The 48 Laws of Power

I'm like I have a memory of you doing it for a talent show, but you never busted that out in front of a crowd of people, right? Well, that was a talent show. Oh, really? Did you do it when, we used to have a rap crew called Sugar and the Raw. It was a Czechoslovakian rap group. Yeah, that's true. Sounds pretty exclusionary. It was. We performed at... It's a whites only rap group. Yeah, looking back on it, it was not a good idea. No, dude!

I just read, like, "The 48 Laws of Power." Yeah. And it just had some really good, like, self-preservation. Dude, I feel like, I feel like I need to read that book again because I kind of need that shit right now. You know what I mean? And it just goes, like, don't be too happy, like don't be too cocky, like people don't like that. You know what I mean? Don't brag too much. But like, I feel like we're all in that, like the bragging mode right now. You know? But also, I just don't think people like, don't rub it in people's faces. And, you know, I know I do that shit.

Robert Green, one of the most acclaimed authors of our time. Robert's insight into human nature is second to none, and there's a reason that his books are banned in prisons, yet widely read by both scholars and leaders alike.

Roberts insight into human nature is second to none and there's a reason that his books are banned in prisons.

I can't mess this up, this is Robert Freakin' Green.

And I got all new equipment and I worked to learn the equipment and then I read his whole book and then I read his other book.

These things are like 600 freaking pages long. It's Robert Green, he doesn't write 200 pages.

Why did this take so long, we've been talking by email for like five years.

I've done a lot of media, and this is one of the best interviews that I've ever done.

When I first came up with the 48 laws of power way back in 95, I wasn't writing from a position of power right.

So when I say play on people's need to believe to create a cult like following, you know people going Robert is teaching people how to create a cult.

So when I in Hollywood I would do all the writing for a screenplay you know, duck bits of dialogue. My name was never put on it never right?

So since 1998 when it came out I've received thousands of emails from readers right and occasionally there'll be someone who will say I'm certain that my boss read your book and did this bad maneuver to me and I feel kind of bad but 98% of them were saying you know I didn't realize that I was out shining the master law number one.

The people who needed are people who would like myself kind of came out of the universe from kind of naive by nature and needed some awakening needed to kind of learn the rules, the laws of power so they could play the game.

Robert's insight into human nature is second to none and there's a reason that his books are banned in prisons yet widely read by both scholars and leaders alike

Robert Green, one of the most acclaimed authors of our time. Robert's insight into human nature is second to none.

and there's a reason that his books are banned in prisons yet widely read by both scholars and leaders alike.

it was interviewing Robert Greene the first time and he said wow you're pretty good at this and I said you know this is the first time I read the book for an interview this is you know five years ago more and he said wow and I thought what if I do this much work for every interview I'll be great at this you know that was the snowball it took seven years for me to get to that point

is not allowed in federal prisons by the way

he's told me that and a lot it always finds its way in let me be clear i volunteered at a prison and I want to and all the guys were familiar with that book and a lot of them the more violent and gang related and sort of predatory these guys had grown up the way they'd grown up one guy even told me i've read that book it's all right but most of its common sense around here

Robert Green, one of the most acclaimed authors of our time. Robert's insight into human nature is second to none and there's a reason that his books are banned in prisons yet widely read by both scholars and leaders alike.

I think the 48 laws of power might have branded you a little bit is like wow he's using all these he lives in a cave with like nuclear missiles.

And you hear people who that book was big I think in a lot of prisons people are passing it around rappers rappers yeah football players and things like that and kind of people that you would expect to be using those levers.

I'm a part of that book I was working in Hollywood and everyone likes to pretend they're so liberal so PC there's so angelic in favor of all the right causes. And it's not true behind the doors they're master manipulators they're Machiavellian they're pretty rough and I was really irritated by that stupid image that people have of this film director or that actor and I wanted to show this is what power is really like this is what people are really like to sort of prick that bubble of a pretentiousness of that's that air of superiority.

