The 48 Laws Of Power

LAW 6

ThecourtofLouisXIVcontained

many

talented

writers,artists,

great

beauties,

andmenandwomenof

impeccable

virtue,

butnoonewasmore

talkedaboutthanthe

singular

DuedeLauzun.Thedukewas

short,

almost

dwarfish,

andhewas

prone

tothe

mostinsolentkindsofbehavior-—he

slept

withthe

king’s

mistress,

and

openly

insultednot

only

othercourtiers

butthe

king

himself.

Louis,however,

wasso

beguiledby

the

duke’s

eccen~

tricitiesthathecouldnotbeathisabsencesfromthecourt.Itwas

simple:

The

strangeness

oftheduke’scharacterattractedattention.Once

people

wereenthralled

by

him,

they

wantedhim

around

at

any

cost.

Society

craves

larger-than-lifefigures, people

whostandabovethe

general

mediocrity.

Neverbe

afraid,then,

ofthe

qualities

thatset

youapart

anddrawattentionto

you.

Court

controversy,

evenscandal.Itisbetterto

be

attacked,

even

slandered,

than

ignored.

All

professions

areruled

by

this

law,

andall

professionals

musthaveabitoftheshowmanaboutthem.

The

great

scientistThomasEdisonknewthattoraise

money

hehadto

remaininthe

publiceye

at

any

cost.Almostas

important

asthe

inventions

themselveswashowhe

presented

themtothe

public

andcourtedattention.

Edisonwould

designw'sual1ydazzlingexperiments

to

display

hisdis~

coverieswith

electricity.

He

would

talkoffutureinventionsthatseemed

fantastic

at

the

time-—robots,

and machines that could

photograph

thought—-and

thathehadnointentionof

wasting

his

energy

on,

butthat

madethe

public

talkabouthim.Hedid

everything

hecouldtomakesure

thathereceivedmoreattentionthanhis

great

rivalNikola

Tesla,

who

may

actually

havebeenmorebrilliantthanhewasbutwhosenamewasfarless

known.In

1915,

itwasrumoredthatEdison

andTesla

wouldbe

jointrecip-

ientsofthat

year’s

NobelPrizein

physics.

The

prize

was

eventuallygiven

to

a

pair

of

Englishphysicists;only

laterwasitdiscoveredthatthe

prize

com-

mitteehad

actuallyapproached

Edison,

buthehadturnedthem

down,

re-v

fusing

tosharethe

prize

withTesla.

By

thattimehisfamewasmoresecure

than

Tesla’s,

and

he

thought

it

bettertorefusethe

honorthanto

allowhis

rivaltheattentionthatwouldhavecomeevenfrom

sharing

the

prize.

If

you

find

yourself

ina

lowlyposition

thatofferslittle

opportunity

for

you

todraw

attention,

aneffectivetrickistoattackthemost

visible,

most

famous,

most

powerfulpersonyou

canfind.WhenPietro

Aretino,

a

young

Roman

servant

boy

ofthe

early

sixteenth

century,

wantedto

get

attention

asawriterof

verses,

hedecidedto

publish

aseriesof

satirical

poems

rid}

culing

the

pope

andhisaffectionfora

petelephant.

Theattack

put

Aretino

inthe

publiceyeimmediately.

Aslanderousattackona

person

ina

posi-

tionof

power

wouldhaveasimilareffect.

Remember,however,

tousesuch

tactics

sparingly

after

you

havethe

public’s

attention,

whentheactcan

wearthin.

Onceinthe

limelightyou

must

constantly

renewit

byadapting

and

varyingyour

methodof

courting

attention.If

you

don’t,

the

public

will

grow

tired,

willtake

you

for

granted,

andwillmoveontoanewerstar.The

gamerequires

constant

vigilance

and

creativity.

PabloPicassoneveral

lowedhimselftofadeintothe

background;

if

hisnamebecametooat