The 48 Laws Of Power

Inthesixteenth

century,Portuguese

missionariestriedfor

years

tocon

vertthe

peopleofjapan

to

Catholicism,

whileatthesametime

Portugal

hada

monopoly

ontradebetween

japan

and

Europe.Although

themis-

sionariesdidhavesome

success,

they

never

got

far

among

the

ruling

elite;

by

the

beginning

oftheseventeenth

century,

in

fact,

their

proselytizing

had

completelyantagonized

the

JapaneseemperorIeyasu.

WhentheDutch

began

to

arrivein

japan

in

great

numbers,

Ieyasu

wasmuch

relieved.

He

needed

Europeans

fortheirknow-howin

guns

and

navigation,

andhereat

lastwere

Europeans

whocared

nothing

for

spreadingreligion——the

Dutch

wanted

only

totrade.

Ieyasuswiftly

movedtoevictthe

Portuguese.

From

then

on,

he

would

only

dealwiththe

practicalminded

Dutch.

Japan

andHollandwere

vastly

different

cultures,

buteach

shared

a

timelessanduniversalconcern:selfiinterest.

Everypersonyou

dealwithis

likeanother

culuire,

analienlandwitha

past

thathas

nothing

todowith

yours.

Yet

you

can

bypass

thedifferencesbetween

you

andhim

byappeal-

ing

tohisself—interest.Donotbesubtle:Youhavevaluable

knowledge

to

share,

you

willfillhiscofferswith

gold,you

willmakehimlive

longer

and

happier.

This

isa

language

thatallofus

speak

andunderstand.

A

keystep

inthe

process

istounderstandtheother

person’spsychol~

ogy.

Ishevain?Isheconcernedabouthis

reputation

orhissocial

standing?

Doeshehave

enemies

you

could

help

him

vanquish?

Ishe

simply

mod»

vated

bymoney

and

power?

Whenthe

Mongols

invadedChinainthe

twelfth

century,they

threab

erredtoobliterateaculturethathadthrivedforovertwothousand

years.

Their

leader,

Genghis

Khan,

saw

nothing

inChina.buta

country

that

lacked

pasturing

forhis

horses,

andhedecidedto

destroy

the

place,

IeveI~

ing

all

its

cities,

for“it

wouldbebetter

to

exterminatetheChinese

andlet

the

grassgrow.”

Itwasnota

soldier,

a.

general,

ora

king

whosavedthe

Chinesefrom

devastation,

butamannamedYeluCh’u—Ts’ai.A

foreigner

himself,

Ch’u«Ts’aihadcometo

appreciate

the

superiority

ofChinesecul-

ture.He

managed

tomakehimselfatrustedadviserto

Genghis

Khan,

and

persuaded

himthathewould

reap

richesoutofthe

place

if,

insteadofde

straying

it,

he

simply

taxed

everyone

wholivedthere.Khansawthewis-

dominthisanddidasCh’u—Ts‘a.iadvised.

WhenKhantookthe

city

of

Kaifeng,

aftera

longsiege,

anddecidedto

massaxtre

itsinhabitants

(as

he

hadin

other

citiesthathadresisted

him),

Ch’u~Ts’ai

toldhim

thatthefinestcraftsmenand

engineers

in

Chinahad

fled

to

Kaifeng,

and

it

would

be

better

to

put

themtouse.

Kaifeng

was

spared.

Neverbeforehad

Genghis

Khanshownsuch

mercy,

butthenit

really

wasn’t

mercy

thatsaved

Kaifeng.

Ch‘u—Ts’aiknewKhanwell.Hewas

abarbaric

peasant

whocared

nothing

for

culuire,

orindeedfor

anything

otherthan

warfare

and

practical

results.Ch’u—Ts’ai

choseto

appeal

tothe

only

emotionthatwouldworkonsuchaman:

greed.

Self-interestistheleverthatwillmove

people.

Once

you

makethem

seehow

you

caninsome

way

meettheirneedsoradvancetheir

cause,

theirresistance

to

yourrequests

for

help

will

magically

fall

away.

Ateach

step

onthe

way

to

acquiringpower,you

musttrain

yourself

tothink

your

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