LAW 28
ENTER ACTION WITH BOLDNESS
JUDGMENT
If you are unsure of a course of action, do not
attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution.
Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes
you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more
audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the
timid.
THE TWO ADVENTURERS
The path of pleasure never leads to glory! The
prodigious achievements of Hercules were the result of high
adventure, and though there is little, either in fable or history,
to show that he had any rivals, still it is recorded that a
knight errant, in company with a fellow adventurer, sought his
fortune in a romantic country. He had not traveled far when his
companion observed a post, on which was written the following
inscription: “Brave adventurer, if you have a desire to discover
that which has never been seen by any knight errant, you have only
to pass this torrent, and then take in your arms an elephant of
stone and carry it in one breath to the summit of this mountain,
whose noble head seems blended with the sky.” “But,” said the
knight’s companion, “the water may be deep as well as rapid, and
though, notwithstanding, we should pass it, why should we be
encumbered with the elephant? What a ridiculous undertaking!” And
philosophically and with nice calculation, he observed that the
elephant might be carried four steps; but for conveying it to the
top of the mountain in one breath, that was not in the power of a
mortal, unless it should
be the dwarf figure of an elephant, fit only to
be placed on the top of a stick; and then what honor would there be
in such an adventure? “There is,” said he, “some deception in this
writing. It is an enigma only fit to amuse a child. I shall
therefore leave you and your elephant.”
The reasoner then departed; but the adventurous
man rushed with his eyes closed across the water; neither depth nor
violence prevented him. and according to the inscription he saw the
elephant lying on the opposite bank.
He took it and carried it to the top of the
hill, where he saw a town. A shriek from the elephant alarmed the
people of the city, who rose in arms; but the adventurer, nothing
daunted, was determined to die a hero. The people, however, were
awed by his presence, and he was astonished to hear them proclaim
him successor to their king, who had recently died. Great
enterprises are only achieved by adventurous spirits. They who
calculate with too great nicety every difficulty and obstacle which
is likely to lie in their way, lose that time in hesitation, which
the more daring seize and render available to the loftiest
purposes.
FABLES. JEAN DE LA FONTAINE, 1621-1695
BOLDNESS AND HESITATION: A Brief Psychological
Comparison Boldness and hesitation elicit very different
psychological responses in their targets: Hesitation puts obstacles
in your path, boldness eliminates them. Once you understand this,
you will find it essential to overcome your natural timidity and
practice the art of audacity. The following are among the most
pronounced psychological effects of boldness and timidity.
The Bolder the Lie the Better. We all have
weaknesses, and our efforts are never perfect. But entering action
with boldness has the magical effect of hiding our deficiencies.
Con artists know that the bolder the lie, the more convincing it
becomes. The sheer audacity of the story makes it more credible,
distracting attention from its inconsistencies. When putting
together a con or entering any kind of negotiation, go further than
you planned. Ask for the moon and you will be surprised how often
you get it.
Lions Circle the Hesitant Prey. People have
a sixth sense for the weaknesses of others. If, in a first
encounter, you demonstrate your willingness to compromise, back
down, and retreat, you bring out the lion even in people who are
not necessarily bloodthirsty. Everything depends on perception, and
once you are seen as the kind of person who quickly goes on the
defensive, who is willing to negotiate and be amenable, you will be
pushed around without mercy.
Boldness Strikes Fear; Fear Creates
Authority. The bold move makes you seem larger and more
powerful than you are. If it comes suddenly, with the stealth and
swiftness of a snake, it inspires that much more fear. By
intimidating with a bold move, you establish a precedent: in every
subsequent encounter, people will be on the defensive, in terror of
your next strike.
Going Halfway with Half a Heart Digs the Deeper
Grave. If you enter an action with less than total confidence,
you set up obstacles in your own path. When a problem arises you
will grow confused, seeing options where there are none and
inadvertently creating more problems still. Retreating from the
hunter, the timid hare scurries more easily into his snares.
Hesitation Creates Gaps, Boldness Obliterates
Them. When you take time to think, to hem and haw, you create a
gap that allows others time to think as well. Your timidity infects
people with awkward energy, elicits embarrassment. Doubt springs up
on all sides.
