The 48 Laws Of Power

ters——t.he
person

with

willpower,

or

smarts,

or,

most

important

of

all,

charisma.Whateveritcosts
you,

lurethis

personaway,

foronceheisab-

senthis
powers

willlose

their

effect.

His

isolationcanbe

physical(banish-

ment
orabsencefrom
the

court),

political(narrowing

his

baseof

support),

or

psychological(alienating

himfromthe

group

through

slanderandin-

sinuatiun).

Cancer

begins

witha

single

cell;

exciseitbeforeit

spreads

be-

yond

cure.

KEYSTOPOWER

Inthe

past,

anentirenationwouldberuled

by

a

king

andhishandfulof

ministers.
Only

theelitehad

anypower

to

play

with.Overthe

centuries,

power

has

gradually

becomemoreandmorediffused

and

democratized.

This has
created, however,
acommon

misperception

that

groups

no

longer

havecentersof

power——-thatpower

is

spread

outandscattered

amongmanypeople.

Actually,

however,

power

has

changed

initsnum-

bersbutnotinitsessence.There

may

befewer

mightytyrants

command

ing

the

power

oflifeand

death

over

millions,

butthere

remainthousands

of

pettytyrantsruling

smaller

realms,

and

enforcing

theirwill

through

in-

direct

powergames,

charisma,

andsoon.In

every

group,

power

iscon-

centratedinthehandsofoneortwo

people,

forthisisoneareainwhich

humannaturewillnever

change:People

will

congregate

arounda

single

strongpersonality

like

planetsorbiting

asun.

Tolaborundertheillusionthatthiskindof

power

centerno

longer

existsistomakeendless

mistakes,

waste

energy

and

time,

andneverhit

the

target.

Powerful

people

neverwastetime.

Outwardlytheymayplay

along

withthe

game-—pretending

that

power

is

shared

amongmanymbut

inwardlytheykeep

their

eyes

ontheinevitablefewinthe

group

whohold

thecards.Thesearetheones

they

workon,Whentroubles

arise,

they

lookforthe

underlying

cause,

the

singlestrong

characterwhostartedthe

stirring

andwhoseisolationorbanishmentwillsettlethewaters

again.

Inhis

fami1y~therapypractice,

Dr.MiltonH.Ericksonfoundthatif

the

familydynamic

wasunsettledand

dysfunctional

therewas

inevitably

one

person

whowas

the

stirrer,

thetroublemaker.

In

hissessionshewould

symbolically

isolatethisrotten

applebyseating

himorher

apart

fromthe

others,

if

onlyby

afewfeet.

Slowly

theother

family

memberswouldsee

the

physicallyseparateperson

asthesourceoftheir

difficulty.

Once

you

recognize

who

thestirrer

is,

pointing

itout

toother

people

will

accomplish

a

great

deal.

Understanding

who

controlsthe

groupdynamic

isa

critical

realization.Remember:Stirrersthrive

byhiding

inthe

group,

disguising

theiractions

among

thereactionsofothers.Rendertheiractionsvisible

and

they

losetheir

power

to

upset.

A

key

elementin

games

of

strategy

is

isolating

the

enemy’spower.

In

chess

youtry

tocomerthe

king.

IntheChinese

game

of

goyoutry

toiso~

latethe

enemy’s

forcesinsmall

pockets,rendering

themimmobileandin-

effectual. It is often better to isolate

your

enemies than to

destroy

LAW 42 363