The Power Playbook: Unpacking "The 48 Laws of Power"

Summary

In this episode, Dalton reviews the book 'The 48 Laws of Power' by Robert Greene. He discusses the different feel of this book compared to 'The Daily Stoic', noting that while the latter promotes peace and community, the former leaves readers feeling disgruntled. Dalton addresses the criticism that the book is a psychopath playbook, arguing that knowledge itself is neutral and individuals' actions determine whether they are good or evil. He highlights three laws relevant to everyday life from the book: never outshine the master, always say less than necessary, and despise a free lunch.

Takeaways

The 48 Laws of Power is a book that explores strategies for gaining influence, but it leaves readers feeling disgruntled compared to books like 'The Daily Stoic' that promote peace and community.
The book has been labeled as the psychopath playbook, but knowledge itself is neutral and it is the actions of individuals that determine whether they are good or evil.
Three laws from the book that are relevant in everyday life are: never outshine the master, always say less than necessary, and despise a free lunch.
Readers should reflect on their own actions and consider whether they are following any of the laws from the book without realizing it.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction
01:10 Different Feel of The 48 Laws of Power
07:17 The Psychopath Playbook
12:35 Applying the Laws in Real Life
31:10 The Book's Morality
33:00 Engaging with the Audience
34:01 Upcoming Topic: Nvidia's Omniverse

Creators & Guests

Host

Dalton Anderson

I like to explore and build stuff.

What is Venture Step?

Venture Step Podcast: Dive into the boundless journey of entrepreneurship and the richness of life with "Venture Step Podcast," where we unravel the essence of creating, innovating, and living freely. This show is your gateway to exploring the multifaceted world of entrepreneurship, not just as a career path but as a lifestyle that embraces life's full spectrum of experiences. Each episode of "Venture Step Podcast" invites you to explore new horizons, challenge conventional wisdom, and discover the unlimited potential within and around you.

Dalton (00:00)
Welcome to VentureStep Podcasts where we discuss entrepreneurship, industry trends, and the occasional book review. Imagine a book that reveals the strategies used by history's most ruthless kings, conquerors, con artists, and manipulators. That's The 48 Laws of Power, a guidebook to gaining influence that is both chilling and fascinating if you can stomach it. Before we dive in today, I'm Dalton.

We've got a bit of a mix of background between programming, data science and insurance offline. You can find me running, building my side business or loss in a good book as we'll be discussing today. If you prefer a video format and you want to see me interacting and maybe getting bit by mosquitoes or my Google going off, then you can view that on Spotify or YouTube. Otherwise you can find

audio version on Spotify, YouTube, Apple podcasts, or wherever you find your podcasts.

Today we'll be reviewing the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene.

The 48 Laws of Power has a different feel after your sessions, your reading sessions than the Daily Stoic. And I mentioned it briefly a little bit during the Daily Stoic Review. The 48 Laws of Power differs between the Daily Stoic in the way that after you read the Daily Stoic or in my experience, after I read the Daily Stoic, I felt this...

peace and the yearning of community and trust your fellow man and be a better person and do the right thing and act with discipline and honor. Whereas the 48 laws of power after your sessions is a little disgrunting. This, you know, it leaves you disgruntled for sure. Depending on the law, some of the laws are good and some are just.

Cruel, I guess.

With that being said, I set the stage. Today we will be discussing the mole dilemma of the 48 Laws of Power, why you should or should not read the book, and what laws do we live by, whether we like to admit it or not.

The 48 Laws of Power is the second most banned book in the United States prison system. The first book is another book that was authored by Robert Greene called The Art of Seduction. And the statement that the prison system, the federal prison system stated was they had concerns about the prisoners obviously weaponizing the laws.

to manipulate other prisoners for their bidding or the manipulation of the officers or guards. So that's why the 48 Laws of Power is the second most banned book according to the government.

The book itself is being labeled as the psychopath playbook. And is that accurate? Are some of these laws manipulative? 100%, yes. The whole book is about manipulating others and pulling those right levers to find your optimal outcome for yourself and discarding others as

just the waste, whereas everyone is disposable and there is no one of value besides yourself pretty much. That's what the book says, right? So.

