andanewsetofvalues.But

as

he

aged,

hisfather’s

wayscrept

back

in.Mao’sfather

had

valuedmanualwork

over

intellect;

Maohadscoffedat

thisasa

young

man,

butashe

grew

olderhe

unconsciously

returnedtohis

father’sviewsandechoedsuchoutdatedideas

by

forcing

awhole

genera.»

tionofChineseintellectualsintomanual

labor,

a

nightmarish

mistakethat