48 Laws of Power - Be Careful With It!
When I started working at big consulting firms, I was naive like everybody would be. I set out to figure out how to succeed there. I already had developed the mental model to treat my career like a game--figure out the rules, and then play it better than anyone else.
After getting promoted a couple of times, I started rubbing up against the corporate politics. Hmm, OK, this is new, I guess I'll have to learn that too. Big consulting firms actually operate like a bunch of little fiefdoms, with partners that run different practice areas or industry groups, and most partners have their "favorites" and treat them better than anyone else. I saw that if you wanted to do well, you needed to be part of one of those groups.
I was lucky enough to naturally fall into one pretty early on, without even trying. But one day I got staffed on a project out in the middle of nowhere, the kind of project NOBODY wanted to be on. It was only for a few weeks, I was there to fill in while someone else went on vacation. So off I went for my "temporary" assignment.
After that finished, I got a call saying the project manager wanted me back, this time long term. I said no. But that wasn't the end of it. Then I got a call from my partner, the guy who was looking after my career. He said this client wants me back and the CLIENT requested me, BY NAME.
I knew that was BS. I hardly saw the person who supposedly requested me. I knew right away, this was a game that project manager was playing. But he was playing it well--it is very hard to say no to a client, the one who is paying our invoices. So--back I went.
At first, I felt manipulated. Cheated. How dare he do this to me! But as time went on, I observed that this project manager was a MASTER at persuasion. Better than anyone I had ever seen. And I could never have guessed what he would do next.
We had talked enough that he knew I was engaged to be married, and that my fiance, who worked at a different consulting firm, was going to be interviewing to join my firm. It just so happened that the group she was trying to join was the one this project manager worked in.
He arranged to BE one of the people who interviewed her. What do you know, she got hired (she was well qualified, probably would have been hired anyway). Then, he staffed her--at that very same client!
So now, instead of grumbling about being stuck in some little rural town, I was in that rural town WITH my fiance, while we planned our wedding in our off hours.
Man, that guy was a genius. He took the time to work out now only how to get me onto his project, but how to make me happy to be there!
Later on in my career I worked with similar types of people, but I wanted to now, so I could learn these techniques, up close and personal. And I did.
But through all the business books and personal improvement books I had read which were many, I had never seen anything that taught these valuable persuasion and political techniques.
That is, until one day I ran across the book 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. As I read through that book, I kept recognizing things I had learned, and I knew they were correct, they worked, and that they were powerful.
I have since recommended that book to many of my colleagues and friends. If you want to understand how to see and navigate corporate politics, THIS is the book to read.
But it comes with a stern warning, that I always give to anyone before recommending the book. These are like power tools--powerful, but also dangerous. Someone with no experience and skill cannot just read a chapter and then go do it successfully. It still takes practice, and can easily backfire.
So I will pass on this recommendation to you, with the same warning. If you have been in a corporate environment with a lot of politics (or even the actual politics we see in Washington), you will recognize many of these techniques when you read them. It will help you see them when these games are being played around you. And that is how to start, don't immediatetly try to apply the techniques, just watch while others do it.
Once you think you really understand the ins and outs of it and think you can avoid the pitfalls, then give some of it a try, but preferably in a low stakes situation. Mastering these techniques is an art form and takes a long time, but it's well worth it.
I will be posting about some of the specific techniques from 48 Laws of Power here in more detail for supporters, but I wanted to provide this introduction first.