And in a chapter on envy it was called never appear to perfect and I have the story of the writer whose partner was so envious of him and his success because they were both wanting to be right as Joe or the ended up murdering him.

seventh year anniversary I was interviewing Robert Green the first time and he said wow you're pretty good at this and I said you know this is the first time I read the book for an interview this is you know five years ago more and he said wow and I thought what if I do this much work for every interview I'll be great at this you know that was the snowball it took seven years for me to get to that point

I know you know the authors that book is not allowed in federal prisons by the way.

he he's told me that and a lot it always finds its way in let me be clear i volunteered at a prison and I want to and all the guys were familiar with that book and a lot of them the more violent and gang related and sort of predatory these guys had grown up the way they'd grown up one guy even told me i've read that book it's all right but most of its common sense around here

I think everybody that has this mindset needs to go listen to Robert Greene's interview this week because he specifically talks about how to ask for favors and how to get people to do things you want and get the advice that you want specifically covers this exact topic

I think the 48 laws of power might have branded you a little bit is like wow he's using all these he lives in a cave with like nuclear missiles.

And you hear people who that book was big I think in a lot of prisons people are passing it around rappers rappers yeah football players and things like that and kind of people that you would expect to be using those levers.

And in a chapter on envy it was called never appear to perfect and I have the story of the writer whose partner was so envious of him and his success because they were both wanting to be right as Joe or the ended up murdering him.

I've been doing that for a long time I did that kind of indirectly with the 48 laws because I'm a part of that book I was working in Hollywood and everyone likes to pretend they're so liberal so PC there's so angelic in favor of all the right causes.

He's an author who wrote 48 Laws of Power and a lot of people probably know who he is.

And I got all new equipment and I worked to learn the equipment and then I read his whole book and then I read his other book and these things are like 600 freaking pages long it's Robert Green he doesn't write 200 pages so I'm taking notes and they're dense there dense books too they're dense you can't mess with these these are not like oh here's a really long story it's like no no no this is like 600 pages in half of it the end is footnotes and that's 200 more pages so I read these books took a bunch of notes did the interview and at the end I said thank you so much this was really good and he goes why did this take so long we've been talking by email for like five years and I said I didn't want to mess it up you know you're a really good author I didn't want to waste your time and he said I've done a lot of media and this is one of the best interviews that I've ever done this is seven years into me doing the show so that told me well if Robert Green says that it was good then I'm probably pretty good at this and I remember sitting there and going I have to do everything different and I told my my girlfriend at the time now wife her name's Jen I go Jen Robert Green said this is one of the better interviews that he's done she goes well what did you do different I go I live write all the books and I took all the notes and she goes you probably should start doing that for every episode of your show and I went and I read the book for every author that comes on the show I can't prep like that and she goes okay I mean I guess this is a choice on which shows you want to do that for them which shows you don't and then I remember sitting down and going I have a choice whether I want to do this really really well every single time and work really hard or just do crappy ones and then do some good ones I can't keep lying to myself and telling me that I can go 15% 20% effort and get 100% results and she goes yeah I mean used to brag about how you don't need to read the book because you can wing it and everybody is like down with that and I go yep I'm faking it and even if not everybody knows if I'm the only person that knows I'm not like respecting the craft to put it in kind of an over leopoetic way if I really want to fulfill my potential as an interviewer journalist whatever you want to call it I actually have to put the work in surprise surprise like that's how that works so I started from that point on I was like I have to read every book from every person that comes on the show I have to do like 10 hours of prep for every guest on the Jordan Harbinger show and if I'm two, three hours in and I go this is boring shoot me I have to cancel that interview because I'm not going to do a good show and this is what true professionals do they probably throw out a thousand photographs they say this was a crap session and the lighting sucked and you delete 45 hours worth of work and planning and airfare and hotel and model fees or whatever and location fees you throw that crap in the garbage because it's not your best work or it's not good enough to put your name on it and when I started doing that I realized this is actually way more fun because every time I do a show or almost I'm like up against that curve where I go this is good and I did something better this time and I got a really good interview out of Chase Jarvis and he you know he liked it because he was smiling and laughing and like the producer and the sound booth who's not a guy that just works for me came out and was like wow that was good I like this Chase Jarvis guy and then wants to talk about the content like that's how you know you did a good job

