48 tips to become more powerful - PART 7

(1) CREATE COMPELLING SPECTACLES.
Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the aura of power — everyone responds to them. Stage spectacles for those around you, then, full of arresting visuals and raiding symbols that heighten your presence. Dazzled by appearances, no one will notice what you are really doing.

(2) THINK AS YOU LIKE BUT BEHAVE LIKE OTHERS.
If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox way, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them. They will find away to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness.

(3) STIR UP WATERS TO CATCH FISH.
Anger and emotion are strategically counterproductive. You must always stay calm and objective. But if you can make your enemies angry by staying calm yourself, you gain a decided advantage. Put your enemies off-balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you can rattle them and you hold the strings.

(4) DESPISE THE FREE LUNCH.
What is offered for free is dangerous — it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. What has worth is worth paying for. By paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude, guilt and deceit. It is also often wise to pay the full price — there is no cutting corners with excellence. Be lavish with your money and keep it circulating, for generosity is a sign and a magnet for power.

(5) AVOID STEPPING INTO A GREAT MAN'S SHOES.
What happens first always appears better and more original than what comes after. If you succeed a great man or have a famous parent, you will have to accomplish double their achievements to outshine them. Do not get lost in their shadow, or stuck in a past not of your own making: Establish your own name and identity by changing course. Slay the overbearing father, disparage his legacy, and gain power by shining in your own way.

(6) STRIKE THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP WILL SCATTER.
Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual — the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoner of goodwill. If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence. Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them — they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them. Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter.