Law 3: Conceal Your Intentions (48 Laws of Power)
Conceal Your Intentions Always conceal your intentions. If you keep people off-balance and in the dark, they can’t counter your efforts. Send them down the wrong path with a red herring or create a smokescreen and by the time they realize what you’re up to, it will be too late to interfere.
Use Decoys and Red Herrings
Concealing your intentions is easy because it’s human nature to trust appearances.
- Present a decoy or red herring – something phony that’s intended to attract attention and thus mislead – and people will take the appearance for reality, and won’t notice what you’re really doing.
Exceptions to Law 3: Conceal your intentions
Diversionary tactics don’t work if you’re already known to be a deceiver
- If you’ve had success in the past, admit your past behavior and pretend to be repentant
- You may be admired for your candidness, and you can continue your deceptions
Try False Sincerity to Conceal Your Intentions
Use false sincerity as a red herring to throw people off the scent
- Appearing to believe what you say adds authority to your words
- Don’t overdo your fake sincerity, however, or you’ll arouse suspicions
Putting Law 3 to Work, Example #1
Joseph Weil, an early 1900s con artist known as The Yellow Kid, used a purported business deal to lure Chicago businessman Sam Geezil into an elaborate trap
- Weil thought he was participating in a deal in which he would buy property from a group of wealthy men at a low price, then resell it at a high price and split the proceeds with his supposed co-conspirator, Weil
- As the “deal” was being wrapped up at a meeting with the wealthy property owners (weil introduced his real purpose), Weil introduced a scheme to get him to bet the money he was using to buy the property on a boxing match, which Weil would fix
- The match was indeed fixed, but in a different way – the boxer who was supposed to win took a supposedly errant punch and didn’t get up. Fearing that the boxer had been killed and not wanting to be implicated in a crime, he fled the scene, leaving his money behind
Putting Decoys to Work to Conceal Your Intentions
Otto von Bismarck, as a deputy in the Prussian parliament, succeeded in his aim of going to war by using a decoy
- To distract Austria and others from his true goal he gave a speech against war and even praised Austria
- War was averted for the moment, and the king made him a cabinet minister, which positioned him to start strengthening the army and developing political allies
Putting Law 3 to Work, Example #2
In the 1920s, Haile Selassie used apparent innocence to disarm a military leader who conspired against him
- He invited the military leader Balcha to a banquet.
- While Salassie distracted Balcha with the banquet, Balcha’s troops surrounded him and he surrendered, and his troops were given weapons with gold
The 48 Laws of Power summary:
Why you should never outshine your boss
Use Smokescreens
An effective way to deceive people is to conceal your intentions behind a comfortable and familiar facade – a smokescreen that you create.
- One of the most effective smokescreens is assuming a bland expression and manner. It lulls your target into complacency and he doesn’t notice he’s being deceived.
Smokescreen Tactics to Conceal Your Intentions
Make a seemingly noble gesture
- People want to believe they’re genuine, and miss the fact that a noble gesture can conceal other purposes
- Create a pattern that serves as a smokescreen
- Do a series of things that convince your target you’re going in a particular direction
- Exploit the human tendency to mistake appearance for reality
- Seem to blend into a group