THE 48 LAWS OF POWER

The 48 Laws of Power is a 1998 book by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers. The book shares thematic elements with Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince and has been compared to Sun-Tzu's classic treatise The Art of War.

Law 1
Never Outshine the Master
Always make those above you feel comfortably superior.  In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite - inspire fear and insecurity.  Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.

Law 2
Never put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to use Enemies
Be wary of friends - they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy.  They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove.  In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies.  If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.

Law 3
Conceal your Intentions
Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions.  If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense.  Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelope them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.

Law 4
Always Say Less than Necessary
When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control.  Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike.  Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less.  The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

Law 5
So Much Depends on Reputation – Guard it with your Life
Reputation is the cornerstone of power.  Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once you slip, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides.  Make your reputation unassailable.  Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen.  Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations.  Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.

Law 6
Court Attention at all Cost
Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing.  Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion.  Stand out.  Be conspicuous, at all cost.  Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious, than the bland and timid masses.

Law 7
Get others to do the Work for you, but Always Take the Credit
Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own cause.  Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed.  In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered.  Never do yourself what others can do for you.

Law 8
Make other People come to you – use Bait if Necessary
When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control.  It is always better to make your opponent come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process.  Lure him with fabulous gains – then attack.  You hold the cards.

Law 9
Win through your Actions, Never through Argument
Any momentary triumph you think gained through argument is really a Pyrrhic victory:  The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of opinion.  It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word.  Demonstrate, do not explicate.

Law 10
Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky
You can die from someone else's misery – emotional states are as infectious as disease.  You may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster.  The unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you.  Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.

Law 11
Learn to Keep People Dependent on You
To maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted.  The more you are relied on, the more freedom you have.  Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear.  Never teach them enough so that they can do without you.

Law 12
Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm your Victim
One sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones.  Open-hearted gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people.  Once your selective honesty opens a hole in their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will.  A timely gift – a Trojan horse – will serve the same purpose.

Law 13
When Asking for Help, Appeal to People's Self-Interest, Never to their Mercy or Gratitude
If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds.  He will find a way to ignore you.  Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with him, that will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportion.  He will respond enthusiastically when he sees something to be gained for himself.

Law 14
Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy
Knowing about your rival is critical.  Use spies to gather valuable information that will keep you a step ahead.  Better still: Play the spy yourself.  In polite social encounters, learn to probe.  Ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions.  There is no occasion that is not an opportunity for artful spying.

Law 15
Crush your Enemy Totally
All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely.  (Sometimes they have learned this the hard way.)  If one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break out.  More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation:  The enemy will recover, and will seek revenge.  Crush him, not only in body but in spirit.

Law 16
Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor
Too much circulation makes the price go down:  The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear.  If you are already established in a group, temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked about, even more admired.  You must learn when to leave.  Create value through scarcity.

Law 17
Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability
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.

Law 18
Do Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself – Isolation is Dangerous
The world is dangerous and enemies are everywhere – everyone has to protect themselves.  A fortress seems the safest. But isolation exposes you to more dangers than it protects you from – it cuts you off from valuable information, it makes you conspicuous and an easy target.  Better to circulate among people find allies, mingle.  You are shielded from your enemies by the crowd.

Law 19
Know Who You're Dealing with – Do Not Offend the Wrong Person
There are many different kinds of people in the world, and you can never assume that everyone will react to your strategies in the same way.  Deceive or outmaneuver some people and they will spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge.  They are wolves in lambs' clothing.  Choose your victims and opponents carefully, then – never offend or deceive the wrong person.

Law 20
Do Not Commit to Anyone
It is the fool who always rushes to take sides.  Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself.  By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others – playing people against one another, making them pursue you.

Law 21
Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker – Seem Dumber than your Mark
No one likes feeling stupider than the next persons.  The trick, is to make your victims feel smart – and not just smart, but smarter than you are.  Once convinced of this, they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives.

Law 22
Use the Surrender Tactic: Transform Weakness into Power
When you are weaker, never fight for honor's sake; choose surrender instead.  Surrender gives you time to recover, time to torment and irritate your conqueror, time to wait for his power to wane.  Do not give him the satisfaction of fighting and defeating you – surrender first.  By turning the other check you infuriate and unsettle him.  Make surrender a tool of power.

Law 23
Concentrate Your Forces
Conserve your forces and energies by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point.  You gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper, than by flitting from one shallow mine to another – intensity defeats extensity every time.  When looking for sources of power to elevate you, find the one key patron, the fat cow who will give you milk for a long time to come.

