The 50th Law (with 50 Cent)

The Extreme Entrepreneur: At first glance these types seem to
possess very positive qualities, especially for work. They maintain very
high standards and pay exceptional attention to detail. They are willing
to do much of the work themselves. If mixed with talent, this often
leads to success early on in life. But underneath the façade the seeds of
failure are taking root. This first appears in their inability to listen to
others. They cannot take advice. They need no one. In fact, they
mistrust others who do not have their same high standards. With
success they are forced to take on more and more responsibility.
If they were truly self-reliant, they would know the importance of
delegating on a lower level to maintain control on the higher level, but
something else is stirring within—the Shadow. Soon the situation
becomes chaotic. Others must come in and take over the business.
Their health and finances are ruined and they become completely
dependent on doctors or outside financiers. They go from complete
control to total dependence on others. (Think of the pop star Michael
Jackson near the end of his life.)
Often their outward show of self-reliance disguises a hidden desire
to have others take care of them, to regress to the dependency of
childhood. They can never admit this to themselves or show any signs
of such weakness, but unconsciously they are drawn to creating
enough chaos that they break down and are forced into some form of
dependency. There are signs beforehand: recurring health issues, the
sudden microneeds to be pampered by people in their daily lives. But
the big sign comes as they lose control and fail to take steps to halt this.
It is best to not get too entangled with such types later on in their
careers, as they have a tendency to bring about much collateral
damage.
The Integrated Human
In the course of our lives we inevitably meet people who appear to be
especially comfortable with themselves. They display certain traits that

---

help give this impression: they are able to laugh at themselves; they
can admit to certain shortcomings in their character, as well as to
mistakes they have made; they have a playful, sometimes impish edge
to them, as if they have retained more of the child within; they can play
their role in life with a little bit of distance (see the last section of
chapter 3). At times they can be charmingly spontaneous.
What such people signal to us is a greater authenticity. If most of us
have lost a lot of our natural traits in becoming socialized adults, the
authentic types have somehow managed to keep them alive and active.
We can contrast them easily with the opposite type: people who are
touchy, who are hypersensitive to any perceived slight, and who give
the impression of being somewhat uncomfortable with themselves and
having something to hide. We humans are masters at smelling the
difference. We can almost feel it with people in their nonverbal
behavior—the relaxed or tense body language, the flowing or halting
tone of voice; the way the eyes gaze and let you in; the genuine smile or
lack of it.
One thing is for certain: we are completely drawn to the authentic
types and unconsciously repulsed by their opposite. The reason for this
is simple: we all secretly mourn for the child part of our character we
have lost—the wildness, the spontaneity, the intensity of experience,
the open mind. Our overall energy is diminished by the loss. Those
who emit that air of authenticity signal to us another possibility—that
of being an adult who has managed to integrate the child and the adult,
the dark and the light, the unconscious and the conscious mind. We
yearn to be around them. Perhaps some of their energy will rub off on
us.
If Richard Nixon in many ways epitomizes the inauthentic type, we
find many examples of the opposite to inspire us—in politics, men like
Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln; in the arts, people like
Charlie Chaplin and Josephine Baker; in science, someone like Albert
Einstein; in social life in general, someone like Jacqueline Kennedy
Onassis. And these types indicate for us the path to follow, which
largely centers on self-awareness. Conscious of our Shadow, we can
control, channel, and integrate it. Aware of what we have lost, we can
reconnect to that part of ourselves that has sunk into the Shadow.
The following are four clear and practical steps for achieving this.

---