One of the best books I've ever read was Robert Greene's "The 48 Laws of Power." Not because it was inspiring or enjoyable but because it was a dose of reality. I didn't enjoy reading it, but I learned more from this book about how the world works than from any other. This book is a must-read for anyone like me—an idealist, optimist, dreamer, or someone who naively believes that people will treat you the way you treat them.
Forget about all 48 Laws; I knew from the first chapter that I had much to learn. Right out of the gate, I realized I had broken Law 1, which states, "Never Outshine The Master." In other words, always make those above you feel comfortably superior. Every time I've broken this rule, it has been very costly. I had the naive impression that people often hired me for my expertise or creativity, which is true as long as the ideas and the credit for those ideas are theirs. The second I pushed back or stood my ground, I lost the war because I never navigated the battle.
I was eager to share with my wife the first rule and get her take on it. Her reaction was not what I expected. She just laughed. She said, "Shaun, every woman who has ever worked in corporate America knows this. It is how we navigate our every day. Tiptoeing around all the fragile egos is exhausting. Women don't really have time to contemplate our hurt feelings and navigate the dick contests when we have deadlines to finish and kids to get to soccer practice. I don't need to win. I need to get shit done."
She used an interesting word - navigate. Navigating the "master" is different from "bowing" to him.
Two experts in artificial bowing are my fellow ex-pats, Elon Musk and David Sacks. Donating $45M a month to a political campaign to buy the leader will get you a windfall should the election go your way. Again, I naively thought politics was about morals and values, but I’m pretty sure neither Musk nor Sacks have any morals or values. So they will bow to the master and sell their souls for more money, and I think they are totally cool with that.
Real estate is often the same. Many successful agents and developers have no problem bullshitting at any cost to close a deal. I have seen people lie, cheat, and steal more times than I can count. They will bow to the master to get the deal done. And for them, it works. What is shocking to me is that these SAME people do it all the time and no one seems to care, they still get hired because they tell the master whatever they want to hear.
Somehow, I can't do it. Maybe it’s my pride or maybe it’s my values. I’m not sure. But what I can do is learn to navigate better. I can still hold on to my morals and values, and some pride, and do my best to do right by people while also getting shit done. It may not work for every "master," but it will work for those worth it. It might take more time and earn me less money, but I'm ok with that.
Let's do this.
Shaun