The 48 Laws Of Power

42 LAW
5

cessof

HenryKissinger‘s

shuttle

diplomacy

restedonhis

reputation

for

ironing

out

differences;

noonewantedtobeseenassounreasonablethat

Kissinger

couldnot

sway

him.A

peacetreaty

seemedafait

accompli

as

soonas

Kissinger’s

namebecameinvolvedinthe

negotiations.

Make

yourreputationsimple

andbase

it

onone

sterlingquality.

This

singlequality—-efiiciency,say,

orseductiveness-—becomesakindof

calling

cardthatannounces

yourpresence

and

places

othersundera

spell.

A

repu-

tationfor

honesty

willallow

you

to

practice

allmanner of

deception.

Casanovausedhis

reputation

asa

great

seducer

to

pave

the

way

forhisfu-

ture

conquests;

womenwhohadheardofhis

powers

became

immensely

curious,

andwantedtodiscoverforthemselveswhathadmadehimsoro-

mantically

successful.

Perhapsyou

have

already

stained

yourreputation,

sothat

you

are

pre-

ventedfrom

establishing

anewone.Insuchcasesitiswisetoassociate

withsomeonewhose

image

counteracts

your

own,

using

their

good

name

towhitewashandelevate

yours.

Itis

hard,

for

example,

toerasea

reputa-

tionfor

dishonestybyyourself;

buta

paragon

of

honesty

can

help.

‘Nixon

P.T.Barnumwantedtoclean

up

a

reputation

for

promotingvulgar

enter-

tainment,

he

brought

the

singerjenny

Lindoverfrom

Europe.

Shehada

stellar,

high—classreputation,

andtheAmerican

tour

Bamum

sponsored

for

her

greatly

enhancedhisown

image.Similarly

the

great

robberbaronsof

nineteentlrcentury

Americawere

long

unabletoridthemselvesofa

repu-

tationfor

cruelty

and

mean-spiritedness.Only

when

theybegancollecting

art,

sothatthenamesof

Morgan

andFrick

became

permanently

associated

withthoseofdaVinciand

Rembrandt,

were

they

abletosoften

their

un-

pleasantimage.

Reputation

isatreasuretobe

carefully

collectedandhoarded.

Espe-

cially

when

you

arefirst

establishing

it,

you

must

protect

it

strictly,

antici-

pating

allattacksonit.Onceitis

solid,

donotlet

yourselfgetangry

or

defensive

at

theslanderouscommentsof

your

enemies—thatrevealsinse-

curity,

notconfidencein

yourreputation.

Take

the

high

road

instead,

and

never

appeardesperate

in

your

self—defense.Ontheother

hand,

anattack

onanotherman’s

reputation

isa

potentweapon,particularly

when

you

haveless

power

thanhe

does.He

hasmuchmoretolosein

such

a

battle,

and

your

own

thus~far-smallreputation

gives

hima.small

target

whenhe

triestoreturn

your

fire.Bamumusedsuch

campaigns

to

geat

effectinhis

early

career.Butthistacticmustbe

practiced

with

skill;

you

mustnotseem

to

engage

in

pettyvengeance.

If

you

donotbreak

yourenemy’sreputation

cleverly,you

will

inadvertently

ruin

your

own.

Thomas

Edison,

consideredtheinventorwhoharnessed

electricity,

believedthataworkable

system

wouldhavetobebasedondirectcur-

rent

(DC).

WhentheSerbianscientistNikolaTesla

appeared

tohavesuc-

ceededin

creating

a

system

basedon

alternating

current

(AC),

Edisonwas

furious.Hedetermined

toruinTesla’s

reputation,bymaking

the

public

be-

lievethattheAC

system

was

inherently

unsafe,

and

Tesla

irresponsible

in

promoting

it.

Tothisendhe

captured

allkindsofhousehold

pets

andelectrocuted