The 50th Law (with 50 Cent)

Group factions: Over enough time, individuals in a group will
begin to split off into factions. The reason for this dynamic is simple:
In a group, we get a narcissistic boost from being around those who
share our values. But in a group over a certain size, this becomes too

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abstract. The differences among the members become noticeable. Our
power to influence the group as individuals is reduced. We want
something more immediate, and so we form subgroups and cliques
with those who seem even more like us, giving us back that narcissistic
boost. In this subgrouping, we now have power to divvy up, which
increases its members’ sense of self-importance. Eventually the faction
will experience its own splits from within, on and on. This splitting
occurs unconsciously, almost as if it were responding to mechanical
laws of group fission.
If a faction gets strong enough, its members will start to give
precedence to its interests over that of the greater group. Some leaders
try to exploit this dynamic by playing one faction off the other, in the
form of divide and conquer: the more the factions fight, the weaker
they become, and the greater the power in the hands of the man or
woman on top. Mao Zedong was a master at this game, but it is a
dangerous one, because too much time tends to be wasted dealing with
petty internal squabbles, and it can be hard to keep them all down. If
left alone, factions can become so powerful they take over and depose
or control the leaders themselves. Better to tighten the whole group by
creating a positive culture that excites and unifies its members, making
factions less attractive. (For more on this, see the last section of this
chapter.)
One faction to pay particular attention to is the one that is formed
by those in the higher echelons, which we can identify as the elites in
the group. Although elites themselves sometimes split into rival
factions, more often than not, when push comes to shove, they will
unite and work to preserve their elite status. The clan tends to look
after its own, all the more so among the powerful. They will inevitably
manage to bend the group rules to ensure they tilt in their favor. In
these democratic times, they will try to cover this up by posturing that
what they are doing is for the greater good of the group. If the elites
prosper, so will everyone else, they say. But you will never actually see
the elite faction doing things that will lessen their power, or making
true sacrifices. Somehow it is always those not among the elites who
must make the sacrifices. Try not to fall for their rationalizations or
cover stories, and to see this faction for what it is.
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Your task as a student of human nature is twofold: First, you must
become a consummate observer of yourself as you interact with groups
of any size. Begin with the assumption that you are not nearly as much
of an individual as you imagine. To a great extent, your thoughts and
belief system are heavily influenced by the people who raised you, your
colleagues at work, your friends, and the culture at large. Be ruthlessly
frank with yourself. Look at how your ideas and beliefs alter the longer
you stay at a job or within a particular group. You are under subtle
pressure to get along and to fit in, and you will respond to this without
being aware.
To see this clearly, think of how many times you have promoted an
idea that is contrary to what the group wants on some fundamental
issue and held on to this idea for a long period. It will probably be quite
rare. Look at the bad decisions the group has taken, and how often you
went along with them. If this conformity becomes too ingrained in you,
you will lose the ability to reason on your own, your most prized
possession as a human. As a thought experiment, sometimes try
entertaining an idea that is the very opposite of the group you belong
to or the conventional wisdom. See if there is any value in deliberately
going against the grain.
We are all permeable to the influence of the group. What makes us
more permeable is our insecurities. The less we are certain about our
self-worth as individuals, the more we are unconsciously drawn toward
fitting in and blending ourselves into the group spirit. Gaining the
superficial approval of group members by displaying our conformity,
we cover up our insecurities to ourselves and to others. But this
approval is fleeting; our insecurities gnaw at us, and we must
continually get people’s attention to feel validated. Your goal must be
to lower your permeability by raising your self-esteem. If you feel
strong and confident about what makes you unique—your tastes, your
values, your own experience—you can more easily resist the group
effect. Furthermore, by relying upon your work and accomplishments
to anchor your self-opinion, you won’t be so tied to constantly seeking
approval and attention.
It is not that you become self-absorbed or cut off from the group—
outwardly you do what you can to fit in, but inwardly you subject the
ideas and beliefs of the group to constant scrutiny, comparing them
with your own, adapting parts or all of those that have merit and