Boldness destroys such gaps. The swiftness of the
move and the energy of the action leave others no space to doubt
and worry. In seduction, hesitation is fatal—it makes your victim
conscious of your intentions. The bold move crowns seduction with
triumph: It leaves no time for reflection.
Audacity Separates You from the Herd.
Boldness gives you presence and makes you seem larger than life.
The timid fade into the wallpaper, the bold draw attention, and
what draws attention draws power. We cannot keep our eyes off the
audacious—we cannot wait to see their next bold move.
OBSERVANCES OF THE LAW
Observance I
In May of 1925, five of the most successful
dealers in the French scrap-metal business found themselves invited
to an “official” but “highly confidential” meeting with the deputy
director general of the Ministry of Post and Telegraphs at the
Hotel Crillon, then the most luxurious hotel in Paris. When the
businessmen arrived, it was the director general himself, a
Monsieur Lustig, who met them in a swank suite on the top
floor.
The businessmen had no idea why they had been
summoned to this meeting, and they were bursting with curiosity.
After drinks, the director explained. “Gentlemen,” he said, “this
is an urgent matter that requires complete secrecy. The government
is going to have to tear down the Eiffel Tower.” The dealers
listened in stunned silence as the director explained that the
tower, as recently reported in the news, desperately needed
repairs. It had originally been meant as a temporary structure (for
the Exposition of 1889), its maintenance costs had soared over the
years, and now, in a time of a fiscal crisis, the government would
have to spend millions to fix it. Many Parisians considered the
Eiffel Tower an eyesore and would be delighted to see it go. Over
time, even the tourists would forget about it—it would live on in
photographs and postcards. “Gentlemen,” Lustig said, “you are all
invited to make the government an offer for the Eiffel
Tower.”
He gave the businessmen sheets of government
stationery filled with figures, such as the tonnage of the tower’s
metal. Their eyes popped as they calculated how much they could
make from the scrap. Then Lustig led them to a waiting limo, which
brought them to the Eiffel Tower. Flashing an official badge, he
guided them through the area, spicing his tour with amusing
anecdotes. At the end of the visit he thanked them and asked them
to have their offers delivered to his suite within four days.
Several days after the offers were submitted, one
of the five, a Monsieur P., received notice that his bid was the
winner, and that to secure the sale he should come to the suite at
the hotel within two days, bearing a certified check for more than
250,000 francs (the equivalent today of about $1,000,000)—a quarter
of the total price. On delivery of the check, he would receive the
documents confirming his ownership of the Eiffel Tower. Monsieur P.
was excited—he would go down in history as the man who had bought
and torn down the infamous landmark. But by the time he arrived at
the suite, check in hand, he was beginning to have doubts about the
whole affair. Why meet in a hotel instead of a government building?
Why hadn’t he heard from other officials? Was this a hoax, a scam?
As he listened to Lustig discuss the arrangements for the scrapping
of the tower, he hesitated, and contemplated backing out.
Suddenly, however, he realized that the director
had changed his tone. Instead of talking about the tower, he was
complaining about his low salary, about his wife’s desire for a fur
coat, about how galling it was to work hard and be unappreciated.
It dawned on Monsieur P. that this high government official was
asking for a bribe. The effect on him, though, was not outrage but
relief. Now he was sure that Lustig was for real, since in all of
his previous encounters with French bureaucrats, they had
inevitably asked for a little greasing of the palm. His confidence
restored, Monsieur P. slipped the director several thousand francs
in bills, then handed him the certified check. In return he
received the documentation, including an impressive-looking bill of
sale. He left the hotel, dreaming of the profits and fame to
come.
Over the next few days, however, as Monsieur P.
waited for correspondence from the government, he began to realize
that something was amiss. A few telephone calls made it clear that
there was no deputy director general Lustig, and there were no
plans to destroy the Eiffel Tower: He had been bilked of over
250,000 francs!
Monsieur P. never went to the police. He knew what
kind of reputation he would get if word got out that he had fallen
for one of the most absurdly audacious cons in history. Besides the
public humiliation, it would have been business suicide.
