Chapter 8: LAW 8: MAKE OTHER PEOPLE COME TO YOU USE BAIT IF NECESSARY
JUDGMENT
M'hen you force the other person to act, you are the one in
control. It is always better to make your opponent come to
you, abandoning his own plans in the process. Lure him
with fabulous gains-then attack. You hold the cards.
OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW
At the Congress of Vienna in 1814, the major powers of Europe gathered to
carve up the remains of Napoleon's fallen Empire. The city was fuH of gaiety and the balls were the most splendid in memory. Hovering over the
proceedings, however, was the shadow of Napoleon hirnself. Instead of
being executed or exiled far away, he had been sent to the island of Elba,
not far from the co ast of Italy.
Even imprisoned on an island, a man as bold and creative as
Napoleon Bonaparte made everyone nervous. The Austrians plotted to kill
hirn on Elba, but decided it was too risky. Alexander I, Russia's temperamental czar, heightened the anxiety by throwing a fit during the congress
when a part of Poland was denied him: "Beware, I shall loose the monster!" he threatened. Everyone knew he meant Napoleon. Of all the statesmen gathered in Vienna, only Talleyrand, Napoleon's former foreign
minister, seemed calm and unconcerned. It was as if he knew something
the others did not.
Meanwhile, on the island of Elba, Napoleon's life was a mockery of his
previous glory. As Elba's "king," he had been allowed to form a court there was a cook, a wardrobe mistress, an official pianist, and a handful of
courtiers. All this was designed to humiliate Napoleon, and it seemed to
work.
That winter, however, there occurred a series of events so strange and
dramatic they might have been scripted in a play. Elba was surrounded by
British ships, their cannons covering all possible exit points. Yet somehow,
in broad daylight on 26 February 1815, a ship with nine hundred men on
board picked up Napoleon and put to sea. The English gave chase but the
ship got away. This almost impossible escape astonished the public
throughout Europe, and terrified the statesmen at the Congress of Vienna.
Although it would have been safer to leave Europe, Napoleon not only
chose to return to France, he raised the odds by marching on Paris with a
tiny army, in hopes of recapturing the throne. His strategy worked-people
of all classes threw themselves at his feet. An army under Marshal Ney sped
from Paris to arrest hirn, but when the soldiers saw their beloved former
leader, they changed sides. Napoleon was declared emperor again. Volunteers swelled the ranks of his new army. Delirium swept the country. In Paris,
crowds went wild. The king who had replaced Napoleon fled the country.
For the next hundred days, Napoleon ruled France. Soon, however, the
giddiness subsided. France was bankrupt, its resources nearly exhausted,
and there was little Napoleon could do about this. At the Battle ofWaterloo,
in June of that year, he was finally defeated for good. This time his enemies
had learned their lesson: They exiled hirn to the barren island of Saint Helena, off the west coast of Mrica. There he had no more hope of escape.
Interpretation
Only years later did the facts of Napoleon's dramatic escape from Elba
come to light. Before he decided to attempt this bold move, visitors to his
court had told hirn that he was more popular in France than ever, and that
the country would embrace hirn again. One of these visitors was Austria's
General Koller, who convinced Napoleon that if he escaped, the European
powers, England included, would welcome him back into power. Napoleon
was tipped off that the English would let hirn go, and indeed his escape occurred in the middle of the afternoon, in full view of English spyglasses.
What Napoleon did not know was that there was a man behind it all,
pulling the strings, and that this man was his former minister, Talleyrand.
And Talleyrand was doing all this not to bring back the glory days but to
crush Napoleon once and for all. Considering the emperor's ambition unsettling to Europe's stability, he had turned against hirn long ago. When
Napoleon was exiled to Elba, Talleyrand had protested. Napoleon should
be sent farther away, he argued, or Europe would never have peace. But
no one listened.
Instead of pushing his opinion, Talleyrand bided his time. Working
quietly, he eventually won over Castlereagh and Mettemich, the foreign
ministers of England and Austria.
Together these men baited Napoleon into escaping. Even Koller's visit,
to whisper the promise of glory in the exile's ear, was part of the plan. Like
a master cardplayer, Talleyrand figured everything out in advance. He
knew Napoleon would fall into the trap he had set. He also foresaw that
Napoleon would lead the country into a war, which, given France's weakened condition, could only last a few months. One diplomat in Vienna,
who understood that Talleyrand was behind it all, said, "He has set the
house ablaze in order to save it from the plague."
