It reads like a Klingon version of 'Desiderata' - but it is intended for real- The essence of a book by Robert Greene, you can look up the details or even buy a copy online.

Here's the gist of it:

Law 1 Never outshine the master
Law 2 Never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemies
Law 3 Conceal your intentions
Law 4 Always say less than necessary
Law 5 So much depends on reputation. Guard it with your life
Law 6 Court attention at all cost
Law 7 Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit
Law 8 Make other people come to you, use bait if necessary
Law 9 Win through your actions, never through argument
Law 10 Infection: avoid the unhappy and unlucky
Law 11 Learn to keep people dependent on you
Law 12 Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim
Law 13 When asking for help, appeal to people's self-interest, never to their mercy or gratitude
Law 14 Pose as a friend, work as a spy
Law 15 Crush your enemy totally
Law 16 Use absence to increase respect and honor
Law 17 Keep others in suspended terror: cultivate an air of unpredictability
Law 18 Do not build fortresses to protect yourself. Isolation is dangerous
Law 19 Know who you're dealing with, do not offend the wrong person
Law 20 Do not commit to anyone
Law 21 Play a sucker to catch a sucker: play dumber than your mark
Law 22 Use the surrender tactic: transform weakness into power
Law 23 Concentrate your forces
Law 24 Play the perfect courtier
Law 25 Re-create yourself
Law 26 Keep your hands clean
Law 27 Play on people's need to believe to create a cultlike following
Law 28 Enter action with boldness
Law 29 Plan all the way to the end
Law 30 Make your accomplishments seem effortless
Law 31 Control the options: get others to play with the cards you deal
Law 32 Play to people's fantasies
Law 33 Discover each man's thumbscrew
Law 34 Be royal in your fashion: act like a king to be treated like one
Law 35 Master the art of timing
Law 36 Disdain things you cannot have: Ignoring them is the best revenge
Law 37 Create compelling spectacles
Law 38 Think as you like but behave like others
Law 39 Stir up waters to catch fish
Law 40 Despise the free lunch
Law 41 Avoid stepping into a great man's shoes
Law 42 Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter
Law 43 Work on the hearts and minds of others
Law 44 Disarm and infuriate with the mirror effect
Law 45 Preach the need for change, but never reform too much at Once
Law 46 Never appear perfect
Law 47 Do not go past the mark you aimed for; in victory, learn when to stop
Law 48 Assume formlessness

*The ones I agree with I hi-lighted green. I think a lot of those ideas are a corporate recipe for cut-throat conniving...

HOWEVER!
Being aware of these notions is useful. One cannot arm oneself against tactics that are unknown. How many times in a workplace have you recognised someone using some or all of these rules?

 

Sounds like everything they teach young officer candidates at the service academies.

 

Kind of scary isn't it? I see a lot of problems with it.

I would add one more rule to the above:
NEVER BECOME IRREPLACEABLE ~If you do that, you'll never have a day off

as far as that goes -

DESIGN A FOOL-PROOF SYSTEM, and then HIRE YOUR FOOLS CAREFULLY...
What the hell it worked for 'McDonalds' not to mention WALMART

As far as Government institutions are concerned, they failed to mention the concept of "PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY", but that is probably addressed under RULE 26

 

I've read them all in some form or another. I've never seen them itemized like that before though.

 

I think that everyone at some level wants to become successful - but for what price?

HONOR means a lot more to me than anything else. It's no wonder I'm not as accomplished as I could be - the tools used by others are sharpened by means that leave integrity completely out of the question

But knowing that others use such things/ideas (and yes - the above is a toolbox for corporate executives as well as "KISS UPS" in any company) I can at least see what is being done against me - even though having recognised it the chance of defence is still small

At some point we each have to ask ourselves how dirty we want to play, and yet...
If we know damned well the above have been used against us, what is there constitutes an arms locker for justified retribution

Machiavelli would have loved the twenty first century

~I can't wait to hear what Bdox has to say...




*As usual, I have a twisty view of the whole thing
Oh yeah - I'm "THEORETICALLY" Harmless

~Always have been

Rules 1), 41), and 46) make me think this is a "WAY" for people who are not gifted enough to gain without ripping off someone else - and that stinks. Others in the rule group make it even more pointed. It is a thiefs philosophy...

The Rules of YUPPY

Whatever happened to honest business - or is that a fools concern/errand in the modern world?

 

Some are kind of funny- but overall it's scary...there are people who literally think this way.

Kind of sad.

I think I tend to be niave...I usually think people are generally telling the truth and have no hidden agenda... lol

 

It pains me to read a list like this.

Just how does it work if everyone subscribed to this list?

 

That's actually a good question.

 

Twisty yet very factual, impressive post GreyWolf.

 

Seems like it would at least level the playing field.

 

I'm not so sure that a person can subscribe to all 48 rules. Some are well intended, some are for the self preservationist and many are for the go getter who's climbing the ladder on any back that he/she can walk on.

As a supervisor, how do you get people to do the things that they or no one else wants to do? You could beg and plead but that's weak. You could order a person to perform the task no matter what but that makes you an a-hole.

So, you learn to manipulate and convince people that the task at hand in their best interest. Viola, the task is completed, the worker gets an atta boy and you get what you want as well.

 

Interesting concept, sounds like a very deceitful way of doing things.