LAW 14: Pose As A Friend, Work As A Spy

Who are you working for?? Well, yourself... or you should be. Law 14 isn't about insincerity or screwing your friends over, but it's a sharp lesson in social intelligence and self-awareness. We explain how to learn about the people you're dealing with – especially those who're more powerful than you – and how to charm and disarm them into revealing more about themselves and their buttons than they intend. To use Law 14 effectively, you must calibrate yourself to other people, but this doesn't have to be insincere. There are risks, however: don't end up playing by their rules by being too keen to take on their worldview: always retain your own independent headspace. Ready to hone your social intelligence? Let's get going...

FULL NOTES: http://voicesinthedark.world/2016/09/05/pose-as-a-friend…power-episode-14/

This Episode includes:

• The Voices in the Dark kitten, Ned: check out his Instagram!
• A reminder that when it comes to people, knowledge, of all kinds, is power
• The egotism of expecting other people to share your goals and needs
• How to read and understand microexpressions – revealing what people are actually feeling
• How psychedelics can help us understand other people and read their emotions... and even their motivations
• The difference between verbal and emotional communication – and why the latter is the most important
• How to be a great conversationalist... by saying almost nothing
• Jon backpeddles on his previous slander of Andy Warhol after visiting a cool exhibition... understanding what he was trying to do made his actions understandable, as this Law teaches us
• Using the present to predict the future
• What your social media posts inadvertently reveal about you
• Remember to give before you take – and to ask questions to make other people like you and being in your company
• Lessons from Steve Jobs and Bill Clinton
• Playing Devil's Advocate to get a rise out of people and thereby find out what they really think
• The power of telling (false) secrets to others: they feel compelled to reciprocate
• Which version of you do you bring to the party? How to change your persona to increase others' openness

Mentioned in the Episode:

• Conan tells us what is best in life
• Daniele Bolelli's Drunken Taoist Podcast
• Lagavulin whisky
• Parks and Recreation
• The industrialist, Andrew Mellon
• The TV show Lie to Me
• Dr Paul Ekman – the pioneer of the science of microexpressions
• Ryan Holiday – author, thinker, strategist – and his book Ego is the Enemy
• The BBC's amazing show, Sherlock
• Jon was recalling a quote from Alan Watts: 'if you don't argue with me, I don't know what I think'.

FULL NOTES: http://voicesinthedark.world/2016/09/05/pose-as-a-friend…power-episode-14/

Join us as we continue our 48 Laws of Power review, exploring Robert Greene’s provocative and compelling book, in which he lays bare the history, practice, psychology, and philosophies of power that ultimately shape all human relations. Often seen as a handbook for the ‘modern Machiavelli’, we take a closer look, beyond the hyperbole, and discuss how understanding and implementing these Laws can actually enrich your life personally, professionally and spiritually.

Jon and Dre aim to get to the heart of each of the Laws, grapple with their sometimes disturbingly amoral nature, and discuss what the Laws mean in everyday life (often revealing their own experiences – good and bad – when they’ve either observed or transgressed them).