When I have laid bait for deer,
I don 't shoot at the first doe that comes to sniff, but wait until the whole herd has gathered mund.
Dito von Bismarck, 1815-1898
KEYS TO POWER
How many times has this scenario played itself out in history: An aggressive leader initiates a series of bold moves that begin by bringing him much power. Slowly, however, his power reaches a peak, and soon everything turns against hirn. His numerous enemies band together; trying to
maintain his power, he exhausts hirnself going in this direction and that,
and inevitably he collapses. The reason for this pattern is that the aggressive person is rarely in full control. He cannot see more than a couple of moves ahead, cannot see the consequences of this bold move or that one.
Because he is constantly being forced to react to the moves of his evergrowing host of enemies, and to the unforeseen consequences of his own
rash actions, his aggressive energy is turned against hirn.
In the realm of power, you must ask yourself, what is the point of chasing here and there, trying to solve problems and defeat my enemies, if I never feel in contro!? Why am I always having to react to events instead of
directing them? The answer is simple: Your idea of power is wrong. You
have mistaken aggressive action for effective action. And most often the
most effective action is to stay back, keep calm, and let others be frustrated
by the traps you lay for them, playing for long-term power rather than
quick victory. Remember: The essence of power is the ability to keep the initiative,
to get others to react to your moves, to keep YOU opponent and those
around you on the defensive. When you make other people come to you,
you suddenly become the one controlling the situation. And the one who
has control has power. Two things must happen to place you in this position: You yourself must learn to master YOUf emotions, and never to be influenced by anger; meanwhile, however, you must play on people's natural
tendency to react angrily when pushed and baited. In the long run, the
ability to make others come to you is a weapon far more powerful than any
tool of aggression.
Study how Talleyrand, the master of the art, performed this delicate
trick. First, he overcame the urge to try to convince his fellow statesmen
that they needed to banish Napoleon far away. It is only natural to want to
persuade people by pleading your case, imposing you will with words. But
this often turns against you. Few of Talleyrand's contemporaries believed
Napoleon was still a threat, so that if he had spent a lot of energy trying to
convince them, he would only have made himself look foolish. Instead, he
held his tongue and his emotions in check. Most important of all, he laid
Napoleon a sweet and irresistible trap. He knew the man's weakness, his
impetuosity, his need for glory and the love of the masses, and he played
all this to perfection. When Napoleon went for the bait, there was no danger that he might succeed and turn the tables on Talleyrand, who better than anyone knew France's depleted state. And even had Napoleon been
able to overcome these difficulties, the likelihood of bis success would have
been greater were he able to choose his time and place of action. By setting
the proper trap, Talleyrand took the time and place into his own hands.
All of us have only so much energy, and there is a moment when our energies are at their peak. When you make the other person come to you, he wears himself out, wasting his energy on the trip. In the year 1905, Russia and Japan were at war. The J apanese had only recently begun to modemize their warships, so that the Russians had a stronger navy, but by spreading false information the Japanese marshal Togo Heihachiro baited
the Russians into leaving their docks in the Baltic Sea, making them believe
they could wipe out the J apanese fleet in one swift attack. The Russian fleet
could not reach Japan by the quickest route-through the Strait of Gibraltar and then the Suez Canal into the Indian Ocean-because these were
controlled by the British, and Japan was an ally of Great Britain. They had
to go around the Cape of Good Hope, at the southern tip of Africa, adding
over more than six thousand miles to the voyage. Once the fleet passed the
Cape, the Japanese spread another false story: They were sailing to launch
a counterattack. So the Russians made the entire journey to Japan on combat alert. By the time they arrived, their seamen were tense, exhausted, and
overworked, while the Japanese had been waiting at their ease. Despite the odds and their lack of experience in modem naval warfare, the Japanese crushed the Russians.
One added benefit of making the opponent come to you, as the Japanese discovered with the Russians, is that it forces hirn to operate in your territory. Being on hostile ground will make hirn nervous and often he will rush his actions and make mistakes. For negotiations or meetings, it is always wise to lure others into your territory, or the territory of your choice.