I remember there was a spot when I wasn't having fun I wish I didn't have to admit this right now but I would be like checking my email during the interview you could hear me typing the person would say something and I'd go cool so and I look at my like pre the list of questions I had before and I go so tell me the story about how you got interested in photography you know you could just I was just checked out man and I hated it and the reason isn't because I didn't like podcasting or interviewing is because I wasn't challenging myself and I wasn't in that like red line zone where you're in the top 10% of your own ability forget everyone else's ability you want to be in that like top 10% top 5% of your own ability so if you do a photo shoot and everything sucks but you're like a lighting man I crushed the lighting it was so good look at that lighting too bad the model sucks and my shots were off and the angles are weird and I use the wrong lens but like the lighting you can take that victory and you can be like I'm getting better at this and then you delete everything because it's not that good but like you know you're getting better at it that crap is fun like that's fun not having a celebrity on that's a treat but the fun is getting better at the craft like not getting a famous person to stand next to you for an hour like that's a treat you should just rewind that last section if you're watching right now or listening on your walk because again the two absolute missiles just hit right in the temple as you're walking down near a little path right now or in your commute fewer truths have been spoken in that amount of time in the last ever eight minutes

Well they're not evil. Obviously, according in my opinion, you know when I first came up with the 48 laws of power way back in 95, I wasn't writing from a position of power right.

I had been kind of a failure in life to be honest with you. I had 60 some different jobs. I tried journalism.

So I wanted to rip away the curtain show you people. This is what really goes on in the world of power because I had been on the wrong end of it.

I had suffered because of my Niai Vite. My natural Niai Vite after graduating university and thinking everybody was just so interested in ideas and getting things done.

So I wanted to show the reality of what goes on in this world. And sort of help people like myself who are naive, deal with these kind of power games that are going on.

Robert's insight into human nature is second to none and there's a reason that his books are banned in prisons yet widely read by both scholars and leaders alike

if we just sit in our inner tube with our hands behind our head and crack open a six pack of beer the river of dark nature takes us towards that waterfall of the shadow yeah

so when we're children if we weren't educated if we didn't have teachers or parents telling us to study we'd be these monsters we're all flawed

i believe we humans naturally feel envy it's the chimpanzee in us it's been shown that primates are very attuned to other animals in their clan and are constantly comparing themselves

you're dislike of that fellow artist or that other podcaster 99% sure that it comes from a place of envy you are not a rational being rationality is something you earn it's a struggle it takes effort it takes awareness you have to go through steps you have to see your biases when you think you're being rational you're not being rational at all

Robert Green, one of the most acclaimed authors of our time. Robert's insight into human nature is second to none and there's a reason that his books are banned in prisons yet widely read by both scholars and leaders alike.

...seventh year anniversary I was interviewing Robert Green the first time and he said wow you're pretty good at this and I said you know this is the first time I read the book for an interview this is you know five years ago more and he said wow and I thought what if I do this much work for every interview I'll be great at this you know that was the snowball it took seven years for me to get to that point...

can you be swept into it can you be punished four day laws of power I know you know the authors that book is not allowed in federal prisons by the way

One of the greats was here and we really had something special in my opinion.

I think the 48 laws of power might have branded you a little bit is like wow he's using all these he lives in a cave with like nuclear missiles.

And you hear people who that book was big I think in a lot of prisons people are passing it around rappers rappers yeah football players and things like that and kind of people that you would expect to be using those levers.

And a chapter on envy it was called never appear to perfect and I have the story of the writer whose partner was so envious of him and his success because they were both wanting to be right as Joe or the ended up murdering him.

i was going to actually use trump as an example of living that law like for like purposefully

Robert green talks about this in the 48 laws of power.

You have to understand reality, not what you wish reality would be.

It's selling better than the 48 laws of power right now.

And I know that you had worked a lot with Robert.

Of course, the 48 Laws of Power is a classic.

You can grab all those at the Painted Porch.

I worked for Robert Green who wrote The 48 Laws of Power.

You know what? He's totally right. It fits in with the reality of how you're supposed to use the 48 Laws of Power. It's not supposed to make you this maniacal evil genius. It's supposed to realize that people do things and that we're supposed to train ourselves against them.

The 48 Laws of Power, the great book by my mentor, Robert Greene, the final law after all these instructions on what to do in this situation and that situation, the final law is assume formlessness, right?

I remember when I heard that Robert Greene's 48 Laws of Power had sold over a million copies. I was just like, a million copies? Can you imagine that?

author who sold millions of copies, 48 laws of power, 33 strategies of war, mastery, the laws of human nature.

You think about the 48 Laws of Power, Robert Green, for the first 40 years of his life, things did not go the way that he wanted them to go. He was kicked around, he went from job to job, he never really found his calling, he never locked into anything, he got abused, he got manipulated. All of that was forming and shaping, incubating the ideas that would become this incredible book, The 48 Laws of Power.