I think that there are some laws that are obviously really bad. Like there's one, I don't know the exact law number, but it's basically keep your hands clean. And on the surface it means, oh, on the surface you could be like, okay, well that means don't do bad things. That's not what the law means though. The law means in more detail, it states that,

Hey, you know, mistakes are gonna happen. You're gonna accidentally do bad things and you need to save face. So the way to do that is you need to always have someone around that will be used to take this sword, fall on the sword, take the blame. And. You know, you're basically just building up this person to put him on the guillotine.

when there is a mistake and someone has to pay. You don't pay, you keep your hands clean. And that's what that law is about. But then there's also a good law, and we'll discuss it in a little bit later in the show, is always say less than necessary. And on the surface, that seems like, oh, you're trying to deceive people because you're an

you're not stating the whole truth. And that's not really what the law means in detail. The law states that if you want to impress someone, you shouldn't be.

talking too much basically in short term. And so a good example would be in an interview when someone asks you, tell me about yourself. And if the person or while you're being interviewed, if you spend 20 minutes talking about yourself, then it looks bad. It's not what the question's about. It's about,

being able to answer some snippets about yourself in a concise manner and be direct and not blabber on. Or if you're at a meeting with someone or an acquaintance and you're trying to leave a good impression and so you're constantly talking about yourself and you're not actively listening to them, then obviously that leaves a bad taste in people's mouths. So you have, you know.

two ears, one mouth. So in short, the rule is about if you're always yearning for people's favor, then the result will be the opposite. So I think that's a pretty fair law. And I don't find that overly manipulative. It's just stating the truth.

So that kind of goes into our next segment of.

the morality of a book and that's something that is discussed online quite often or if someone sees what you're reading, they're like, oh my gosh, you're one of those people, huh? And I think it's good to talk about the morality piece of the book. So a lot of people are disgusted and roughly so.

And I think that their perspective is skewed because people view things through.

the, I guess the morality of the knowledge, right? The book itself is not evil or good. Knowledge cannot have morality. Morality is a societal thing by a system of which humans live through their actions and try to abide by certain values upheld by

others to kind of hold the line and keep a standard of what is good and bad and what is okay to do. So for a book to have morality it needs to have humanity and obviously a book does not. So a book in itself is not evil. A book cannot make someone good or bad. It is through the person's actions of which they are good or evil.

So I think if you think about it in that way, the 48 laws of power cannot be evil. And I think that the book is interesting in its own right with historical anecdotes about the laws and it gives additional perspective on things that happen throughout human history and why the laws are relevant through various historical examples. Most of them are related to business, war,

royal courts and those such subjects. So the subjects in themselves are a bit ruthless.

more so with royal courts and in war and less so business and business is more I think conversational where as the war and royal courts are bit life or death especially back in the day where things things are like the Game of Thrones so and I'm sure everyone's seen the Game of Thrones and

It's not a fun place. I definitely wouldn't want to live in that era. So that being said, I don't think the book is evil and I would encourage people to view knowledge as neutral.

and go into it with a open mind, you might have some takeaways and you might not, but I don't think that you should allow people to skew your viewpoints of the book before you even read it. And I think that's something that people might have issues with when they read their reviews and everyone is talking about their disgust and

displeasure of the book and why you should never read it because it's inherently gross.

And that being said, maybe the book is the psychopath playbook. And all the laws are highly manipulative and teach you how to manipulate and use others for your own advantage. And then if that's true, then I think your best defense is offense where,

you read the book and you can spot manipulators and you can find out these little snippets of information that would help you dissolve a plot in disguise. And you're less likely to be a pawn in this game that is played in society and something that's, it's definitely a smoke and mirrors thing in the corporate world sometimes depending on.

the leadership situation, there's always some kind of moves going on in the background that you're either playing unknowingly or you're playing for the most part. Everyone has a role. And so I would try to protect where you're at or else you might get axed. So.

And the example that I have potentially is.

