The 50th Law (with 50 Cent)

Understand: Rockefeller represents a type of individual that you
will likely come across in your field. We shall call this type the
sophisticated aggressor, as opposed to the primitive aggressor.

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Primitive aggressors have very short fuses. If someone triggers in them
feelings of inferiority or weakness, they explode. They lack any self-
control, and so they tend to not get very far in life, inevitably bullying
and hurting too many people. Sophisticated aggressors are much
trickier. They rise to top positions and can stay there because they
know how to cloak their maneuvers, to present a distracting façade,
and to play upon people’s emotions. They know that most people do
not like confrontation or long struggles, and so they can intimidate or
wear people down. They depend on our docility as much as on their
own aggression.
The sophisticated aggressors that you encounter do not have to be
as spectacularly successful as a Rockefeller. They can be your boss, a
rival, or even a scheming colleague on the way up. You can recognize
them by one simple sign: they get to where they’re going primarily
through their aggressive energy, not through their particular talents.
They value amassing power more than the quality of their work. They
do whatever is necessary to secure their position and crush any kind of
competition or challenge. They do not like to share power.
In dealing with this type, you will tend to become angry or fearful,
enlarging their presence and playing into their hands. You obsess over
their evil character and fail to pay close attention to what they are
actually up to. What you often end up surrendering to is the
appearance or illusion of strength that they project, their aggressive
reputation. The way to handle them is to lower the emotional
temperature. Start by looking at the individual, not the myth or legend.
Understand their primary motivation—to gain control over the
environment and the people around them. As with Rockefeller, this
need for control covers up vast layers of anxieties and insecurities. You
must see the frightened child within, terrified by anything
unpredictable. In this way you can cut them down to size, diminishing
their ability to intimidate you.
They want to control your thoughts and reactions. Deny them this
power by focusing on their actions and your strategies, not your
feelings. Analyze and anticipate their real goals. They want to instill in
you the idea that you have no options, that surrender is inevitable and
the best way out. But you always have options. Even if they are your
boss and you must surrender in the present, you can maintain your
inner independence and plot for the day in which they make a mistake

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and are weakened, using your knowledge of their vulnerable points to
help take them down.
See through their narrative and their shrewd attempts at
distraction. They will often present themselves as holier-than-thou or
as the victim of other people’s malice. The louder they proclaim their
convictions, the more certain you can be they’re hiding something. Be
aware that they can sometimes seem charming and charismatic. Do
not be mesmerized by such appearances. Look at their patterns of
behavior. If they have taken from people in the past, they will continue
to do so in the present. Never bring on such types as partners, no
matter how friendly and charming they might seem. They like to
piggyback on your hard work, then wrest control. Your realistic
appraisal of their actual strength and their aggressive intentions is
your best defense.
When it comes to taking action against aggressors, you must be as
sophisticated and crafty as they are. Do not try to fight with them
directly. They are too relentless, and they usually have enough power
to overwhelm you in direct confrontation. You must outwit them,
finding unexpected angles of attack. Threaten to expose the hypocrisy
in their narrative or the past dirty deeds they have tried to keep hidden
from the public. Make it seem that a battle with you will be costlier
than they had imagined, that you are also willing to play a little dirty,
but only in defense. If you are particularly clever, appear relatively
weak and exposed, baiting them into a rash attack that you have
prepared for. Often the wisest strategy is to band together with others
who have suffered at their hands, creating strength and leverage in
numbers.
Keep in mind that aggressors often get their way because you fear
that in fighting them, you have too much to lose in the present. But you
must calculate instead what you have to lose in the long term—
decreasing options for power and expansion in your own field, once
they assume a dominating position; your own dignity and sense of self-
worth by not standing up to them. Surrender and docility can become a
habit with devastating consequences for your well-being. Use the
existence of aggressors as a spur to your own fighting spirit and to
build your own confidence. Standing up to and outwitting aggressors
can be one of the most satisfying and ennobling experiences we
humans can have.

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Men are not gentle, friendly creatures wishing for love, who simply defend
themselves if attacked. . . . A powerful desire for aggression has to be
reckoned as part of their . . . endowment.
—Sigmund Freud