In the 48 Laws of Power, he talks about entering action with boldness.

At the end of the 48 Laws of Power, which is seemingly these laws about how to act, the final law is seemingly a contradiction of all the other laws. It's assume formlessness.

The 48 Laws of Power we have to remember is not Robert's prescription for how the world should be. It's Robert and all of human history compiled to show how human nature tends to be, how things tend to go, what people in power tend to do.

my mentor is this guy in robocryy wrote this amazing book of the 48 laws of power and talked about how we were young we had this kind of paradoxical attitude where we really want things but we're also kind of maybe we have asked it a little bit we get where we're rebellious but we're also lack of basically it says because we're worried that if we put everything into what we're doing it doesn't work out what does that say right we don't want to feel the pain of being earnest and trying

I can honestly say I never intended in my life to write the 48 laws of power right and start out at eight years old I'm going to write the 48 laws of power I kind of went like this this this this this this and I ended up doing it you know by chance almost

Always say less is necessary.

law 29 of the 48 laws of power is plan all the way to the end Robert Green writes by planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead.

I met Dove through Robert Green with the 40 hours power to talk about the book

I didn't realize what I wanted was power.

Robert Green made me go no I want power. The power to say no if I don't want to do something; the power like autonomy; you want control over your life.

I read the 48 laws of power when I was in high school and I was like I was like they make books like this I think some it's so amazing when you read something and people have this I think with music more often than books probably where you're like I didn't know that was a thing that you could do them that was possible to do that and you know like that so I read that and it was just it's such an amazing book because it's a synthesis of so many other books it's kind of like a survey course of ancient ancient history and wisdom so

when I had read the 40 laws of power one of the things I went and did after I read it was I went and read all the books that were in it

the 40 laws of power was a book long underground

the 40 laws of power should be Robert should be a tenured professor at the Yale school of whatever right and I don't know why he isn't

he just produces this work of both scholarship and history that it's gonna stand for a generation

the laws of human nature should not be the laws of human nature is a 600 book page book about you know everything that makes humans both rational and irrational

the laws of human nature literally almost killed him like two months before it came out he had a near fatal stroke driving in his car in Los Angeles and like was recestated by the paramedics and you know very easily could not have regained function yeah yeah his limbs let alone his mind

you open the 40 laws of power and there's different colors and the text is arranged in this weird way and and then it just it worked it worked at a level and for a group of people that not only should it not work for like these ancient Chinese philosophies mixed with Makia Valley mixed with these you know uh Middle Eastern or Middle Ages uh Middle Ages figures you know all this stuff

some of the most shoplifted books in publishing and they are the uh some of the most requested and the most banned books in prisons

Robert Green's works so the 40 laws of power the laws of human nature sometimes people go oh isn't that book sort of evil or I'm not interested in power I usually go that's exactly who should read this book because you're wanting to be the world you're wanting the world to be different than it is and there might be a little bit in naivete or wishful thing in there it doesn't it's not saying you have to be very Machiavellian it's saying that you have to understand the Machiavellian tendencies of human beings and organizations you have to understand how these things work

48 laws of power, art of seduction, mastery, laws of human nature, the daily laws,

I've always loved that the 40 laws of power which is a sort of book of... Yeah Robert Green's book right? Yeah Do this Don't do this Always do this And then the last law the 48th law and the 48th laws of power is assumed formalismist And it's this idea that rigidity is much more vulnerable than flexibility Yeah And the ability to adapt and adjust to all circumstances that in fact sometimes you do this and sometimes you do that And then actually I think the other thing you learn when you read the book multiple times is embedded at the... You really it really strikes you when... Embedded at the bottom of each law is the reversal of the law And the only law that doesn't have a reversal is formalismist Because ultimately flexibility is what resilience is the ability to go...

