The 48 Laws Of Power

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72 LAW 9

Interpretation

Michelangelo

knewthat

bychanging

the

shape

ofthenosehe

might

ruin

theentire

sculpture.

YetSoderiniwasa

patron

who

prided

himselfonhis

aesthetic

judgment.

Tooffendsuchaman

byarguing

wouldnot

onlygain

Michelangelo nothing,

it would

put

future

commissions in

jeopardy.

Michelangelo

was

too clever

to

argue.

His solution

was to

change

Soden‘m"s

perspective(literallybringing

himclosertothe

nose)

without

making

himrealizethatthiswasthecauseofhis

misperception.

Fortunately

for

posterity,Michelangelo

found

a

way

to

keep

the

per

faction

ofthestatue

intactwhileatthesame

time

making

Soderinibelieve

hehad

improved

it.Suchisthedouble

power

of

winningthrough

actions

rather

than

argument:

Nooneis

offended,

and

yourpoint

is

proven.

KEYST0POWER

Intherealmof

poweryou

mustlearn

to

judgeyour

moves

by

their

long»

term

effectsonother

people.

The

problem

in

trying

to

prove

a

point

or

gain

a.

victorythroughargument

isthatintheend

you

canneverbecertain

howitaffectsthe

peopleyou’rearguing

with:

Theymayappear

to

agree

with

youpolitely,

butinside

theymay

resent

you.

Or

perhapssomething

you

said

inadvertently

evenoffendedthern—-wordshavethatinsidious

ability

tobe

interpretedaccording

totheother

person’s

moodandinsecuri-

ties.Eventhebest

argument

hasnosolid

foundation,

forwehaveallcome

todistrustthe

slippery

natureofwords.And

days

after

agreeing

withsome

one,

weofienreverttoourold

opinion

outofsheerhabit.

Understandthis:Wordsare

a

dime

a

dozen.

Everyone

knows

thatin

theheatofan

argument,

wewillall

say

anything

to

support

ourcause.We

will

quote

the

Bible,

refertounverifiablestatistics.Whocanbe

persuaded

bybags

ofairlikethat?Actionanddemonstrationaremuchmore

power-

fuland

meaningful.They

are

there,

beforeour

eyes,

forusto

see-——“Yes,

nowthe

statue’snosedoeslook

justright.”

Therearenooffensive

words,

no

possibility

of

misinterpretation.

Noonecan

argue

withademonstrated

proof.

AsBaltasarGraciim

remarks,

“Themidiis

generally

seen,

rarely

heard.”

Sir

Christopher

Wrenwas

England’s

versionoftheRenaissanceman.

He

hadmasteredthesciencesof

mathematics,

astronomy,physics,

and

physiology.

Yet

during

his

extremelylong

careeras

England’s

mostCele‘

bratedarchitecthewas oftentold

by

his

patrons

tomake

impractical

changes

inhis

designs.

Neveroncedidhe

argue

or

offend.Hehadother

ways

of

proving

his

point.

In 1688 Wren

designed

a

magnificent

townhallforthe

city

ofWest-

minster.The

mayor,

however.

wasnot

satisfied;

infacthewasnervous.He

toldWrenhewasafraidthesecond{floorwasnot

secure,

andthatitcould

all

come

crashing

downonhisofficeonthefirst

floor.Hedemandedthat

Wrenaddtwostonecolumnsforextra

support.

Wren,

theconsummateen-

gineer,

knewthatthesecolumnswouldserveno

purpose,

and thatthe