Interpretation
Had Count Victor Lustig, con artist
extraordinaire, tried to sell the Arc de Triomphe, a bridge over
the Seine, a statue of Balzac, no one would have believed him. But
the Eiffel Tower was just too large, too improbable to be part of a
con job. In fact it was so improbable that Lustig was able to
return to Paris six months later and “resell” the Eiffel Tower to a
different scrap-iron dealer, and for a higher price—a sum in francs
equivalent today to over $1,500,000!
Largeness of scale deceives the human eye. It
distracts and awes us, and is so self-evident that we cannot
imagine there is any illusion or deception afoot. Arm yourself with
bigness and boldness—stretch your deceptions as far as they will go
and then go further. If you sense that the sucker has suspicions,
do as the intrepid Lustig did: Instead of backing down, or lowering
his price, he simply raised his price higher, by asking for and
getting a bribe. Asking for more puts the other person on the
defensive, cuts out the nibbling effect of compromise and doubt,
and overwhelms with its boldness.
Always set to work without misgivings on the
score of imprudence. Fear of failure in the mind of a performer is,
for an onlooker, already evidence of failure.... Actions are
dangerous when there is doubt as to their wisdom; it would be safer
to do nothing.
BALTASAR GRACIÁN, 1601-1658
THE STORY OF HUH SAENG
In a lowly thatched cottage in the Namsan
Valley there lived a poor couple, Mr. and Mrs. Huh Saeng. The
husband confined himself for seven years and only read books
in his cold room.... One day his wife, all in tears, said to him:
“Look here, my good man! What is the use of all your book reading?
I have spent my youth in washing and sewing for other people and
yet I have no spare jacket or skirt to wear and I have had no food
to eat during the past three days. I am hungry and cold. I can
stand it no more!” ... Hearing these words, the middle-aged scholar
closed his book... rose to his feet and... without saying another
word, he went out of doors.... Arriving in the heart of the
city, he slopped a passing gentleman. “Hello, my friend! Who is
the richest man in town?” “Poor countryman! Don’t you know
Bvôn-ssi, the millionaire? His glittering tile-roofed house pierced
by twelve gates is just over there.” Huh Saeng bent his steps to
the rich man’s house. Having entered the btg gate, he flung the
guest-room door open and addressed the host:“I need 10,000 yang for
capital for my commercial business and I want you to lend me
the money.” “Alright, sir. Where shall I send the
money?”
“To the Ansông Market in care of a commission
merchant.” “Very well. sir. I will draw on Kim, who does the
biggest commission business in the Ansông Market. You’ll get the
money there.” “Good-bye. sir.” When Huh Saeng was gone, all the
other guests in the room asked Bvôn-ssi why he gave so much money
to a beggarlike stranger whose family name was unknown to him. But
the rich man replied with a triumphant face: “Even though he was in
ragged clothes, he spoke clearly to the point without betraying
shame or inferiority, unlike common people who want to borrow money
for a bad debt. Such a man as he is either mad or self-confident in
doing business. But judging from his dauntless eyes and booming
voice he is an uncommon man with a superhuman brain, worthy
of my trust. I know money and I know men. Money often makes a man
small, but a man like him makes big money. I am only glad to have
helped a big man do big business.”
BEHIND THE SCENES OF ROYAL PALACES IN KOREA, HA
TAE-HUNG, 1983
Observance II
On his deathbed in 1533, Vasily III, the Grand
Duke of Moscow and ruler of a semi-united Russia, proclaimed his
three-year-old son, Ivan IV, as his successor. He appointed his
young wife, Helena, as regent until Ivan reached his majority and
could rule on his own. The aristocracy—the boyars—secretly
rejoiced: For years the dukes of Moscow had been trying to extend
their authority over the boyars’ turf. With Vasily dead, his heir a
mere three years old, and a young woman in charge of the dukedom,
the boyars would be able to roll back the dukes’ gains, wrest
control of the state, and humiliate the royal family.
Aware of these dangers, young Helena turned to her
trusted friend Prince Ivan Obolensky to help her rule. But after
five years as regent she suddenly died—poisoned by a member of the
Shuisky family, the most fearsome boyar clan. The Shuisky princes
seized control of the government and threw Obolensky in prison,
where he starved to death. At the age of eight, Ivan was now a
despised orphan, and any boyar or family member who took an
interest in him was immediately banished or killed.
