The 50th Law (with 50 Cent)

Adapt to your audience.
Although you conform to certain parameters
set by the role you play, you must be flexible. A master performer like
Bill Clinton never lost sight of the fact that as president he had to
project confidence and power, but if he was speaking to a group of
autoworkers he would adjust his accent and his words to fit the
audience, and he would do the same for a group of executives. Know
your audience and shape your nonverbal cues to their style and taste.
Create the proper first impression.
It has been demonstrated how much
people tend to judge based on first impressions and the difficulties
they have in reassessing these judgments. Knowing this, you must give
extra attention to your first appearance before an individual or group.
In general it is best to tone down your nonverbal cues and present a
more neutral front. Too much excitement will signal insecurity and
might make people suspicious. A relaxed smile, however, and looking
people in the eye in these first encounters can do wonders for lowering
their natural resistance.
Use dramatic effects.
This mostly involves mastering the art of
presence/absence. If you are too present, if people see you too often or
can predict exactly what you will do next, they will quickly grow bored
with you. You must know how to selectively absent yourself, to regulate
how often and when you appear before others, making them want to
see more of you, not less. Cloak yourself in some mystery, displaying
some subtly contradictory qualities. People don’t need to know
everything about you. Learn to withhold information. In general, make
your appearances and your behavior less predictable.
Project saintly qualities.
No matter what historical period we are living
through, there are certain traits that are always seen as positive and
that you must know how to display. For instance, the appearance of

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saintliness never goes out of fashion. Appearing saintly today is
certainly different in content from the sixteenth century, but the
essence is the same—you embody what is considered good and above
reproach. In the modern world, this means showing yourself as
progressive, supremely tolerant, and open-minded. You will want to be
seen giving generously to certain causes and supporting them on social
media. Projecting sincerity and honesty always plays well. A few public
confessions of your weaknesses and vulnerabilities will do the trick.
For some reason people see signs of humility as authentic, even though
people might very well be simulating them. Learn how to occasionally
lower your head and appear humble. If dirty work must be done, get
others to do it. Your hands are clean. Never overtly play the
Machiavellian leader—that only works well on television. Use the
appropriate dominance cues to make people think you are powerful,
even before you reach the heights. You want to seem like you were
destined for success, a mystical effect that always works.
The master of this game has to be Emperor Augustus (63 BC–AD
14) of ancient Rome. Augustus understood the value of having a good
enemy, a villain with whom he could contrast himself. For this purpose
he used Mark Antony, his early rival for power, as the perfect foil.
Augustus personally allied himself with everything traditional in
Roman society, even placing his home near the spot where the city had
supposedly been founded. While Antony was off in Egypt, dallying with
Queen Cleopatra and giving in to a life of luxury, Augustus could
continually point to their differences, showing himself off as the
embodiment of Roman values, which Antony had betrayed. Once he
became the supreme leader of Rome, Augustus made a public show of
humility, of giving back powers to the Senate and to the people. He
spoke a more vernacular Latin and lived simply, like a man of the
people. And for all this he was revered. It was, of course, all a show. In
fact he spent most of his time in a luxurious villa outside Rome. He
had many mistresses, who came from places as exotic as Egypt. And
while seeming to give away power, he held on tightly to the real reins of
control, the military. Obsessed with the theater, Augustus was a master
showman and wearer of masks. He must have realized this, for these
were the last words he spoke on his deathbed: “Have I played my part
in the farce of life well enough?”
Realize the following: The word personality comes from the Latin
persona, which means “mask.” In the public we all wear masks, and

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this has a positive function. If we displayed exactly who we are and
spoke our minds truthfully, we would offend almost everyone and
reveal qualities that are best concealed. Having a persona, playing a
role well, actually protects us from people looking too closely at us,
with all of the insecurities that would churn up. In fact, the better you
play your role, the more power you will accrue, and with power you
will have the freedom to express more of your peculiarities. If you take
this far enough, the persona you present will match many of your
unique characteristics, but always heightened for effect.
“You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite invisible to
me.” “Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to look,
and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring you to realize
the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of thumbnails, or the great
issues that may hang from a boot-lace.”
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, “A Case of Identity”

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