Saturday, September 25, 2010

Rule #2: Never put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn to use Enemies


Law 2

Never put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to use Enemies
"Be wary of friends-they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy.  They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove.  In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies.  If you have no enemies, find a way to make them."


This was the second rule written by Robert Greene and a very important one that should be practiced by those who want to maintain their power.  It sounds very harsh when you first think about it, "Why shouldn't I trust my friends?  They're always there for me."  Actually, in reality, it can be dangerous game to play since if you rely on your friends too much to build you power, you end up losing a lot of it in most times to disappointments which actually may end up breaking your friendship.

" Thus for my own part I have more than once been deceived by the person I loved most and of whose love, above everyone else's, I have been most confident.  So that I believe that it may be right to love and serve one person above all others, according to merit and worth but never to trust so much in this tempting trap of a friendship as to have cause to repent of it later on. "

Baldassare Castiglione
1478-1529


Learning to use your enemies instead of your friends gives you a whole new degree of power, and this is why: Enemies are at least truthful in the fact that they dislike you, and are likely to show their emotions openly towards you.  Friends, on the other hand, tend to brush thing under the rug about the qualities they dislike to soften the harshness and avoid conflict.  Do we really know our friends as well as we believe?  Sometimes we laugh extra hard at each others jokes to keep each other happy, and act happy when they succeed, but deep down feel envy eating away inside.  


Basically, when you hire your friends, they will very likely limit your power because they feel like they are condescending to your whim, which is the very last thing they want to do.  "Keep friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and the competent."  If you lucky and your friends are both skilled and competent, then go ahead, but still be wary of the complications that may ensue in the struggle to obtain a balance in power.

"Your enemies, on the other hand, are an untapped gold mine that you must learn to exploit."  There are many lessons in history that dictate this point, and it also occurs regularly in movies, novels, video games, and more. The reason why this has always been a key to power is because you are essentially killing two birds with one stone.  By befriending your enemy, he no longer becomes a danger to you, and he can also further your cause further in your quest for power.

For instance, Kobe and Shaq were enemies in the past, they hated each other and it seemed that they would not be able to play well as team mates.  After overcoming this obstacle, they went on to win championships and proved this laws effectiveness yet again.

Remember that in your quest for power, it is sometimes difficult to discern between your friends and your enemies, but you can always reap benefits from either party if you are careful and not let your emotions cloud your judgement.

35 comments:

Earl said...

Truer words were never spoken... GREAT post man. Look forward to more. Keep in touch :D

Mutefox said...

Aren't you the little Machiavelli? You're ALL over the internets, too.

BLUERAD said...

Haha, I read The Prince when I was like 8 years old, I had to use the dictionary for like half the words at the time @_@

also @ deviantsoul

thanks for all the continued support and glad to see your blog doing very well!

Loooking forward to your future posts as well

Crunky said...

Jesus is such a good friend that if he went out and got two blowjobs he'd come back and give me one...

bloggin time said...

Enemies are fun.

jimbob007 said...

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Lewis said...

nice post luv man

Beerandchips said...

maybe my friends are skilled and competent :O

Hank Noir said...

awesome post. looking forward to your future ones :)

!Antibiootikum said...

lol tollerance is the cancer thats killing the world

BLUERAD said...

haha thanks for all the great comments, just finished checking up on all your blogs, great to see all the new content, its 3am now though, gonna head to bed

Frank said...

This makes loads of sense! Also love your references to old times!

Michele said...

Cool!
Supp

melinko said...

good post keep them up.

Eferhilda said...

you and your awesome blogs!

Following and showing my support.

Michael Casspir said...

I liked your other blogs so much that I thought I'd give this one a try, too!

http://adf.ly/aUUD said...

shaq will dunk on whoever

Rendakor said...

Very insightful post; I've read Machiavelli but never read Greene before. Keep 'em coming.

Flippy said...

Good advice, I always try to keep these ideas in mind. I especially likes the Kobe/Shaq example

Sweeeeeetas said...

The enemy of my enemy is my friend :D

bezzare said...

Hmmmm nice post looking forward to more in the future cant wait always following you mate
cya

ModerneFusion said...

Very interesting blog, I've actually came across this book at the bookstore and considered purchasing it!

Unknown said...

Hmm i've never actually thought about it like that. But I guess it's true. Friends are more likely to walk all over you because they know you will generally let it slide while former enemies will know that you aren't going to take their nonsense. I'm gonna have to follow you so I can get some more insightful stuff like this.

Bear Cavalry said...

This was so insightful mayne

darkmanx said...

I think the friend thing is kind of true, they say you always hurt those closest to you, but i'm hard pressed to find a good example of using your enemy, or even a good technique on how to use him.

BLUERAD said...

Phew been answering comments for the past hour, love everyones support, gives me a lot of motivation to write a better blog post each time!

@ Darkmanx

Well... I'm the type of person who didn't have a tonne of enemies growing up, I tried to avoid making any, but at one point it kind of imploded and I ended up alienating alot of people I considered to be my friends.

Theres a reason why you and your enemy have a messed up relationship, but the laws of power state that it's always best to use your enemy in the future instead of letting him destroy you.

If YOU are the one to bury the hatchet, he owes you for curing that rift, and in the future, who knows, most wounds mend eventually. Not saying you'll become best friends, but in most circumstances, there should be a way for both of you to gain mutual benefits from reconciliation?

- Enfermo - said...

Nice post - keep up the good work! ;)

CawlinForReal said...

Interesting viewpoint.
Personally I love having allies, but to each his own.

Cawlin's Twitter!

D4C said...

Good stuff man keep it coming.

Rarglol said...

My teacher did not teach me this in school.

Anonymous said...

haha so true.

RandomlyRated said...

Great read, thanks!

Anonymous said...

Very interesting and thought provoking stuff you have here.

Totalitarian said...

This blog is right up my alley :P
Thanks for the tips!

joanna.elherro said...

learned this the hard way. nice blog. following.