The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene Law 42: Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep
Will Scatter Trouble can often be traced to a single strong
individual - the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoner of goodwill.
If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence.
Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them
- they are irredeemable.
Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them.
Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter.
"Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter."
"When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter."
"Cut the snake at the head."
These are fairly common proverbs, but what do they mean?
Within any group, trouble can most often be traced to a single source, the unhappy, chronically
dissatisfied one who will always stir up dissension and infect the group with his or her ill ease.
Before you know what hit you the dissatisfaction spreads.
Act before it becomes impossible to disentangle one strand of misery from another, or to see
how the whole thing started.
Isolation, then, is one of the most powerful ways to deal with that source of trouble.
Who Should You Isolate?
· Powerful people who have alienated themselves from the group.
· People whose power has gone to their heads, and they consider themselves superior.
· Those people who have perhaps lost their knack of communicating with ordinary folk,
basically people breaking law 18, isolation is dangerous.
· Search out people who hold high positions yet who find themselves isolated on the board.
And find the one head that matters—the person with willpower, or smarts, or, most important
of all, charisma.
Identify and Shut the Hell Raisers Down 1.
First, recognize troublemakers by their overbearing presence, or by their complaining nature.
2.
Once you spot them do not try to reform them or appease them—that will only make things
worse.
3.
Do not attack them, whether directly or indirectly, for they are poisonous in nature and will
work underground to destroy you.
4.
Do as the Athenians did: Banish them before it is too late.
5.
Separate them from the group before they become the eye of a tornado.
6.
Do not give them time to stir up anxieties and sow discontent.
7.
Do not give them room to move.
Let one person suffer so that the rest can live in peace.
8.
Once you recognize who the stirrer is, pointing it out to other people will accomplish a great
deal.
9.
Understanding who controls the group dynamic is a critical realization.
10.
Stirrers drive by hiding in the group, disguising their actions among the reactions of others.
But why isolate, can't you just hire an assassin and go about your daily life?
Well, that is an option, but as history has shown, not a very good one.
You see, getting rid of someone doesn't dissolve the loyalty of those who were close to your
enemy.
Rather isolate, as · They are vulnerable to you, and your presence
becomes magnified.
· It can prove a powerful way of bringing people under your spell to seduce or swindle
them.
· Here they feel weak, and succumb to deception more easily.
· Powerful though they may be, people like this can be turned to use.
· It is often better to isolate your enemies than to destroy them—you seem less brutal.
· They are like apples falling into your lap, easily seduced, and able to catapult
you into power yourself.
· Isolation disheartenes the sheep beyond any rational measure.
· Cancer begins with a single cell; excise it before it spreads beyond cure.
How does one isolate his enemies?
· Render their actions visible and they lose their power to upset.
· Separate your victims from their power base or their usual social context.
· The result is the same as that achieved with the help of an assassin, for in the game
of power, isolation spells death.
There's 3 kinds of isolation, · the Physical (banishment or absence from
the court).
· the Political (narrowing their base of support).
· and the Psychological (alienating them from the group through slander and insinuation).
Remember these when someone is trying to isolate you.
Machiavelli wrote "Any harm you do to a man should be done in such a way that you need
not fear his revenge.", basically what Law 15 is all about: crushing your opponents completely.
If you act to isolate your enemy, make sure he lacks the means to repay the favor.
If you apply this Law, in other words, apply it from a position of superiority, so that
you have nothing to fear from his resentment.
I've recently watched a great movie with Keyanu Reeves, that tells the story of the '47 Ronin.'
As a samurai warrior you swore allegiance to your masters, if they were to be killed,
their death had to be avenged.
If the samurai refused to take revenge in their fallen leader's name, they would lose
the honor of being a samurai, from there on living a dishonorable life in shame as Ronin.
What happens in the movie is what happens if you fail to isolate your enemy from his
followers.
Even postmortem, (when they're dead.. that is), your enemies may come to haunt you in
the form of their allies.
I really recommend that movie.
It's a great movie.
It is.
As always thanks for watching.