Law 24
Play the Perfect Courtier
The perfect courtier thrives in a world where everything revolves around power and political dexterity.  He has mastered the art of indirection; he flatters, yields to superiors, and asserts power over others in the mot oblique and graceful manner.  Learn and apply the laws of courtiership and there will be no limit to how far you can rise in the court.

Law 25
Re-Create Yourself
Do not accept the roles that society foists on you.  Re-create yourself by forging a new identity, one that commands attention and never bores the audience.  Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define if for you.  Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life.

Law 26
Keep Your Hands Clean
You must seem a paragon of civility and efficiency: Your hands are never soiled by mistakes and nasty deeds.  Maintain such a spotless appearance by using others as scapegoats and cat's-paws to disguise your involvement.

Law 27
Play on People's Need to Believe to Create a Cultlike Following
People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something.  Become the focal point of such desire by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow.  Keep your words vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking.  Give your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your behalf.  In the absence of organized religion and grand causes, your new belief system will bring you untold power.

Law 28
Enter Action with Boldness
If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it.  Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution.  Timidity is dangerous:  Better to enter with boldness.  Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity.  Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid.

Law 29
Plan All the Way to the End
The ending is everything.  Plan all the way to it, taking into account all the possible consequences, obstacles, and twists of fortune that might reverse your hard work and give the glory to others.  By planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop.  Gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead.

Law 30
Make your Accomplishments Seem Effortless
Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease.  All the toil and practice that go into them, and also all the clever tricks, must be concealed.  When you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more.  Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work – it only raises questions.  Teach no one your tricks or they will be used against you.

Law 31
Control the Options: Get Others to Play with the Cards you Deal
The best deceptions are the ones that seem to give the other person a choice:  Your victims feel they are in control, but are actually your puppets.  Give people options that come out in your favor whichever one they choose.  Force them to make choices between the lesser of two evils, both of which serve your purpose.  Put them on the horns of a dilemma:  They are gored wherever they turn.

Law 32
Play to People's Fantasies
The truth is often avoided because it is ugly and unpleasant.  Never appeal to truth and reality unless you are prepared for the anger that comes for disenchantment.  Life is so harsh and distressing that people who can manufacture romance or conjure up fantasy are like oases in the desert:  Everyone flocks to them. There is great power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses.

Law 33
Discover Each Man's Thumbscrew
Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall.  That weakness is usually an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or need; it can also be a small secret pleasure.  Either way, once found, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage.

Law 34
Be Royal in your Own Fashion:  Act like a King to be treated like one
The way you carry yourself will often determine how you are treated; In the long run, appearing vulgar or common will make people disrespect you.  For a king respects himself and inspires the same sentiment in others.  By acting regally and confident of your powers, you make yourself seem destined to wear a crown.

Law 35
Master the Art of Timing
Never seem to be in a hurry – hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself, and over time.  Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you eventually.  Become a detective of the right moment; sniff out the spirit of the times, the trends that will carry you to power.  Learn to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to strike fiercely when it has reached fruition.

Law 36
Disdain Things you cannot have:  Ignoring them is the best Revenge
By acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility.  The more attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him; and a small mistake is often made worse and more visible when you try to fix it.  It is sometimes best to leave things alone.  If there is something you want but cannot have, show contempt for it.  The less interest you reveal, the more superior you seem.

Law 37
Create Compelling Spectacles
Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the aura of power – everyone responds to them.  Stage spectacles for those around you, then full of arresting visuals and radiant symbols that heighten your presence.  Dazzled by appearances, no one will notice what you are really doing.

Law 38
Think as you like but Behave like others
If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them.  They will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior.  It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness.

Law 39
Stir up Waters to Catch Fish
Anger and emotion are strategically counterproductive.  You must always stay calm and objective.  But if you can make your enemies angry while staying calm yourself, you gain a decided advantage.  Put your enemies off-balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you can rattle them and you hold the strings.

Law 40
Despise the Free Lunch
What is offered for free is dangerous – it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation.  What has worth is worth paying for.  By paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit.  It is also often wise to pay the full price – there is no cutting corners with excellence.  Be lavish with your money and keep it circulating, for generosity is a sign and a magnet for power.

Law 41
Avoid Stepping into a Great Man's Shoes
What happens first always appears better and more original than what comes after.  If you succeed a great man or have a famous parent, you will have to accomplish double their achievements to outshine them.  Do not get lost in their shadow, or stuck in a past not of your own making:  Establish your own name and identity by changing course.  Slay the overbearing father, disparage his legacy, and gain power by shining in your own way.

