After he told her he loved her, she stopped being interested and drifted out of his life. However, the ploy failed when he revealed his intentions early when they were alone. With the help of a lady of the court, Ninon de Lenclos he was able to get her interested by acting as if he wasn’t interested. Keep people off-balance by keeping the motives behind your actions under wrapsĪ courtier, Marquis de Sevigne, was trying to woo a woman in the French court but was not succeeding. The revelations in The Secret Race and Seven Deadly Sins about doping damaged his reputation beyond repair.Ī reputation takes a long time to build, but it can evaporate in an instant. He relentlessly controlled his image to give the impression he was the model athlete, husband and father.Įver since that facade came crashing down in November 2009, he’s not been able to restore it. This is one of the things Tiger Woods did zealously until his cheating was exposed. If you act like you don’t care about your reputation, then others will decide it for you. If you lose your reputation, it’s almost to recover it.
It can also create an aura around you that will instil respect, even fear.” “A solid reputation increases your presence and exaggerates your strengths without your having to spend much energy. Liang’s reputation as someone who always had a trick up his sleeve worried Yi and was what coursed him to retreat. The enemy leader, Sima Yi, recognised Liang and hesitated and eventually ordered a speedy retreat. When the enemy army reached the gates, he continued to play his lute. He lit some incense, strummed a lute and began to chant. He then proceeded to take a seat on the most visible part of the city’s wall, wearing a robe. Instead of accepting his fate, he ordered his troops to take down their flags, open the city gates and hide. He was then told that an army of over 150,000 was marching towards their location. Protect your reputation your power builds up with a solid reputation and diminishes when it slips.Ĭhuko Liang dispatched his army to a camp while he rested in a small town with a handful of soldiers. Takeaway 2 – Guard your reputation with your life It may be more beneficial to keep your enemies closer than your friends. This is similar to what Anne Applebaum describes as a motivation for some of the figures in her book, Twilight of Democracy.īe careful who you choose to keep close to you. It’s a paradox that our friends are more likely to betray us than our enemies, but that’s one of the many quirks of humans.įriends can tend to expect too much and become slighted if they don’t get what they believe they deserve. A man suddenly spared the guillotine is a grateful man indeed and will go to the ends of the earth for the man who pardoned him.” “While a friend expects more and more favours, and seethes with jealousy, these former enemies expected nothing and got everything. This surprised his enemies and turned them into loyal servants of Sung.
Then when he conquered new lands, instead of killing the rulers of those lands he spared their lives and gave them ranks in the imperial courts. Instead of appointing his friends as advisers, he gave all his generals land and titles to ward off their threat. Instead, it was Basilius who betrayed him after he was made head of the army, stabbing him one night, proclaimed himself Emperor and rode through the streets of Byzantium with Michael’s head on a pike.Įmperor Sung of China took a different approach. Michael was wary that Bardas would conspire against him.
This was in spite of his uncle, Bardas, who had helped Michael to the throne and was an intelligent and ambitious man. When Michael III became Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, he made Basilius, a man who saved Michael’s life a few years before, his chief councillor as he considered him a friend. The 48 Laws of Power summary Takeaway 1 – Don’t trust your friends too much if you’re in a position of powerįriends will betray you quicker than enemies. Takeaway 2 – Guard your reputation with your life.
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