Rovers Bay

In our ongoing look at the rules of success, or “Laws of Power,” let’s take a look at another success story, that of Chris Gardner, and see if his life embodied Greene’s Laws of Power. Let’s look at it in terms of laws 11 through 15.

Chris Gardner’s rise from homelessness to wealth was chronicled in the film “The Pursuit of Happyness—“ a truly touching story of a man whose bad business investment and bad choice of spouse led to him being alone, friendless, homeless, and penniless, with a young son to care for. Yet he was able to enroll in a brokerage training program and become a successful stock broker.

His story begins with a childhood in poverty—no father, a devoted mother, but bad circumstances that led him in and out of foster care. He joined the navy, then later worked as a medical research assistant. It looked like he was on his way up. But, being the entrepreneur that he was, he decided to risk it all by starting a business selling medical equipment. Well, that didn’t turn out well, and Gardner was at rock bottom again. His wife left him with a young son. Instead of finding a dead-end job flipping burgers, he lived in homeless shelters and even slept in public toilets with his child while working desperately to excel through a brokerage training program. He made it by the skin of his teeth, and was accepted to work at one of New York’s most prestigious firms. The rest is history (and a movie). He now helps others through foundations that assist destitute families in finding employment and staying together.

Law 11: “Learn to Keep People Dependent on You.”

This law insists that you make sure people always need and want you. I don’t think this comes into play in terms of Gardner’s rise to success. Afterward? Perhaps.

Law 12: “Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm Your Victim.”

Of course, in the movie, Gardner’s success is portrayed as incredibly virtuous. He never lies, cheats, or steals. (Except for the time he skips out on the cab fee.) Who knows what the reality is. But as far as I know, selective honesty didn’t play a part here.

Law 13: “When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self Interest, Never Mercy or Gratitude.”

Yes, actually, he did use this technique. It was a pretty obvious decision. I mean, you don’t go into Bear Stearns and say, “Please take me on as an apprentice. I’m broke and homeless.” That’s just not going to work. He sold his skills as a people person and a mathematician. If the events of the movie are to be trusted, it was a little obvious that he was desperate, but the fact that he never mentioned it simply convinced his bosses that he was a man of integrity.

Law 14: “Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy.”

Getting ahead as an apprentice at Bear Stearns was a very social activity, which was difficult because Gardner didn’t have the clothes, the home, or the social connections to do what others did. However, through perseverance, he managed to get invited to various social events where he could indeed “spy” in order to find out who might buy his products.

In terms of these five, randomly selected laws of power, it seems that Gardner utilized some, but not all of them. Like Armando Montelongo (see previous blog) his rise to power is marked more by the laws embracing honesty and service than those embracing deceitful tactics. But, of course, Hollywood movies being what they are, we’ll never know the true story.

Let’s take a look at another rags to riches story, that of Carlo Bianconi, and see if he utilized laws 16 through 20 in Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power. This one takes us back to the olden days.

Bianconi was born in Ireland, in 1786. Showing no special talent in school, he became a door-to-door salesman who traveled rural Ireland carrying his 30-pound box of wares on his back and walking 20 to 30 miles per day. Necessity being the mother of invention, he eventually created the first two-wheeled, horse-drawn cart to ease his burden. Soon, he was making money ferrying passengers from town to town, functioning as Ireland’s first integrated transport system.

The business grew quickly and created a great deal of employment throughout the county. He created larger carriages and began carrying cargo and mail for the post offices as well. But by 1834, the railway began taking over his territory, so he bought shares in the rail lines and sold the horse-drawn carts to the employees who had worked for him over the years. Poised on the cutting edge of the transportation industry, Bianconi became a wealthy, successful man who was later the director of the newly founded National Bank and twice elected mayor of Clonmel, County Tipperary. He bought a thousand-acre property where he built a famous manor and died a millionaire.

Law 16: “Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor.”

This law illustrates the fact that too much circulation makes the price go down. In the beginning, he provided the only horse-drawn carriage service in Ireland, so scarcity definitely worked in his favor. Public transportation actually has the element of  scarcity built in, as carriages, busses, and trains can only run at certain times, on certain schedules, and these schedules can be adjusted to accommodate the need. In this sense, he chose the perfect business.

Law 17: “Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability.”

No way. This one definitely would not work for a public transportation system. But Bianconi himself was clearly his own man. One minute he’s in the carriage business, the next year it’s rail travel. One moment he’s a bank manager, next year he runs for mayor. As a man, he seemed to take pains to ensure he was always moving forward into an area of interest for him. In that sense, he was unpredictable to others and kept his life lively and interesting.

Law 18: “Do Not Build a Fortress to Protect Yourself. Isolation is Dangerous.”

Yes, this one was a key to Bianconi’s success. When he saw that he was about to be made obsolete by the railroads, he didn’t try to insulate himself or his business from the competition. He didn’t try to isolate his empire from Ireland’s progress generally. He sold out the old system and bought into the new. Being in the transportation industry, he was able to recognize a new, cutting edge industry and, rather than isolating himself and insisting upon continuing the success of his past, he moved with the times.