One that would be useful in the workplace is law three, conceal your intentions. And so this could be good or bad, but I would like to view it in a better light, where you conceal your intentions of potentially you don't like where you're at a workplace at. I said that messed up. Where you don't like your workplace. The environment's poor, hard hours.

You don't feel appreciated and you are looking for more money to compensate yourself for the additional responsibilities you have. The team is low staffed and it's overall very stressful. And you go to your boss or whatever and you ask them, hey, I'm looking for a raise, blah, blah, blah. And maybe they're not receptive to it.

I wouldn't freak out and tell them, Hey, if you don't give me this money, then I'm leaving. Cause the first thing that happens, if you, if you're sort of threatening a corporation or your boss, then you're going to get fired a hundred percent. They're not going to work with you or anything like that. They're just going to fire you. The second thing.

If you were to

And I guess that would be more about concealing your emotions, but your intention of getting a raise and being upset about not getting a raise are kind of similar. The second thing that I wouldn't do is if you're looking for a job, tell your boss, hey, I'm looking for a job and I have all these other opportunities, then without an offer, right? Like you can't be in a position of vulnerability.

and expect to be treated with a position of strength. So if you were telling your boss, hey, I'm looking at other companies and they've got better opportunities, the person is going to be like, oh, fine, that's fine. We could cut ties right now. It doesn't seem like you're focused on the job that you have. And so it's okay. Here's your two weeks and here you go. Or if it's a competitor, you just give...

fired right away. But if you had an offer and say, Hey, I have this offer for 20 % more for what my salary is. And I have this other offer. And I wanted to come to you out of respect and and out of all the memories we've shared on those hard products we've been working on over the last 10 months, and I wanted to get your perspective. And so they might come back and say, Nope, there's nothing we could do. We're not keeping you.

good luck at your next company, that's fine. But you could also have them respect you as an employee and give you that extra 20%. And maybe that's more than you originally would have gotten. But if you didn't conceal your intentions until you were ready, then you wouldn't have been able to do such a thing. You would never have gotten the opportunity. So,

That's an example of how you can.

flip the script on some of these rules. The rule itself, the details of the rule is definitely more nefarious than what I explained, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the rules are poor. It's just the commercial decision that Robert Greene made where kind of added a little bit of artistry flair to what

the law was and maybe exaggerated the extremeness to get people to talk about it online and make videos and outrage and these reviews and such. And that's a tactic that's used by people all over across the internet where they say stuff that is just completely outrageous and they get called out by the media, they get called out by people, other influencers. And at the end of the day,

It's a crazy thing to say, but at the end of the day, a publicity is publicity. Like you're, if people are talking about you, even a good light or bad light, that means you're getting ad revenue. That means that you're, you're still in the conversation and your name's constantly being mentioned and the people that don't know who you are are going to go and look you up. And yeah. So I think that the stance that Robert Green took on, on creating the book and the way that he explains the laws,

is a little more exaggerated than the actual implementation of them. So there, you know, there's another one, law nine, win through your actions, not through arguments. And there's a good quote in that law. And I'm going to paraphrase it, but I don't know who it's from either.

The truth is seen, rarely heard. And the details about the law from my memory is more of considering your long -term.

ramifications of your actions. So like long -term, what would happen if you got into an argument with someone at work or in your personal life about X thing instead of you winning through your actions. If you're arguing, you can, you can trigger people's insecurities and, and, or anger them to the point of which they are.

on the attack and aggressive towards your plans. And maybe your plans are good even for them, but just out of spite, they don't want it to happen. So basically what the rule is saying is,

Do not argue with such things. Just win people over through your actions and not necessarily your words, which I think is a fair rule and is something that many people strive to do.

So what are some laws that we live by and we maybe don't realize it or we're not admitted? So I think the first thing that we have to recognize is humans are social creatures and with that comes power dynamics in every group. And the book lays that out and lays them bare.

which makes people inherently uncomfortable. So I picked three laws that I thought were relevant in your day -to -day lives. So law one is the first law, if we're doing the math correctly, is never outshine the master. So this rule is a little bit more about your relationship with your supervisor at work.

and how that relates to yourself. And so you always want to...

