The Concise Laws of Power

When asking for help appeal to people's self-interest.

If you need to turn to an ally for help do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good days you will find a way to ignore you instead uncover something in your request or in your aliens with him that will benefit him and emphasize it out of all proportion He will respond enthusiastically when it says something to be gained for himself.    In your quest for power you will constantly find yourself in the position of asking for help from those more powerful than you there's an art to asking for help and act that depends on your ability to understand the person you are dealing with and to not confuse your needs with theirs most people never succeed at this because they are completely trapped in their own wants and desires they start from the assumption that the people they are appealing to have a selfless interest in helping them

They talk as if their needs mattered to this people who probably didn't care less sometimes they referred to larger issues a great course or grande emotions such as love and gratitude they go for the big picture when simple everyday realities would have much more appealing what they do not realise is that even the most powerful person is locked inside means of his own and that if you make no appeal to self interest emergencies you as their parents or at best a waste of time a key step in the process is to understand the other person psychology is even is it concerned about the his reputation or your social standing does it have any means you could help vanquish is it simply motivated by money and power when the Mongols invaded China in the 12th century they threatened to obliterate a culture that I tried for over 2000 years their leader Genghis Khan saw nothing in China but a country that lacks posturing for his office and he decided to destroy the place level in all its it is 4 it will be better to exterminate the Chinese and let the grass grow it was not a soldier a general or a king who saved the Chinese from devastation but a man named yelu ch u ts ai the foreigner himself he had to come to appreciate the superiority of Chinese culture he managed to make himself a trusted adviser 2 Genghis Khan and persuade him that he would real preachers out of the place if instead of destroying it is simply trust everyone who lived there Khan saw the wisdom in this and did as he was advised when Khan took the city of Kaifeng after a long siege and decided to m******e its inhabitants as he had in other cities that had resisted in I told him that the finest craftsmen and engineers in China had fled to Kaifeng and it would be better to put them to use Kaifeng was spared never before had Genghis Khan shown such Mercy but then it really want Mercy that saved Kaifeng Chutsai Knew Khan Well He was a Barbaric peasant who cares nothing for the culture or indeed for anything other than warfare and practical results chutsai chose to appeal to the only Emotion that would work on such a Man: GREED.        Self Interest is the lever that will move people once you make them see how you can in some way meet their needs or advance their cause their resistance to your request for help me magically fall away at each step on the way to acquiring power you must train yourself to think your way Inside the other person Mind to see their needs and interest and get rid of the screen of your own feelings that obscure the truth master this art and there will be no limits to what you can accomplish a cord that binds the cord of Mercy and gratitude is straight there and will break at the first shock do not throw such a lifeline the cord of mutual self-interest is woven of many fibres and cannot easily be surveyed it will serve him well for years the shortest and best way to make your fortune is to let people see clearly that it is in their interest to promote yours