You have your bearings, while they see nothing familiar and are subtly
placed on the defensive. Manipulation is a dangerous game. Once someone suspects he is being manipulated, it becomes harder and harder to control hirn. But
when you make your opponent come to you, you create the illusion that he
is controlling the situation. He does not feel the strings that pull hirn, just as
Napoleon imagined that he hirnself was the master of his daring escape and
return to power.
Everything depends on the sweetness of your bait. If your trap is attractive enough, the turbulence of your enemies' emotions and desires will
blind them to reality. The greedier they become, the more they can be led
around.
The great nineteenth-century robber baron Daniel Drew was a master
at playing the stock market. When he wanted a particular stock to be
bought or sold, driving prices up or down, he rarely resorted to the direct
approach. One of his tricks was to hurry through an exclusive club near
Wall Street, obviously on his way to the stock exchange, and to pull out his
customary red bandanna to wipe his perspiring brow. A slip of paper
would fall from this bandanna that he would pretend not to notice. The
club's members were always trying to foresee Drew's moves, and they
would pounce on the paper, which invariably seemed to contain an inside
tip on a stock. Word would spread, and members would buy or seIl the
stock in droves, playing perfectly into Drew's hands.
If you can get other people to dig their own graves, why sweat yourself? Pickpockets work this to perfection. The key to picking a pocket is
knowing which pocket contains the wallet. Experienced pickpockets often
ply their trade in train stations and other places where there is a clearly
marked sign reading BEWARE OF PICKPOCKETS. Passersby seeing the sign invariably feel for their wallet to make sure it is still there. For the watching
pickpockets, this is like shooting fish in a barrel. Pickpockets have even
been known to place their own BEWARE OF PICKPOCKETS signs to ensure
their success.
When you are making people come to you, it is sometimes better to let
them know you are forcing their hand. You give up deception for overt manipulation. The psychological ramifications are profound: The person who
makes others come to hirn appears powernd, and demands respect.
Filippo Brunelleschi, the great Renaissance artist and architect, was a
great practitioner of the art of making others come to hirn as a sign of his
power. On one occasion he had been engaged to repair the dome of the
Santa Maria deI Fiore cathedral in Florence. The commission was important and prestigious. But when the city officials hired a second man, Lorenzo Ghiberti, to work with Brunelleschi, the great artist brooded in secret. He knew that Ghiberti had gotten the job through his connections,
and that he would do none of the work and get half the credit. At a critical
moment of the construction, then, Brunelleschi suddenly developed a mysterious illness. He had to stop work, but pointed out to city officials that
they had hired Ghiberti, who should have been able to continue the work
on his OWll. Soon it became dear that Ghiberti was useless and the officials
came begging to Brunelleschi. He ignored them, insisting that Ghiberti
should finish the project, until finally they realized the problem: They fired
Ghiberti.
By some mirade, Brunelleschi recovered within days. He did not have
to throw a tautrum or make a fool of hirnself; he simply practiced the art of
"making others come to you."
If on one occasion you make it a point of dignity that others must
come to you and you succeed, they will continue to do so even after you
stop trying.
Authority: Good warriors make others
come to them, and do not go to others. This
is the principle of emptiness and fullness
of others and self. When you induce opponents to come to you, then their force is
always empty; as long as you do not
go to them, your force is always full. Attacking emptiness with fullness is like throwing stones on eggs. (Zhang Yu, eleventh century commentator on The Art of War)
REVERSAL
Although it is generally the wiser policy to make others exhaust themselves
chasing you, there are opposite cases where striking suddenly and aggressively at the enemy SO demoralizes hirn that his energies sink. Instead of
making others come to you, you go to them, force the issue, take the lead.
Fast attack can be an awesome weapon, for it forces the other person to
react without the time to think or plan. With no time to think, people make
errors of judgment, and are thrown on the defensive. This tactic is the obverse of waiting and baiting, but it serves the same function: You make
your enemy respond on your terms.
Men like Cesare Borgia and Napoleon used the element of speed to intimidate and control. A rapid and unforeseen move is terrifying and demoralizing. You must choose YOUR tactics depending on the situation. If
you have time on YOUR side, and know that you and your enemies are at
least at equal strength, then deplete their strength by making them come to
you. If time is against YOU-yOUf enemies are weaker, and waiting will only
give them the chance to recover-give them no such chance. Strike quickly
and they have nowhere to go. As the boxer Joe Louis put it, "He can run,
but he can't hide."
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