And always is a tough word with absolutes. But for the most part, you don't want to outshine your master because your master is the one who is paying you. That's the one who is hired, who hired you, who gives you experience, who is nurturing you. And if you're constantly outshining your master and making your boss look bad, then it's going to trigger

insecurities or anger them or, you know, just overall frightened, frightened your boss and potentially make them hostile towards your progress as an employee or your potential friendship or mentorship to the point where it might stall you and you might have to jump jobs. And there are situations where, you know, you're, you're

You have all these great ideas and and maybe you go around your boss on accident and it makes them look bad. And maybe they would have been willing to hear you out and do everything that needed to be done to implement your plan. But instead, you you accidentally went around them and or purposely. However, this plays out.

which angered your boss, those kinds of things. If you did that consistently, then I think your boss would get upset. Right. That would be an example of, you know, not not outshining the master or, you know, there's those those sensei movies where it was like the wax off, wax off the karate kid. And the student is the student and the master is the master. And.

And there is a time to outshine your master. And that's when the master's light is fading. You know, they're retiring or they're moving on. And that's when you when you step up and you take their spot, if that's what you want. Law four, always say less than necessary. That's something we talked about a little earlier. And I had a business aspect, but we could also talk about that and just just friendships or.

or relationships. Like if you were somewhere new, you just move there. We could say you just move to...

Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, something like that. If you move from place X to Y and you were desperate for friends, I don't think the best way for you to become friends with someone is for you to be like, hey, I just moved here. I am super desperate for friends. I have no friends and.

Honestly, I don't know what to do. I'm just so bored. I don't know. I want to be friends with you really bad.

That may work on some people, but for the most part, people already have their own friend groups and they already have their own situations. So they're not as receptive as someone who is brand new. That may work on someone who has just moved there like yourself, but if you're talking to a current resident, then...

an established resident with their own social structure already rooted in their environment, then it's going to be probably a poor opportunity for you. That can also be said is if you are courting, if I was courting a woman and I wanted to date her, if within two weeks of knowing her, I was.

telling her that she's the love of my life and that I want to be with her forever. And I can't wait to take the next step into our relationship. And I can see us getting engaged and having a house and kids together. That probably isn't gonna, gonna work. I mean, maybe, maybe I see that and she has really positive traits that I admire with a partner.

especially a lifetime partner. And maybe she has potential to be my wife.

that is something you should just keep to yourself, especially within two weeks of knowing them. Maybe you could hit some of those points in six months, and then sprinkle some more in at a year, and sprinkle some more in. But definitely don't overwhelm someone with your desire to love them right away. So the next law is,

Law 41 despise a free lunch. And this is they had a really cool story related to this law. And I'm pretty sure it is this law where it was a story from Egypt and it was about a royal family and a brother who was accepting a lot of gifts and was living a lavish life. And the other brother was poor and

accepted that he didn't have much, right? I mean, I guess he was royal, but he wasn't living the life that his brother was living. And his brother was like, hey, just accept these gifts and then all will be well. You could live the life that I live, brother. We could live this together. I'm alone here. And then the brother responded.

I choose not to accept these gifts. I'm okay with what I have as I understand that if what I obtain is not earned, that it could flow quickly back to the original owner, swiftly like a river, something along the lines of that. And at the end of the story, the other families that were giving over those gifts, it...

cost a lot and I think it winded up costing the brother either his life or his kingdom because these gifts added up this unknown debt because there's no such thing as a free lunch. Everything costs money. Either, I think everything costs, either monetarily or non -monetary costs that are associated with these free gestures for the most part.