Robert's answer that the main laws to have power over yourself and that idea seeps into each of the 40 laws of power is actually captured in law 48 assume formlessness except the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed Robert writes the best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water while we can admire the high integrity and uprightness of the Kato's of the world the truth.

the 48 laws of power in the same amount of time really

human nature is 580 pages and laws of powers like 420 I think it

the 48 laws of power on my desk

that was the first one that I read it had all my notes and stuff in it

the 48 miles an hour

Law 29 of the 48 Laws of Power in the great Robert Green is plan all the way to the end

by planning all the way to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead

how I take a book like the 48 Laws of Power, this biography of John Boyd, this biography of John D. Rockefeller, a novel like Invisible Man, and how I turn that into actionable insights in my life

for me Robert Green is kind of an adopted father he's about my father's age but he's who I want to be as a person in many ways professionally he's deeply inspiring to me the way even that he has spent so much time and energy and patience shaping me into the brighter that I became that that unit of itself has been inspiring and is an example I try to follow

the final law is assume formalismist which is basically throw out all the other laws um which I think is the the genius book uh the the genius part of that book which is you know 40 laws of power isn't do this then do this then do this then do this then do this some people um we'll say to Robert Wall you know law this and this one contradicts each other and they only contradict each other if you don't read all the way to the end and get to the last part right philosophy and life is about paradoxes sometimes you do this sometimes you do the opposite of this and they're both true and they're both the right things to do and so to me I think the idea of formlessness the the the enemy of uh the opposite the antithesis of wisdom and power and success and discipline is rigidity right this is the way it should be this is who I am this is how I am formlessness being I think the apotheosis of that book and and ultimately what you're supposed to take from it is the ability to be flexible and adapt and adjust um apply this law this time the opposite of that law at other times and that's why also people miss this every law has something at the end and it is the reversal of the law yep yep it reminds me of Bruce Lee's famous line be like water yes yes thank you so much thank you so much

At about 19, I apprenticed under a great writer named Robert Green who wrote the 40 laws of power and the 33 strategy of war.

law 29 of the 48 laws of power is plan all the way to the end.

by planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking for ahead.

I think Robert's mastery which I think is here it's a great book definitely recommended to anyone who hasn't read it.

Then probably no one's writing is influenced, no living writers writing is influenced me more than Robert Green's The 48 Laws of Power.

His book Mastery, his book 33 Stragels of War.

I'm not saying I base my life on the 48 laws of power in the sense that I am always observing the laws. I'm always crushing my enemy totally or taking credit and letting others do the work. And I am always aware of how these laws are operating in the background if not for me than for other people. Being aware of the timeless levers of power, the flaws and tendencies of human nature is deeply important to anyone trying to do anything in the world. So I strongly recommend reading Robert Green's works.

if you go 48 laws of power maybe to get turned off it's dark

Yeah it was also like playing cards which are 52 uh right no no I mean but the calendar 52 weeks but I mean what happened was I mentioned the story before is the publisher normally my relationship to publishers is don't tread on me hands off get a sparrow away from my material as possible do not edit it I don't trust you but in this inspiring moment to their idea to know this instance they said 52 laws of power doesn't sound so great what we really want is 48 and the 52 sounded too much like a given yeah and I agree because I can't be rigid about things sure so what I did was I took four of the laws combined them with other ones so I didn't get rid of anything I just kind of mean into into 48 I just sort of fitted it in well and that is the 48 law the suit form was this right then actually they can be moved around and combined with each other but I'm also violating a law it seems don't show your own tricks but that's true and it's 20 three years later so I don't really care

I misjudge people, so as I said, it's okay to make mistakes in life and that was a mistake.

I felt like I was a traitor, like I was Judas, this is a man who built the company and I'm going to destroy him, but it was the right thing to do because he was taking the company down with him.

I had mixed friendship with business. But to my trust and friends, learn how to use enemies.

Making the hard decision isn't necessarily enough because you have to now think of what are the consequences going to be and I'm going to have to own those consequences now.

You have to have the courage just to decide, and then to own your decision and the consequences of that decision.

I had violated law number two of the 48 laws of power I had mixed friendship with business.

We wrote the 48 laws of power he wrote 33 strategies of war which I think anyone in your profession should read.

Robert Green's book, 48 Laws of Power, I think will still be read 100 years from now.

But it was a surreal experience for me to to go to Abu Dhabi and meet him because there was something, you know, so I they drove me in.

Always appeal to self interest, never mercy or gratitude.

First law of the law of power, which I love is never outshining the master.

crush your enemy totally or let others do all the work and take all the credit.

What you really get from the 40 laws of power is a master class in history, how to create compelling spectacles, how to make people realize what your worth is to them, how to deal with insecure people, how to counteract you go, how to just do all the things that you need to do in life and there's so many good laws.