Law 19: “Know Who You’re Dealing With. Do Not Offend the Wrong Person.”

We don’t really know if this came into play. Nothing along these lines is written into the story of his success.

Law 20: “Do Not Commit to Anyone.”

This law urges you not to take sides, but to play people against one another, making them pursue you. It doesn’t seem to play any part in the known story of Bianconi’s success.

Of course, I chose laws 15 through 20 at random. I wanted to see if any success story, chosen at random, must necessarily make use of at least one out of any five of these laws. I could certainly find laws that applied to Bianconi’s success story more, like “Re-create Yourself” and “Enter Action with Boldness.” But looking at five randomly selected laws have allowed us to see just how laws 17 and 18 come into play in ensuring that a man not become too attached to the source of his success, but to see himself as a constantly growing, evolving being capable of innumerable successful incarnations.

Have you heard of Armando Montelongo? He is the host of television’s “Flip This House” and owner of Montelongo House Buyers. His is an interesting success story. Literally a “rags to riches” type thing, if you will. So let’s see if this successful fellow utilized some, any, or all of the first ten of Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power.

Briefly, his story goes like this: with a sick wife and baby and $50,000 in medical debt, Armando lost his house to foreclosure and moved his family into his in-laws’ garage. Then he decided to move back to his home town of San Antonio Texas, so with $1,000 (borrowed from the in-laws) and all the family belongings, he did so. Being a carpenter, he was able to negotiate for two months free rent in a house that needed work. There, Montelongo discovered that he could buy cheap, then improve a house and sell it for a great deal more. Thus, his house flipping business began.

In the beginning, the family literally sold its furniture for grocery money. But eventually, the business became successful. Then he was offered the television show, Flip This House. Now, with his wife, brother, and sister-in-law, Montelongo features the company’s projects and discusses the many challenges involved in the business. Many viewers interested in flipping houses themselves have made the top-rated show their house-flipping bible. At the same time, house flippers like Montelongo have made San Antonio, Texas one of the fastest growing real estate markets in the US. Montelongo also has a website now where he teaches and shares his strategies through videos, books, and CDs. Today Armando Montelongo’s firm flips about 200 houses a year.

What a wonderful success story about a man with the courage to seek not just “a job” to get by with, but a career to thrive with. But did he utilize any of the first ten Laws of Power? Or was he just lucky and hard working? Let’s take a look.

Law 1: “Never Outshine the Master.”

This wasn’t relevant to Armando, as he had no boss, master, or mentor in house-flipping.

Law 2: “Don’t Trust Friends too Much. Learn How to Use Enemies.”

That didn’t come into play at all. In fact, his brother and sister-in-law should be considered friends and they surely helped him to success, so I’d say he did just the opposite.

Laws 3 and 4: “Conceal Your Intentions. Say Less Than Necessary.”

I don’t see that this is relevant to Armando’s success either.

Law 5: “Guard Your Reputation with your Life.”

This is certainly where Montelongo struck gold. How do you think the television network learned about him? I don’t know, but surely it had something to do with his good reputation as a house flipper. If he was seen as dishonest, the television network wouldn’t have wanted to be associated with him. Then, once the TV show got off the ground, Montelongo’s reputation soared to even greater heights.

Law 6: “Court Attention at all Costs.”

Yes, he surely did this. It ties in with law five so well. What could be more attention grabbing than a television show? The key to Montelongo’s success story is that he didn’t stop at relative success—at the relief of paying off bills and being able to afford groceries. He shot for the moon . . . and got it.

Law 7: “Let Others Do the Work While You Take the Credit.”

Surely Montelongo, as the television star, house-flipping mentor, and entrepreneur, no longer does his own construction. He has a crew that works hard and allows him to be their spokesman. They are paid handsomely to help him make a name for himself, but it is Armando who is known as the success story. I’d say this law is one of the primary keys to his success.

Law 8: “Make an Opponent Come to You.”

I don’t know to what extent homeowners come to him, or if he is the one making offers on houses, so I can’t comment on that. But surely when you have a reputation like he does, if a homeowner is looking for someone to buy a fixer-upper quickly, they’ll know he is the go-to guy.

Law 9: “Win Through Actions, Not Argument.”

Armando has demonstrated his successful techniques and continues to do so, so I think he embodies this law pretty successfully.

Lastly, law 10 states:  “Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky.”

In the beginning, that is exactly who he was: unhappy, unlucky, and destitute. He bought houses that were also unhappy, unlucky, and destitute. So did he avoid the unlucky? I don’t know about his personal life, but in business it seems that no, he did not. His in-laws, as well, did not avoid him. They loaned him money and took his family in when they needed it most, so I’d say law ten did not come into play here, luckily for Armando.

Armando Montelongo’s story is instructive of the fact that no set of laws or rules can apply to every person in his or her struggle for success, but selecting those that apply most specifically to your situation and exploiting them to the utmost can reap incredible rewards.