Observance of the Law is also a historical story, but this time of a person who observed the law and the rewards reaped from doing so.įinally is Keys to Power. Transgression of the Law, the third section, is usually a historical story about someone who failed to observe the law, and an interpretation of how that person could have saved himself from the consequences of the transgression. Then follows Judgment, a brief, 2-3 sentence interpretation of the law. First is the Law, a one-sentence statement of how to behave. A chapter will focus on one of the 48 laws, and each is composed of 5 subsections. It is not concerned in the least with morality.Įach chapter is only a few pages, and the book can easily be dipped into now and again, rather than read from front to back. At its core, the book attempts the same thing Machiavelli’s book attempts: to describe how to get and keep power. Robert Greene has been called “a modern Machiavelli” primarily because of his cult classic, The 48 Laws of Power. It is a device that the powerful have used for centuries.' 'You sometimes need to strike without warning, to make others tremble when they least expect it. 'Keep others in suspended terror: cultivate an air of unpredictability…. Then he stood up, picked up the report, slammed it down on the table and said simply, “F**k!” It was a performance I will never forget. When the hapless manager finished his report, the executive glared at him across the table for a few seconds. He asked the manager for his quarterly numbers, though he already knew them. When the other people arrived, including the manager of the aforementioned department, he called the meeting to order. He listened, then nodded silently about the bad numbers.

Early in my career, an executive arrived early to a meeting and asked one of the finance people for a department’s quarterly numbers.

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