And so Ivan roamed the palace, hungry, ill clothed,
and often in hiding from the Shuiskys, who treated him roughly when
they saw him. On some days they would search him out, clothe him in
royal robes, hand him a scepter, and set him on the throne—a kind
of mock ritual in which they lampooned his royal pretensions. Then
they would shoo him away. One evening several of them chased the
Metropolitan—the head of the Russian church—through the palace, and
he sought refuge in Ivan’s room; the boy watched in horror as the
Shuiskys entered, hurled insults, and beat the Metropolitan
mercilessly.
Ivan had one friend in the palace, a boyar named
Vorontsov who consoled and advised him. One day, however, as he,
Vorontsov, and the newest Metropolitan conferred in the palace
refectory, several Shuiskys burst in, beat up Uorontsov, and
insulted the Metropolitan by tearing and treading on his robes.
Then they banished Vorontsov from Moscow.
Throughout all this Ivan maintained a strict
silence. To the boyars it seemed that their plan had worked: The
young man had turned into a terrified and obedient idiot. They
could ignore him now, even leave him alone. But on the evening of
December 29, 1543, Ivan, now thirteen, asked Prince Andrei Shuisky
to come to his room. When the prince arrived, the room was filled
with palace guards. Young Ivan then pointed his finger at Andrei
and ordered the guards to arrest him, have him killed, and throw
his body to the bloodhounds in the royal kennel. Over the next few
days Ivan had all of Andrei’s close associates arrested and
banished. Caught off-guard by his sudden boldness, the boyars now
stood in mortal terror of this youth, the future Ivan the Terrible,
who had planned and waited for five years to execute this one swift
and bold act that would secure his power for decades to come.
Interpretation
The world is full of boyars—men who despise you,
fear your ambition, and jealously guard their shrinking realms of
power. You need to establish your authority and gain respect, but
the moment the boyars sense your growing boldness, they will act to
thwart you. This is how Ivan met such a situation: He lay low,
showing neither ambition nor discontent. He waited, and when the
time came he brought the palace guards over to his side. The guards
had come to hate the cruel Shuiskys. Once they agreed to Ivan’s
plan, he struck with the swiftness of a snake, pointing his finger
at Shuisky and giving him no time to react.
Negotiate with a boyar and you create opportunities
for him. A small compromise becomes the toehold he needs to tear
you apart. The sudden bold move, without discussion or warning,
obliterates these toeholds, and builds your authority. You terrify
doubters and despisers and gain the confidence of the many who
admire and glorify those who act boldly.
Observance III
In 1514 the twenty-two-year-old Pietro Aretino was
working as a lowly assistant scullion to a wealthy Roman family. He
had ambitions of greatness as a writer, to enflame the world with
his name, but how could a mere lackey hope to realize such
dreams?
That year Pope Leo X received from the king of
Portugal an embassy that included many gifts, most prominent among
them a great elephant, the first in Rome since imperial times. The
pontiff adored this elephant and showered it with attention and
gifts. But despite his love and care, the elephant, which was
called Hanno, became deathly ill. The pope summoned doctors, who
administered a five-hundred-pound purgative to the elephant, but
all to no avail. The animal died and the pope went into mourning.
To console himself he summoned the great painter Raphael and
ordered him to create a life-sized painting of Hanno above the
animal’s tomb, bearing the inscription, “What nature took away,
Raphael has with his art restored.”
Over the next few days, a pamphlet circulated
throughout Rome that caused great merriment and laughter. Entitled
“The Last Will and Testament of the Elephant Hanno,” it read, in
part, “To my heir the Cardinal Santa Croce, I give my knees, so
that he can imitate my genuflections.... To my heir Cardinal Santi
Quattro, I give my jaws, so that he can more readily devour all of
Christ’s revenues.... To my heir Cardinal Medici, I give my ears,
so that he can hear everyone’s doings....” To Cardinal Grassi, who
had a reputation for lechery, the elephant bequeathed the
appropriate, oversized part of his own anatomy.
