Ini completely copotan dari buku yang berjudul The 48 Laws of Power yang ditulis oleh Robert Greene. Konon dateng dari pengamatan terhadap lebih dari 3000 tahun sejarah peradaban manusia.
Cuman kalo saya sih nggak terlalu lihat kesitu. Kalau soal membangun kekuatan dan mempertahankan diri supaya tidak tekalahkan mungkin kita jadi melihat ke pada skala besar, soal peperangan, lingkup kerajaan atau negara misalnya.
Nggak salah sih. Tapi coba baca dan cerna satu per satu. Kita akan mulai menyadari kalau semua itu juga applicable untuk kehidupan kita sehari-hari dalam skala yang lebih kecil. Dalam bisnis, dalam berorganisasi, dalam pekerjaan, bahkan dalam kehidupan rumah tangga yang anggotanya hanya dua orang.
Kalo di bukunya memang dari masing-masing poin ada penjelasannya panjang lebar. Tapi saya justru melihatnya itu lebih menarik kalau kita justru mengembangkan narasi kita dari masing-masing judul itu, jadi lebih pas dengan profile dan karakter kita sendiri.
Makanya sengaja saya nggak terjemahkan juga. Soalnya proses penerjemahan itu sering kali mengubah rasa meskipun tidak mengubah arti.
(1) Never Outshine the Master.
(2) Never put too much trust on friends,learn how to use enemies.
(3) Mask Your Intention.
(4) Always say less than necessary.
(5) Protect your reputation at all costs, since your reputation shapes others’ expectations.
(6) Be conspicious & stand out. Bad publicity is still publicity.
(7) Get others to do the work and take the credit. Save your time and energy while building your base.
(8) Make people come to you, so you hold all the cards.
(9) Win through actions not argument. Prove your point without offending people.
(10) Don’t get invected by mysery and misfortune. Associate with positive, successful people.
(11) Make yourself indispensable, so it is harder to cut you off.
(12) Disarm people with strategic honesty & generosity – use this as tool to win people over.
(13) Get help by appealing to self-interest, not goodness.
(14) Be a spy. Gather intelligence to know your opportunities.
(15) Crush your enemy totally. Don’t give them a chance to recover.
(16) Raise your value by absence and scarciry. Don’t let people take you for granted.
(17) Keeps others in suspense by being unpredictable. Keep them second-guessing.
(18) Don’t isolate yourself behind a fortress. Have eyes and ears everywhere.
(19) Know your opponents and who you’re dealing with.
(20) Stay neutral as long as possible to maintain your independence (vs committing to 1 side).
(21) Make your victims feel smarter than you, so they drop their guard.
(22) Use surrender as a tool. Bide your time for retaliation.
(23) Concentrate your forces. Don’t spread them too thin.
(24) Be a masterful courtier to balance the various players and power brokers.
(25) Create your own identity and use it like a costume.
(26) Don’t dirty your hands. Get others to do your dirty works.
(27) Create a cult-like following. Play on what people want to see/hear.
(28) Act boldly, so you seem confident.
(29) Plan till the end, so you won’t be caught by surprise.
(30) Make your achievements seem effortless. Don’t show your real success secrets.
(31) Control the options but let people thinks they’re in control.
(32) Play to people’s fantasies so they keep following you.
(33) Find your opponent’s fatal weakness to break their defences.
(34) Act in the way you want to be treated. Be regal and authoritative.
(35) Master the art of timing. Strike only at the right hour.
(36) Feign disinterest and ignore what you can’t have.
(37) Dazzle people with spectacles so they don’t see what you’re really doing.
(38) Hide your unorthodox thinking. Pretend to blend in.
(39) Stir up waters to catch the fish. Make your opponents reckless while you stay calm.
(40) Beware the free lunch. There’re always strings atrached.
(41) Chart a new course rather than try a big man’s shoes.
(42) Strike the shepherd to scatter the sheep. Isolate the leader.
(43) Win both hearts and minds. Appeal to both feelings and logic.
(44) Unbalace and confuse with the mirror effect (mask the reality with illusion).
(45) Introduce change gradually. Drastic reforms bring resistence.
(46) Don’t seem too perfect or you’ll invite jealousy.
(47) Don’t push too far in victory. Know when to stop.
(48) Be formless and unpredictable.
