The 48 Laws Of Power

creating

interestmeant

creating

a

crowd;

as

he

later

wrote,

“Every

crowd

hasasilver

lining.”

Andcrowdstendtoactin

conjunction.

Ifone

person

stops

tosee

yourbeggarmanlaying

bricksinthe

street,

morewilldothe

same.

They

will

gather

likedustbunnies.

Then,

given

a

gentlepush,they

willenter
your

museumorwatch

your

show.Tocreateacrowd

you

haveto

do

something

differentandodd.

Any

kindof

curiosity

willservethe

pur-

pose,

forcrowds

are

magnetically

attracted

by

theunusualand

inexplica-

ble.Andonce
you

havetheir

attention,

neverletit

go.

Ifitveerstoward

other

people,

itdoessoat

yourexpense.

Barnumwould

ruthlessly

suckat~

tentionfromhis

competitors,

knowing

whatavaluable

commodity

itis.

Atthe

beginning

of

your

risetothe

top,

then,

spend

all

yourenergy

on

attracting

attention.Most

important:

The

quality

oftheattentionisirrele

vant.Nomatterhow

badly

hisshowswere

reviewed,

orhow

slanderously

personal

weretheattacksonhis

hoaxes,

Barnumwouldnever

complain.

If

a

newspaper

criticreviledhim

particularlybadly,

in

fact,

hemadesureto

invitethemantoan

opening

andto

give

himthebestseatinthehouse.He

wouldevenwrite

anonymous

attacksonhisown

work,

just

to

keep

his

name

in

the

papers.

FromBamum’s

vantage,

attentionwwhether

negative

or

positive——was

themain

ingredient

ofhissuccess.Theworstfateinthe

worldforamanwho

yearns

fame,

glory,

and,

of

course,

power

istobe

ignored.

Ifthe

cou.m'er

happens

to

engage

inarmsinsome

publicspectacle

suchas

jausting

. ..hewillensurethatthehomehehasis

beautifully

caparisoned,

thathe

himselfissuitably

attired,

with

appropriate

mentorsand

ingenious

minestoattractthe

eyesqfthe

onlookers

inhis

direction

as

surely

astheladeswneattractsiron.

Halzlr1.s.wn>

(Irz.tl2T,grli01zr2,

I

4

7

8-

I 529

KEYSTOPOWER

Burning

more

brightly

thanthosearound

you

isaskillthatnoone

is

born

with.Youhavetolearntoattract

attention,

“as

surely

asthelodestoneat~

tractsiron.”Atthestartof

your

career,

you

mustattach

your

nameand

rep-

utationtoa

quality,

an

image,

thatsets

youapart

fromother

people.

This

image

canbe

something

likeacharacteristic

style

of

dress,

ora

personality

quirk

that

amuses

people

and

gets

talkedabout.Oncethe

image

isestalr

lished,

you

havean

appearance,

a

place

inthe

sky

for

your

star.

Itisacommonmistaketo

imagine

thatthis

peculiarappearance

of

yours

shouldnotbe

controversial,

thattobeattackedissomehowbad.

Nothing

couldbefurtherfromthetruth.Toavoid

being

aflashinthe

pan,

and

havingyournotorietyeclipsedby

another,

you

mustnot

discriminate

betweendifferent

types

of

attention;

inthe

end,

every

kindwillworkin

your

favor.

Barnum,

wehave

seen,

welcomed

personal

attacksandfelt

noneedtodefendhimself.He

deliberately

courtedthe

image

of

being

a

humbug.

reports

(/1111(}r7s'sa<'rr

attractedtheattention

ofljmpumr

Clmrlcs

V

by

wearing

ufamu.v1it‘

paper

<,'()si‘1un:e.In

doing

so

hewas

adopt»

mg

thetacticstl.$‘€(/

by

Di:zocrr1Ie.s'.who.in

orderto

gain

(ZC(‘L’.l‘S'In

AltczmmlertheGreat.is

suit!tohave

appeared

di.rgL1isc(1

asthermkt-cf

Ht'r.':ule.xwlzmthe

monarchwas

xittizzg

in

jzrdgnzciiz.

!‘H§€

<,‘()UR’l’mrris‘i‘.

MARTINVVARNKE.

l993

LAW6

.1

47