Law 11 - Learn to keep people dependent on you

Question 1

What is true independence?

Answer 1

When people NEED you and RELY on you so much that they FEAR the consequences of losing you, you are truly independent.

Question 2

What is the best way to always be independent?

Answer 2

Always be needed and wanted

Question 3

What is the most accurate measure of your independence?

Answer 3

The amount you are relied on for happiness and prosperity

Question 4

What happens when there are 100 others who can do what you do?

Answer 4

People don’t lose anything by disposing of you. They choose the cheaper and less experienced options.

Question 5

How do you avoid the fate of the Condottieri?

Answer 5

Make the fate of your employer so entwined with yours that they cannot possibly get rid of you

Question 6

Which of the two types of horses should you be?

Answer 6

The workhorse.

The lazy one gets killed for its hide.

Question 7

How do you make a weak master do what you want him to do?

Answer 7

Play on his insecurities - manliness, challenges etc.

Question 8

When ascending the ladder of power, whom do you attach yourself to?

Answer 8

The weak masters/rulers, rather than the powerful.

Question 9

Why should you not attach yourself to the powerful in your ascent of the ladder of power?

Answer 9

You can NOT make them depend on you, because they’re already powerful.

Question 10

Why is it a good idea to join a weak master/ruler in your ascent to power?

Answer 10

You can become their source of

1. Strength
2. Intelligence
3. A spine

To such an extent that if they got rid of you, their whole edifice would collapse.

Question 11

How do you become a pillar for a weak master?

Answer 11

You counteract their weakness with your own “iron and blood”

Question 12

When does your power become untouchable?

Answer 12

When you can get people to WILLINGLY do as you wish, WITHOUT having to

1. Force them;
2. Hurt them.

Question 13

When do you know you have leverage over a weak master?

Answer 13

1. He requires your services
2. He is unable to function without you
3. You enmesh yourself with him so deeply that disposing of you brings him great difficulty

Question 14

What is the difference between independence and interdependence?

Answer 14

Independence is living in a hut on the antarctic.

Interdependence is being surrounded by allies, a weak master, and minions, all of whom are dependent on you.

Question 15

What is interdependence?

Answer 15

REVERSE independence.

Others become so dependent on you that their need for you frees you.

Question 16

What are the steps to recruit a weak master?

Answer 16

1. Find a weak master
2. Figure out his weaknesses
3. Use your strengths to get him power
4. Show him how it is to function without you
5. Use your potential loss as a threat (leverage) to get him to WILLINGLY do what you want

Question 17

What does it mean to be indispensible?

Answer 17

To get rid of you should spell disaster / death.

Your master should be AFRAID of getting rid of you.

Question 18

What are the five techniques of making yourself indispensible?

Answer 18

1. Unique talent / Creative skill
2. Dread – Your suitors&raquo_space; His replacements
3. Latch onto a non-master indispensible in the chain
4. Spiderweb
5. Secret intelligence

Question 19

What is the BEST way to be indispensible?

Answer 19

Possess a talent or creative skill that can NOT be replaced (like Michaelangelo)

Question 20

What is the best way to make yourself indispensible if you lack a unique talent or creative skill?

Answer 20

Dread.

Create a situation where you can latch onto another master or patron, BUT your master cannot easily find another servant with your particular talent.

Question 21

What do you do if you can’t intertwine with the weak master?

Answer 21

You find someone indispensible in his chain and latch onto them

Question 22

If you cannot concentrate your forces on one specific high level power, what do you do?

Answer 22

Create extensive power - Intertwine with enough branches that getting rid of you would unravel everything

Question 23

If nothing else works, what is your last resort to make yourself indispensible?

Answer 23

The Secret Intelligence Tactic.

Question 24

How do you weild the secret intelligence tactic?

Answer 24

You hold onto other people’s information that they wouldn’t want broadcast, in the process sealing your fate with theirs.

Tyrion and Shae.

Question 25

Why is the Secret Intelligence Tactic a last resort to create indispensibility?

Answer 25

It is full of insecurities and paranoia. The peace of mind you lose cancels out the power you gain.

Question 26

What emotion can you play on to ensure your master’s dependence on you?

Answer 26

Fear.

You can control fear.

Question 27

Why can you not rely on your master’s love and friendship for his dependence on you?

Answer 27

It is subtle, changeable, unpredictable and uncontrollable. You will always be insecure.

Question 28

How do you make sure that people don’t stop being dependent on you?

Answer 28

You keep their hope alive but never satisfied (satisfied = thirst satisfied by well and well cast aside)

Question 29

Is being at the top of the food chain (the independent master) better than being interdependent? Why?

Answer 29

No.

At the top, you face:

1. Isolation
2. Internal pressure
3. Powerful resentment
4. Enemies who bond together to fight you