Get Others to Do the Work for You, but Always Take the Credit
The world of business involves numerous pitfalls and intricate connections that can either increase one’s chances for success or eliminate them. Among such things, there is the ability to exploit other’s labor in one’s own interests. “Never do yourself what others can do for you” is Greene’s advice, and it is impossible not to agree with its reasonableness (56). Those who strive for leading positions have to perform many functions at once, and this multitasking ability is not limited to only professional duties. The skill of using somebody else’s achievements to one’s benefit has a high potential for increasing the professional growth opportunities.
My friend, Ron, used to work in an IT organization with many departments and a hierarchical form of professional relationships. That is, if one’s performance was high, it was quite easy for that person to get promoted and move to the next level of the ladder. A few months ago, a new man, Daniel, was hired to work in Ron’s division. Danny soon became Ron’s good friend, and they would spend much time together not only at work but also after it. Frequently, Danny asked Ron about the specifications of their work, and Ron gladly answered his questions and even shared his ideas on the improvement of some systems’ efficiency. Very soon, Ron heard that Danny received a promotion about which Ron had dreamt for several years. He was happy for his new friend, but he could not understand why he was not the one to get a position.
As it appeared later, Danny was not only a careful but also a sly individual. All the time that he spent communicating with Ron he kept notes of Ron’s ideas and presented them to the manager as his own. As a result, the cunning helped Danny to obtain a higher position. He used the law of taking the credit for the work done by others. As for Ron, he learned his lesson and was rather careful when exchanging ideas with strangers.
Learn to Keep People Dependent on You
Interpersonal communication is a complicated process incorporating numerous features. One of such characteristics is learning how not to become a victim of someone’s maneuvering. At the same time, learning how to pull wires to make people depend on you “for their happiness and prosperity” (Greene 82). I have an acquaintance who used to be a victim of such a trick for many years. Jeremy, my ex-neighbor, had lost his mother when he was five years old. Since then, his father solely took care of his son. Every time the man did something, from preparing breakfast to paying for holidays, he said, “All you have in this life, you have because of me. Without me, you are nothing, and you have nothing.”
Jeremy grew up an extremely introverted and self-effacing, being afraid to even ask his father for new toys or books. The boy constantly felt the fear of being not good enough to justify his father’s huge efforts. He rarely went out to play with his peers, and we used to think that he was arrogant. However, later, we realized that he was too shy to play because his father always repeated that the boy was worth nothing. Jeremy did all the work about the house when he was a teenager: he vacuumed and mopped floors, watered flowers, washed the dishes, and looked after three dogs that his father had bought. And even then, when he was doing all those chores, his father managed to control him. By then, the motto turned to “You know how to do all of these things only thanks to me, only because I taught you how to do them.”
Jeremy was convinced that he could do nothing without his father up to the moment when he met his girlfriend. She restored his faith in himself and persuaded him to enter a college far from his native town. Needless to say, he never returned to the place where his father used to torture him psychologically for many years. However, the father’s method of keeping Jeremy dependent on him proved to be rather successful.
When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest, Never to Their Mercy or Gratitude
The ability to help others and sympathize with them is what makes us humans. However, it is not always easy to obtain support from someone merely by explaining the reasons for it and calling upon their benevolence or gratefulness. Frequently, in order to receive the desired and so much needed help, we need to resort to creative methods of asking. One of such approaches, which Greene considers as highly successful, is showing people that they will gain something for themselves by helping you (95). Indeed, it would be unwise to think that someone will want to help you because they like you or because they want to perform some good deed. Usually, the reason why one individual decides to be nice to another is because of looking for some profit in the cooperation.
My cousin, Kelly, lives in an urban area, but she has always loved trees and flowers that prevail in the countryside. A few years ago, she noticed that a piece of land close to her house was neglected. She came up with the idea of turning it into a small park with trees, bushes, and flowers. Upon receiving the approval of the city council, Kelly asked several male neighbors to help her with working on the land. However, each of them found some reason for refusal – most frequently, their excuse was that they did not spend much time outdoors. Then, Kelly decided to change her tactics and approached mothers of young children. She explained that they could create a small park with a playground and benches and surround them with trees to have shade in summer. The second idea was supported with much more enthusiasm, and the women made their husbands help Kelly. Mutual efforts of the neighbors led to the creation of a beautiful recreational zone, which would have never been arranged if Kelly had not followed the law on how to ask for help correctly.
Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy
When you secretly follow somebody, when you learn their secrets and can count their movements several steps forward, it gives you a priority that can turn into something highly valuable in business affairs, as well as in other spheres of human interaction. Collecting data that can let you “keep a step ahead” is undoubtedly a useful card you can play whenever necessary (Greene 101). I remember a story my friend told me about being a spy for a sports center. It was an incredibly impressive adventure that resulted in a bonus for the friend and a loss of the workplace for a gym’s employee.
My good friend, Alisha, takes care of her body by eating healthy food and working out four times a week. That is why the choice of a gym was a rather important question for her when she moved to a new location. The manager of the sports center noticed how hardworking Alisha was and offered her a deal. She was to observe the conscientiousness of one employee in another gym owned by the same person, and he would grant her a discount on their services if she helped him to catch the worker red-handed. It had been known for some time that the employee was selling sports nutrition that regular customers were to receive for free. Alisha was to join the gym as a new customer and ask for the nutrition supplement after the first five visits.
Just as the owner expected, the employee told Alisha that the duration of the free program ended, and she was to pay the full sum for the vitamins. She recorded the conversation and gave it to the owner of the gym chain. The dishonest worker got fired, and Alisha received a large discount on the gym’s services. That is how the law of posing as a friend but working as a spy worked for my friend.
Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor
The issues of respect and honor are relevant to people operating in various spheres irrespective of age. In my life, the most prominent example of exploiting one’s power to manipulate individuals was observed at school. We had a radio station, and no one knew who was working there. It was a boy, but we did not know his name or what form he was in. He always sounded so cool that everyone assumed it was one of the senior class boys who were very handsome and athletic. Whatever tricks students tried, they never managed to catch that person, and his identity remained a mystery for several years.
Once, the radio announcer informed us that the programs would not be aired for several weeks. We were quite disappointed because we got used to the good humor and popular music that he always used to make our breaks more fun. However, since nobody knew who the person was, we could not understand what had happened and why he would be absent. At the same time, my classmate, a shy girl who was never noticed in anyone’s company, was missing from school. Our class teacher told us that Isa was seriously ill, and she had to stay at a hospital for about a month. Together with several other students, I went to call on her, cheer her up, and share the latest news.
Our visit to Isa started as it usually does with schoolchildren: we tried to make some jokes and averted our eyes from numerous tubes and monitors in the ward. However, at some point, Isa asked, “Hey, are there any news on the school radio?” We were about to reply that the announcer was absent, and then we noticed a sparkle of laughter in Isa’s eyes. We were shocked at finding out that all of that time Isa had been altering her voice with the help of a computer program to remain invisible. She gained her reputation by creating “value through scarcity” (Greene 115).
Work Cited
Greene, Robert. The 48 Laws of Power. Profile Books, 2000.