I mean, I would exclude my, hopefully my mom and that would please mom. I hope all those dinners and lunches over the years, they're adding up on a tab somewhere. Same thing with my Nana. Hopefully. Love you both. So, you know, you want to just buy a free lunch and you want to earn your way and you don't want people being able to take advantage of you or having.

one over you because you've been accepting all these free items from people. I think your free will is more important than having these material items that at the end of the day you can't take with you. You can't take those when you pass away, whenever that day is. That could be today, tomorrow, a year from now, 20 years, 50 years, 60 years. The time of your death is unknown but.

the way that you live it will be known forever, right? Like people will remember you and stories of yourself will be passed down to others. And in those moments is how you'll be remembered, not what car you had or what house you had or.

your cool Rolex watch. I mean, my watch is my watch is if you guys are watching the video, my watch is sick. I have a Fitbit charge six and it's that's brand new. But I think the total cost of it on sale is like 100 bucks. These things don't matter. None of these material. Items are genuinely important. What's important is your health.

your life, your friends, the community that you're in. Those things are what you should cherish.

So I think that after discussing these three laws, maybe as a listener, you should dig a little deeper internally and ask yourself, am I currently doing these things? Am I saying no to free things or am I accepting every free offer that I get? Am I always discussing more than what's necessary? Am I?

outshining my boss in consistent manners, which that might hinder my career progress. And so I think that if you just took five minutes and thought about your previous actions in the last couple months and try to find a situation where it's maybe relatable.

I think that it's not how to guide, it's more of a book of psychology than it is this how to psychopath playbook.

I don't feel that a book is inherently unethical. Like a...

I don't think a book can display these emotions. Good, evil, this is just simply...

neutral item in the world floating around and how it is applied is how it might be displayed to others in their personal situations but a book is not evil in itself it's the people reading the book and what they're doing after the fact.

Have you read the book? And if so, what laws stuck with you and are you better or worse? You could stay that and on this video and the comments on YouTube, Spotify, pretty sure has comments. I have to get better at that, but I don't understand the comments with Spotify. The YouTube though, I am active and I read the comments. We discussed comments last week and we had some...

some interesting ones like the guy, I don't know his name. I think MGG hyphen hyphen ZZ said, who asked? And I responded and I said, my friend, I ask you to look deeply into yourself and ask who looked. Then you will find the answer of who asked. That's what I said. Troll the troll. I think that's the way. But in a nice manner.

But yeah, so if you've read the book and you have potential explanation or takeaway on your thoughts about the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene, definitely, definitely please leave a comment on YouTube and I'll talk about it next episode. I haven't had any new comments this week. It's not a bad thing. Well, maybe you guys are saving them up for next week, I think. But definitely let...

Another thing is let me know if there is some examples from your life that maybe the 48 laws of power could have helped prevent an unfortunate event. And so I know I didn't discuss all the 48 laws of power, but if you just type in 48 laws of power list on the internet, you could pull them up and they're quite brief. They're five words each probably. And so that would be able to.

give you an explanation of whether or not potentially you could have been saved. And maybe if you have, then, or could have been, talk about a story if you don't mind sharing in the comments on YouTube. Well, that's it for this week. Next week, we're going to discuss some more Nvidia stuff. They...

released a little bit more information regarding their general AI for the robots that they're training. And they trained it in a virtual machine, not a virtual machine, but virtual reality. What was discussed when I did the company discovery on Nvidia, it's called the Omniverse. And the Omniverse was something I discussed where...

What is the name of the company?

I don't know, the rocket company, they do stuff for the military. I'm not sure what the name is. It starts with a M, I don't know why, it's on the tip of my tongue, military company, companies for the US. Looking it up.

Oh, it doesn't start with an M, but it's Lockheed Martin. I don't know. I had it on my tongue. I just couldn't. I just couldn't. I couldn't. There was no audible that was coming out. I was muted. Lockheed Martin was a company that used the Omniverse virtual reality to study the effects of climate change. But NVIDIA is using Omniverse to...

train these robots in the virtual reality. And so it's pretty cool. And it wasn't something that I had enough information to talk about last week. And I wanted to do some more research and have some more familiarity and wait for additional sources to come out. What I mean sources like they just had that demo that day. And I think that very next day or that day I did the podcast. So.

That's what I'm talking about is where I wanted the food to settle a little bit before we go to eat. So that's what we'll be talking about next week. Once again, I appreciate your time and have a good day, night, morning, wherever you are in the world. Appreciate you and talk to you next week. Bye.