Robert Green's Art of Seduction and to a lesser extent, 48 Laws of Power give some insight into the game of pursuing at discression and the various strategies to accomplish it.
e.g.
"Don't reveal your intentions to the rest of the court, lest stab you before you attain it."
"Reveal everything as a power play and pursue with the highest aggression such that you will be the first."
among many others
Ha ha charming guy.
He actually is though, very interesting interviews with him. The books are framed as "this is the game people play, you can learn to work with it or be ignorant and have it used against you". Its not about being manipulative or being a serial body-count attainer, but observing the landscape.
Specifically the 48 laws of power have a duality - recognize the stance of others and their associated weaknesses, and identify the stances you can use to your benifit.
mixing up what comes from which book but -
Historical examples from how Cleopatra would seduce a man, the flakiness of a coquette seduction and how it can be so effective to the archtype of how children are helpless and engage in the strategy of innocence to earn the attention of their caregivers.
Some strategies will earn you notoriety and put a target on your back, or you can recognize a strategy within a manipulative and overbearing boss - now you have tools to deal with it, or if possible outshine them. Giving tools to individuals without any power to help them maneuver through out life.
my interest in that book kicked off the end of a relationship with a psychotic manipulative woman
There 👏 we 👏 go 👏 👏 😂
it didn't proof me against later abusive relationships tho, what fixed me with that, much more, was learning how cults do business
just being protected from this shit by spotting it early and walking away will do way more than any manipulative, flashy gambit
Yep, some people you're best not playing with.
the way i'd frame it is that if you have to play you should walk away
his work is just a detailed catalog of how psychopaths do business, and the only proper way to do business with them is to avoid them, and if they are acting up, shine a light on them, otherwise stay the fuck away
pride is the first problem with psychopaths, they think they are the most important, and second is that everything they do starts with a lie
Not disagreeing with any of that, my framing of it is that he will use the most extreme examples to get his point across, but there are degrees to its utilization. Sure you can walk away from some situations, but that isn't an option all the time - especially when you are responsible for others.
i boiled it all down to 9 primary tricks they use and you can categorise every one of the ones he describes (i have only read about 18 or so of the 48) in the set of 9
when you are responsible for others, you have to focus energy in on isolating the manipulator and making sure nobody falls for their tricks
most organisations have several, usually a little gaggle of these kinds of psychotic ghouls and are fundamentally toxic organisations and everyone else is a patsy for their mischief, it's really hard to watch
the company i work for at the moment doesn't have any such ghouls in it, it's quite rare, mostly just a bunch of smart people trying to make a living in tech without drowning in the cult-ure of most of it
