The 48 Laws Of Power

they

hadto

spend

a

hefty

sum,

but

they

figured

they

had

managed

torid

themselvesofan
irritating

competitor.

Afewmonths

later,

though,

Gould

wasitat

again,complaining

hehadbeentreated

unfairly.

Hestarted

up

a

second
company

to

compete

withWesternUnionandits

new

acquisition.

Thesame

thinghappenedagain:

WesternUnion

bought

himouttoshut

him
up.

Soonthe

patternbegan

forthethird

time,

butnowGouldwentfor

the

jugular:

He

suddenlystaged

a

bloody

takeover

struggle

and

managed

to

gaincomplete

controlofWesternUnion.Hehadestablisheda

pattern

thathadtrickedthe

company’s

directorsinto

thinking

his

goal

wastobe

bought

outat

a

handsomerate.Once

theypaid

him

off,

they

relaxedand

failedtonoticethathewas

actuallyplaying

for

higher

stakes.The

pattern

is

powerful

inthatitdeceivestheother

person

into

expecting

the

opposite

of

what
you

are

reallydoing.

Anotlierpsychological

weaknessonwhichtoconstructa

smoke

screen

isthe

tendency

tomistake

appearances

for

reality-——thefeeling

thatifsome-

oneseemsto

belong

to

your

group,

their

belonging

mustbe

real.Thishabit

makestheseamlessblenda
very

effectivefront.Thetrickis

simple:

Yousim«

ply

blendinwiththosearound

you.

Thebetter

you

blend,

theless

suspi-

cious
you

become.

During

theColdWarofthe1950sand

’60s,

as

is

now

notorious,

a

slew

of

Britishcivilservants

passed

secrets

tothe

Soviets.

They

wentundetectedfor
years

because

they

were

apparently

decent

chaps,

had

gone

toallthe

right

schools,

andlitthe

oldvboy

network

perfectly.

Blend~

ing

inisthe

perfect

smokescreenfor

spying.

Thebetter

you

do

it,

thebet-

ter
you

canconceal

your

intentions.

Remember:

It

takes

patience

and

humility

todull

your

brilliant

colors,

to

put

onthemaskofthe

inconspicuous.

Donot

despair

at

having

towear

suchablandrnask~—itisoften

yourunreadability

thatdraws

people

to

you

andmakes

youappear

a

person

of

power.

Image:

A

Sheep’s

Skin.

A

sheep

never

marauds,

a

sheep

never

deceives,

a

sheep

is

magnificently

dumbanddocile.Witha

sheepskin

onhis

back,

afoxcan

passright

intothechicken

coop.

Authority:

Have

you

everheardofaskillful

general,

whointendsto

surprise

a

citadel,announcing

his

plan

tohis

enemy?

Conceal

your

purpose

andhide

yourprogress;

donotdisclosetheextentof

your

designs

until

they

cannotbe

opposed.

untilthecombatisover.Win

the

victory

before

you

declarethe

war.Ina

word,

imitatethose

walk

like

people

whose

designs

arenotknown

exceptby

the

ravaged

coun—

try

through

which

they

have

passed.

(Ninon

cle

Lenclos,

16234706)

LAW 3 $29