The 50th Law (with 50 Cent)

Focus outwardly: the Attitude.
We humans are self-absorbed by nature
and spend most of our time focusing inwardly on our emotions, on our
wounds, on our fantasies. You want to develop the habit of reversing
this as much as possible. You do this in three ways. First, you hone
your listening skills, absorbing yourself in the words and nonverbal
cues of others. You train yourself to read between the lines of what
people are saying. You attune yourself to their moods and their needs,
and sense what they are missing. You do not take people’s smiles and
approving looks for reality but rather sense the underlying tension or
fascination.
Second, you dedicate yourself to earning people’s respect. You do
not feel entitled to it; your focus is not on your feelings and what
people owe you because of your position and greatness (an inward
turn). You earn their respect by respecting their individual needs and

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by proving that you are working for the greater good. Third, you
consider being a leader a tremendous responsibility, the welfare of the
group hanging on your every decision. What drives you is not getting
attention but bringing about the best results possible for the most
people. You absorb yourself in the work, not your ego. You feel a deep
and visceral connection to the group, seeing your fate and theirs as
deeply intertwined.
If you exude this attitude, people will feel it, and it will open them
up to your influence. They will be drawn to you by the simple fact that
it is rare to encounter a person so sensitive to people’s moods and
focused so supremely on results. This will make you stand out from the
crowd, and in the end you will gain far more attention this way than by
signaling your desperate need to be popular and liked.
Cultivate the third eye: the Vision.
In 401 BC, ten thousand Greek
mercenary soldiers, fighting on behalf of the Persian prince Darius in
his attempt to take over the empire from the king, his brother,
suddenly found themselves on the losing side of the battle, and now
trapped deep in the heart of Persia. When the victorious Persians
tricked the leaders of the mercenaries into coming to a meeting to
discuss their fate and then executed them all, it became clear to the
surviving soldiers that they would be either executed as well or sold
into slavery by the next day. That night they wandered through their
camp bemoaning their fate.
Among them was the writer Xenophon, who had gone along with
the soldiers as a kind of roving reporter. Xenophon had studied
philosophy as a student of Socrates. He believed in the supremacy of
rational thinking, of seeing the entire picture, the general idea behind
the fleeting appearances of daily life. He had practiced such thinking
skills over several years.
That night he had a vision of how the Greeks could escape their trap
and return home. He saw them moving swiftly and stealthily through
Persia, sacrificing everything for speed. He saw them leaving right
away, using the element of surprise to gain some distance. He thought
ahead—of the terrain, the route to take, the many enemies they would
face, how they could help and use citizens who revolted against the
Persians. He saw them getting rid of their wagons, living off the land
and moving quickly, even in winter. In the space of a few hours, he had

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conjured up the details of the retreat, all inspired by his overall vision
of their fast zigzag route to the Mediterranean and home.
Although he had no military experience, his vision was so complete,
and he communicated it with such confidence, that the soldiers
nominated him as their de facto leader. It took several years and
involved many ensuing challenges, each time Xenophon applying his
global vision to determine a strategy, but in the end, he proved the
power of such rational thinking by leading them to safety despite the
immense odds against them.
This story embodies the essence of all authority and the most
essential element in establishing it. Most people are locked in the
moment. They are prone to overreacting and panicking, to seeing only
a narrow part of the reality facing the group. They cannot entertain
alternative ideas or prioritize. Those who maintain their presence of
mind and elevate their perspective above the moment tap into the
visionary powers of the human mind and cultivate that third eye for
unseen forces and trends. They stand out from the group, fulfill the
true function of leadership, and create the aura of authority by seeming
to possess the godlike ability to read the future. And this is a power
that can be practiced and developed and applied to any situation.
As early in life as possible, you train yourself to disconnect from the
emotions roiling the group. You force yourself to raise your vision, to
imagine the larger picture. You strain to see events in themselves,
uncolored by people’s partisan opinions. You entertain the perspective
of the enemy; you listen to the ideas of outsiders; you open your mind
to various possibilities. In this way, you gain a feel for the gestalt, or
overall shape of the situation. You game out the possible trends, how
things might play out in the future, and in particular how things could
go wrong. You have infinite patience for this exercise. The more deeply
you go into it, the more you can acquire the power to discern the future
in some form.
Those who faced Napoleon Bonaparte on the battlefield often had
the impression he read their minds and knew of their plans, but he had
merely thought forward more thoroughly than the other side. The
great German thinker and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe seemed
to have the uncanny ability to predict future trends, but it came from
years of study and global thinking.

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Once you have your vision, you then slowly work backward to the
present, creating a reasonable and flexible way to reach your goal. The
more thinking that goes into this process, the more confident you will
feel about your plan, and this confidence will infect and convince
others. If people doubt your vision, you stay inwardly firm. Time will
prove you right. If you fall short of your goals, take this as a sign you
have not gone far enough with your thinking.