On and on the anonymous pamphlet went, sparing none
of the great in Rome, not even the pope. With each one it took aim
at their best-known weakness. The pamphlet ended with verse, “See
to it that Aretino is your friend / For he is a bad enemy to have.
/ His words alone could ruin the high pope / So God guard everyone
from his tongue.”
Interpretation
With one short pamphlet, Aretino, son of a poor
shoemaker and a servant himself, hurled himself to fame. Everyone
in Rome rushed to find out who this daring young man was. Even the
pope, amused by his audacity, sought him out and ended up giving
him a job in the papal service. Over the years he came to be known
as the “Scourge of Princes,” and his biting tongue earned him the
respect and fear of the great, from the king of France to the
Hapsburg emperor.
Fear, which always magnifies objects, gives a
body to all their fancies, which takes for its form whatever they
conceive to exist in their enemies’ thoughts; so that fearful
persons seldom fail to fall into real inconveniences, occasioned by
imaginary dangers.... And the duke, whose predominant character was
to be always full of fear and of distrust, was, of all men I have
ever seen, the most capable of falling into false steps, by the
dread he had of falling into them; being in that like unto
hares.
CARDINAL DE RETZ, 1613-1679
The Aretino strategy is simple: When you are as
small and obscure as David was, you must find a Goliath to attack.
The larger the target, the more attention you gain. The bolder the
attack, the more you stand out from the crowd, and the more
admiration you earn. Society is full of those who think daring
thoughts but lack the guts to print and publicize them. Voice what
the public feels—the expression of shared feelings is always
powerful. Search out the most prominent target possible and sling
your boldest shot. The world will enjoy the spectacle, and will
honor the underdog—you, that is—with glory and power.
1111. BOY AND
A boy playing in the fields got stung by a
nettle. He ran home to his mother, telling her that he had but
touched that nasty weed, and it had stung him. “It was just your
touching it, my boy,” said the mother, “that caused it to sting
you; the next time you meddle with a nettle, grasp it tightly, and
it will do you no hurt.”
Do boldly what you do at all.
FABLES, AESOP. SIXTH CENTURY B.C.
KEYS TO POWER
Most of us are timid. We want to avoid tension and
conflict and we want to be liked by all. We may contemplate a bold
action but we rarely bring it to life. We are terrified of the
consequences, of what others might think of us, of the hostility we
will stir up if we dare go beyond our usual place.
Although we may disguise our timidity as a concern
for others, a desire not to hurt or offend them, in fact it is the
opposite—we are really self-absorbed, worried about ourselves and
how others perceive us. Boldness, on the other hand, is
outer-directed, and often makes people feel more at ease, since it
is less self-conscious and less repressed.
This can be seen most clearly in seduction. All
great seducers succeed through effrontery. Casanova’s boldness was
not revealed in a daring approach to the woman he desired, or in
intrepid words to flatter her; it consisted in his ability to
surrender himself to her completely and to make her believe he
would do anything for her, even risk his life, which in fact he
sometimes did. The woman on whom he lavished this attention
understood that he held nothing back from her. This was infinitely
more flattering than compliments. At no point during the seduction
would he show hesitation or doubt, simply because he never felt
it.
Part of the charm of being seduced is that it makes
us feel engulfed, temporarily outside of ourselves and the usual
doubts that permeate our lives. The moment the seducer hesitates,
the charm is broken, because we become aware of the process, of
their deliberate effort to seduce us, of their self-consciousness.
Boldness directs attention outward and keeps the illusion alive. It
never induces awkwardness or embarrassment. And so we admire the
bold, and prefer to be around them, because their self-confidence
infects us and draws us outside our own realm of inwardness and
reflection.
HOW IOBL.
But with those who have made an impression upon
your heart, I have noticed that you are timid. This quality might
affect a bourgeoise, but you must attack the heart of a woman of
the world with other weapons.... I tell you on behalf of women:
there is not one of us who does not prefer a little rough handling
to too much consideration. Men lose through blundering more hearts
than virtue saves. The more timidity a lover shows with us the more
it concerns our pride to goad him on; the more respect he has for
our resistance, the more respect we demand of him. We
would willingly say to you men: “Ah, in pity’s name do not suppose
us to be so very virtuous; you are forcing us to have too much of
it....”
