“366 Laws of Power with Insights into Human Nature and Reality”: The first law of power – never steal the limelight from your boss

I majored in Classics in college, which is the study of texts written in ancient Greek and Latin. During those days of studying, I was immersed in the ocean of knowledge of philosophy, literature and language every day. So, when I started working at Esquire (and most of my work since then has been about magazines), I had absolutely no clue how the world worked, and was amazed at how much arrogance and heart there was in the workplace. People who are full of insecurity, let alone that every corner of society is full of intriguing games and political tricks.

I was depressed about it for a while, and I vividly remember a job when I was about 26-27 years old that really affected me.

Of course, I didn’t plan to write detailed information about this company, and I don’t want everyone to search for the protagonist in the story. In short, my job at that time was to find story materials for documentaries, and my work performance was naturally determined by the number and quality of stories I found. I am a person who refuses to admit defeat, and my work performance naturally far exceeds that of all my colleagues around me. Most of the stories I found were eventually cut into documentaries. At that time, I thought to myself: “This is the meaning of my job.” We had to make a documentary and release it on schedule, and my performance at that time was actually far beyond my duties.

At this point, my supervisor suddenly told me that she was very dissatisfied with my work performance. I must be doing something wrong to make her unhappy, but I have absolutely no idea what the problem is. So I started to think differently, thinking over and over again: “What did I do to make her unhappy? My work performance is obviously very good.” Later, I finally figured it out, maybe it was because I didn’t let her participate in my work. work, tell her what I think, that I should increase his participation, and make her feel like a part of my research.

In the next few days, I will go to her office and report my thoughts to her. I wanted her to be involved with my work, thinking that was the crux of the matter, but she was still pretty upset with me. Maybe she doesn’t like me as a person, so I thought, “Then I’ll try to be kind to her, be nice to her, talk to her about things other than business.”

After formulating a strategy, I started to implement it step by step, but her attitude was still cold. Well, I think she simply doesn’t like me. This is life, you can’t expect everyone to love you, so I have to continue to accept a job. One day, people in our department were having a meeting to discuss their own ideas. I was suddenly dazed, and when she found out, she said to me: “Rob, your work attitude is very problematic.”

I asked, “What did you say?”

She said, “You’re not listening to other people at all.” I was immediately irritated, and immediately countered, “I was listening.” I told her that I was serious about my work and my performance was good, so there was no need to criticize me for listening to other people The look on your face when you speak. She continued, “No, I mean you have a problem with your attitude.”

I said, “Sorry, that’s what you think.”

In the next few weeks, she didn’t give me a good face every day, and kept holding on to my attitude problem. As a matter of course, my attitude towards her became worse and worse, and I hated her to the core. I resigned after a few weeks, but I figured they were almost ready to fire me even if I didn’t. When I got home, I thought hard for weeks trying to figure out why and what I was doing wrong. Does she really not like me? But I’m obviously a very pleasant person.

After some analysis, I finally came to the conclusion that the reason I irritated her was because I violated the first law of power: Never steal the limelight from your boss. (But I had to wait ten years later to write “The Law of the Jungle in the World of Power.”) When I entered the workforce, I was preoccupied only with putting in good grades and showing off my talents. However, while I shined, I made my boss feel threatened, thinking that I was trying to take her job or prove that I was better than her.

So it’s not her fault, it’s mine, because I violated the first law of power. When you violate the first law of power, you will inevitably suffer some hardships, because you hit other people’s self-esteem and touch their uneasy heartstrings. This is definitely a taboo in the workplace, and it is also an incident that I have experienced.

In the process of reflection, this incident also became a turning point in my life. I told myself, “I’m definitely not going to make the same mistakes again, and I’m not going to feel targeted against me, and I’m not going to get too emotional.” I made every possible mistake in this one, and I used Emotional retaliation against her indifference and hostility towards me finally led to attitude problems. I swear I won’t be in the same predicament again, I’m a writer, I have to detach myself from my work, I have to be a master at interpreting Game of Thrones; I have to be a scientist myself, and see the men and women of Game of Thrones as lab rats, Observe their behavior.

After making up my mind, I not only gained the ability to observe power games in the workplace, but also gained power by detaching myself and seeing the world with the same logic. From then on, I was no longer at the mercy of my emotions, and I was able to do things without hindrance. I wrote “The Law of the Jungle in the World of Power” from the same point of view. In the book, I wrote that the game of power is a real competition that humans must participate in: humans are social animals, and there are complex networks behind our environment. And who we are is, in some ways, entirely determined by the way we deal with our environment, our way of dealing with reality.

April 9: Fame trumps everything

In society, it can be said that appearance is the only criterion by which a person is judged. Although some people will argue that this is not the case, please don’t believe them. Any misbehavior, appearance, or sudden change in your behavior can have catastrophic consequences. Therefore, carefully maintaining the reputation you have established is definitely the first task in the key issues of life.

A good reputation can be your armor in the appearance game, and it can also divert the attention of eyes eager to see who you really are, which in turn gives you a little control over how the public judges you (it will help you a lot in this position ). The power of reputation is like magic. With just a flick of the wand, you can be empowered and people will shy away from you.

Whether the effect of the same thing is good or bad depends entirely on the reputation of the performer. That is why you should accumulate your reputation as you would gold and silver. At the beginning of establishing a reputation, you must take strict precautions and be ready to receive attacks from all sides at any time. After your reputation is established, even in the face of your opponent’s slander, don’t show any signs of anger or rush to counterattack. This will only reveal your anxiety and inferiority complex. The best thing to do is not to dance with it, and even if you have to fight back, always maintain a graceful posture in the process.

• Law of Power: Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Having a good reputation makes you not angry and arrogant, and you can win without fighting. However, once your reputation is damaged, you will be vulnerable and the crowd will turn against you. Your reputation is defined by yourself, never let others do it for you.

April 10: Words are cherished like gold, secrets are kept secret

If you do something wrong, the other party will at most remember it in your mind; if you say something wrong, the other party will engrave it in your heart.

—British adventurer Walter. Sir Walter Raleigh

When trying to wow others with words, talking too much not only makes you look mediocre, but also takes away control. Even if you speak a cliché, as long as it is deliberately unclear, obscure and reserved, the listener will find it quite new. As long as those in power abide by the rule of cherishing words like gold, they can win the hearts of the masses and make them fearful. What’s more, chatty people often say some stupid things without realizing it.

• The Law of Power: Cherishing words like gold can create the illusion of far-reaching meaning and power. Saving words also has the added benefit of not suddenly saying something stupid or catastrophic.