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rejecting others that go against your experience. You are putting the
focus on the ideas themselves, not on where they come from.
Your second task is to become a consummate observer of the groups
you belong to or interact with. Consider yourself an anthropologist
studying the strange customs of an alien tribe. Look deeply at the
culture of your group, how it “feels” from within, the feeling contrasted
to other groups you have worked with or belonged to. You are catching
the social force as it molds the group into an organism, the sum greater
than its parts.
Most people intuitively sense the rules and codes of behavior in the
group. You want to take this further by observing these rules in action
and making your knowledge of them more conscious: Why do they
exist? What do they say about the group? Gaining a deeper
appreciation of the culture and codes will make it much easier to
navigate the social space and maintain a degree of detachment. You
will not try to change what cannot be changed. When it comes to the
inevitable factions that emerge, it is better to keep yourself unaligned
and let others fight over you. You do not need to belong to a faction to
derive a narcissistic boost. What you want within the group is strategic
options and room to maneuver, to have many allies and widen your
power base.
Your goal in this second task is to maintain as tight a grip on reality
as possible. Groups tend to share beliefs and ways of looking at the
world that are one-sided. They give greater weight to information that
fits into their preconceived notions. They exaggerate qualities of rivals
or enemies. They become overoptimistic about their plans. Taken far
enough, the group can hold beliefs that are quite delusionary, and its
actions can border on madness. Observing the group with a degree of
distance will help you be aware of the distorting effect on your
perception that can come from being so embedded within a group.
Your strategies and decisions will be all the more effective for this.
Just as groups tend to exert a downward pull on our emotions and
behavior, we can also experience or imagine the opposite—a group that
exerts an upward pull. We shall call this ideal the reality group. It
consists of members who feel free to contribute their diverse opinions,
whose minds are open, and whose focus is on getting work done and
cooperating on a high level. By maintaining your individual spirit and

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your grip on reality, you will help create or enrich this ideal team of
people. (For more on this, see “The Reality Group” on
this page
.)
This ability to observe the group and detach ourselves is more
critical now than ever for several reasons. In the past, people’s sense of
belonging to certain groups was more stable and secure. To be a
Baptist or a Catholic or a communist or a French citizen provided one
with a strong sense of identity and pride. With the diminishing power
of these large-scale belief systems, we have lost this inner security, and
yet we retain the same profound human need to belong. So many of us
are searching for groups to join, hungry for the approval of others who
share our values. We are more permeable than ever. This makes us
eager to become a member of the latest cult or political movement. It
makes us highly susceptible to the influence of some unscrupulous
populist leader who preys upon this need.
Instead of forming large-scale groups, we now form tribes of
diminishing size, to get a greater narcissistic boost. We view larger
groups with suspicion. Social media abets this dynamic by making it
easier to spread the narrowly focused views and values of the tribe and
making them viral. But these tribes don’t last long; they are continually
disappearing or regrouping or splitting apart. And so the ancient need
to belong is never satisfied and drives us mad.
Tribalism has its roots in the deepest and most primitive parts of
our nature, but it is now coupled with much greater technological
prowess, which makes it all the more dangerous. What allowed us
thousands of years ago to bind our group tightly and survive could now
easily lead to our extinction as a species. The tribe feels its very
existence at stake by the presence of the enemy. There is little middle
ground. Battles can be more intense and violent between tribes.
The future of the human race will likely depend on our ability to
transcend this tribalism and to see our fate as interconnected with
everyone else’s. We are one species, all descendants of the same
original humans, all brothers and sisters. Our differences are mostly an
illusion. Imagining differences is part of the madness of groups. We
must see ourselves as one large reality group and experience a deep
sense of belonging to it. To solve the man-made problems threatening
us will require cooperation on a much higher level and a practical spirit
missing from the tribe. This does not mean the end of diverse cultures

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and the richness that comes with them. In fact, the reality group
encourages inner diversity.
We must come to the conclusion that the primary group we belong
to is that of the human race. That is our inevitable future. Anything
else is regressive and far too dangerous.