We are continually struggling to hide the fact
that we have permitted ourselves to be loved. Put a woman in a
position to say that she has yielded only to a species of violence,
or to surprise: persuade her that you do not undervalue her, and I
will answer for her heart....A little more boldness on your part
would put you both at your ease. Do you remember what M. de la
Rochefoucauld told you lately: “A reasonable man in love may act
like a madman, but he should not and cannot act like an
idiot.”
LIFE, LETTERS, AND EPICUREAN PHILOSOPHY OF NINON
DE LENCLOS, NINON DE LENCLOS, 1620-1705
Few are born bold. Even Napoleon had to cultivate
the habit on the battlefield, where he knew it was a matter of life
and death. In social settings he was awkward and timid, but he
overcame this and practiced boldness in every part of his life
because he saw its tremendous power, how it could literally enlarge
a man (even one who, like Napoleon, was in fact conspicuously
small). We also see this change in Ivan the Terrible: A harmless
boy suddenly transforms himself into a powerful young man who
commands authority, simply by pointing a finger and taking bold
action.
You must practice and develop your boldness. You
will often find uses for it. The best place to begin is often the
delicate world of negotiation, particularly those discussions in
which you are asked to set your own price. How often we put
ourselves down by asking for too little. When Christopher Columbus
proposed that the Spanish court finance his voyage to the Americas,
he also made the insanely bold demand that he be called “Grand
Admiral of the Ocean.” The court agreed. The price he set was the
price he received—he demanded to be treated with respect, and so he
was. Henry Kissinger too knew that in negotiation, bold demands
work better than starting off with piecemeal concessions and trying
to meet the other person halfway. Set your value high, and then, as
Count Lustig did, set it higher.
Understand: If boldness is not natural, neither is
timidity. It is an acquired habit, picked up out of a desire to
avoid conflict. If timidity has taken hold of you, then, root it
out. Your fears of the consequences of a bold action are way out of
proportion to reality, and in fact the consequences of timidity are
worse. Your value is lowered and you create a self-fulfilling cycle
of doubt and disaster. Remember: The problems created by an
audacious move can be disguised, even remedied, by more and greater
audacity.
Image: The Lion and the
Hare. The lion creates no
gaps in his way—his
movements are too
swift, his jaws too quick
and powerful. The
timid hare will do any
thing to escape danger,
but in its haste to
retreat and flee, it backs
into traps, hops smack
into its enemies’ jaws.
Hare. The lion creates no
gaps in his way—his
movements are too
swift, his jaws too quick
and powerful. The
timid hare will do any
thing to escape danger,
but in its haste to
retreat and flee, it backs
into traps, hops smack
into its enemies’ jaws.
Authority: I certainly think that it is better to
be impetuous than cautious, for fortune is a woman, and it is
necessary, if you wish to master her, to conquer her by force; and
it can be seen that she lets herself be overcome by the bold rather
than by those who proceed coldly. And therefore, like a woman, she
is always a friend to the young, because they are less cautious,
fiercer, and master her with greater audacity. (Niccolò
Machiavelli, 1469-1527)
REVERSAL
Boldness should never be the strategy behind all
of your actions. It is a tactical instrument, to be used at the
right moment. Plan and think ahead, and make the final element the
bold move that will bring you success. In other words, since
boldness is a learned response, it is also one that you learn to
control and utilize at will. To go through life armed only with
audacity would be tiring and also fatal. You would offend too many
people, as is proven by those who cannot control their boldness.
One such person was Lola Montez; her audacity brought her triumphs
and led to her seduction of the king of Bavaria. But since she
could never rein in her boldness, it also led to her downfall—in
Bavaria, in England, wherever she turned. It crossed the border
between boldness and the appearance of cruelty, even insanity. Ivan
the Terrible suffered the same fate: When the power of boldness
brought him success, he stuck to it, to the point where it became a
lifelong pattern of violence and sadism. He lost the ability to
tell when boldness was appropriate and when it was not.
Timidity has no place in the realm of power; you
will often benefit, however, by being able to feign it. At that
point, of course, it is no longer timidity but an offensive weapon:
You are luring people in with your show of shyness, all the better
to pounce on them boldly later.