I read Robert Greene's 48 Laws of Power in my fifties, and the first thing I thought was, "I wish I'd read this in my twenties." I agree with every single law. Not philosophically, but practically. I've lived through enough to prove each one.
But here's the thing. My naïveté might have been the best asset I had.
I got on a plane at 21 with my saxophone and not much else. No network. No roadmap. No fallback. No clue how the world actually worked. What I had was a set of values from my mother, my teachers, and my friends. And I was completely unaware that there was a set of rules I needed to follow to get ahead, because I didn't know what they were.
That turned out to be worth more than I realized.
In my first year in the business, I had a client who was dead set on buying a project to develop downtown. I walked every block, tracked down the owner of a commercial building I thought looked nice, and called his office. His assistant answered. I told her I had someone interested in buying the building. "It's not for sale." Slam.
I called back. "I think we got disconnected."
"We did not get disconnected. Mr. Lawrence is not interested in selling the building." Slam.
I called back again. "Excuse me, may I please speak to Mr. Lawrence?"
"No!" Slam.
Okay. This wasn't going to work over the phone. So I found his office and politely walked in. The assistant looked up, heard my accent, and I still remember the glare. "Get out! Mr. Lawrence does not want to sell his building!"
At which point the door behind her opened, and out came Mr. Lawrence himself, wondering what the hell was going on. I apologized and told him I just wanted him to know I had someone who wanted to buy his building.
"How much?"
"Twelve million."
We closed two months later.
It was the biggest deal downtown that year, and the commission check was $240,000. More money than I had ever made from every wedding gig, club date, Saturday night bartending shift, and rental deal, in my life. Combined.
We closed two months later.
It was the biggest deal downtown that year, and the commission check was $240,000. More money than I had ever made from every wedding gig, club date, Saturday night bartending shift, and rental deal, in my life. Combined.
At the time, I didn't think I was being pushy. In South Africa, it would have been considered disrespectful to your client not to try your best to get the deal done. I didn't know there was a rule about how many times you could call, or that walking into someone's office unannounced was supposed to be off-limits. I just knew my client wanted the building, and the owner hadn't actually said no. His assistant had.
Sometimes, the person who doesn't know it can't be done is the most dangerous person in the room. They haven't learned where the ceiling is, so they keep reaching. They haven't been told which doors are closed, so they knock on all of them. They don't know they're supposed to wait their turn.
I've watched more people fail from the opposite problem. Anchored to family legacy, weighed down by expectation, trying to live up to a table already laid for them. There's a particular kind of paralysis that comes from having something to protect rather than something to build.
When you have nothing to lose, and you're hungry and a little naive, you don't actually need much. A guiding light. A belief that you can do it.
The willingness to find out what happens next.
The laws are real. Greene got that right. But sometimes not knowing them is the real edge.
Let’s do this!
Shaun