Law 17: Cultivate An Air Of Unpredictability: Keep Other’s In Suspended Terror

The 48 Laws Of Power Summary Series

Judgement

“Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people’s actions. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Turn the tables: Be deliberately unpredictable. Behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off- balance and they will wear themselves out trying to explain your moves. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorize.”

Greene likens this law a lot to the game of chess. The beauty about the game of chess is that you don’t know what your opponent is going to do next. It’s inherently unpredictable.

Professional players will try and predict their opponents next move and make an educated decisions based on their analysis. Not knowing what’s…