Law 42
Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep will Scatter
Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual – the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoned of goodwill.  If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence.  Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them – they are irredeemable.  Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them.  Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter.

Law 43
Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others
Coercion creates a reaction that will eventually work against you.  You must seduce others into wanting to move in your direction.  A person you have seduced becomes your loyal pawn.  And the way to seduce others is to operate on their individual psychologies and weaknesses.  Soften up the resistant by working on their emotions, playing on what they hold dear and what they fear.  Ignore the hearts and minds of others and they will grow to hate you.

Law 44
Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect
The mirror reflects reality, but it is also the perfect tool for deception: When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they do, they cannot figure out your strategy.  The Mirror Effect mocks and humiliates them, making them overreact.  By holding up a mirror to their psyches, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their values; by holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson.  Few can resist the power of Mirror Effect.

Law 45
Preach the Need for Change, but Never Reform too much at Once
Everyone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habit.  Too much innovation is traumatic, and will lead to revolt.  If you are new to a position of power, or an outsider trying to build a power base, make a show of respecting the old way of doing things.  If change is necessary, make it feel like a gentle improvement on the past.

Law 46
Never appear too Perfect
Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses.  Envy creates silent enemies.  It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable.  Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity.

Law 47
Do not go Past the Mark you Aimed for; In Victory, Learn when to Stop
The moment of victory is often the moment of greatest peril.  In the heat of victory, arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you had aimed for, and by going too far, you make more enemies than you defeat.  Do not allow success to go to your head.  There is no substitute for strategy and careful planning.  Set a goal, and when you reach it, stop.

Law 48
Assume Formlessness
By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack.  Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the move.  Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed.  The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water; never bet on stability or lasting order.  Everything changes.

Be an optimist.

You can either be an optimist or a pessimist but I encourage today to be an optimist. An optimistic person sees the good part of things in life and sees the bad luck as a temporary state.  Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of Great Britain once said “a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”.  You can never be a true follower of Jesus without being an optimistic. Dr David Jeremiah wrote “By nature, Christians are optimists. They realistically assess the headlines and soberly acknowledge problems. They know that a certain amount of rain falls into every life, and some days are cloudier than others. No one knows when the next bomb will explode or war will erupt……………….(but as Christians we must not forget)We are heirs of life abundant and life eternal…..As you watch the news today, don’t shake your head in denial or hang your head in despair. Lift up your head, for your redemption draws near. Be an optimist. Christ is coming!”

 “Why are you cast down, o my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.” Psalm 42: 15.

 

 

Courtesy: Tosin ‘Badeniyi, Ph.D

Before They Were Titans, Moguls and Newsmakers, These People Were...Rejected At College Admission Time, Lessons in Thin Envelopes

Few events arouse more teenage angst than the springtime arrival of college rejection letters. With next fall's college freshman class expected to approach a record 2.9 million students, hundreds of thousands of applicants will soon be receiving the dreaded letters.

Teenagers who face rejection will be joining good company, including Nobel laureates, billionaire philanthropists, university presidents, constitutional scholars, best-selling authors and other leaders of business, media and the arts who once received college or graduate-school rejection letters of their own. 

Both Warren Buffett and "Today" show host Meredith Vieira say that while being rejected by the school of their dreams was devastating, it launched them on a path to meeting life-changing mentors. Harold Varmus, winner of the Nobel Prize in medicine, says getting rejected twice by Harvard Medical School, where a dean advised him to enlist in the military, was soon forgotten as he plunged into his studies at Columbia University's med school. For other college rejects, from Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy and entrepreneur Ted Turner to broadcast journalist Tom Brokaw, the turndowns were minor footnotes, just ones they still remember and will talk about.

Talking 'Bout Rejection

Rejections aren't uncommon. Harvard accepts only a little more than 7% of the 29,000 undergraduate applications it receives each year, and Stanford's acceptance rate is about the same.

"The truth is, everything that has happened in my life...that I thought was a crushing event at the time, has turned out for the better," Mr. Buffett says. With the exception of health problems, he says, setbacks teach "lessons that carry you along. You learn that a temporary defeat is not a permanent one. In the end, it can be an opportunity."

Famous 'Rejects'

Warren Buffett

Bloomberg News; Buffett family photo (inset)

Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
After Harvard Business School said no, everything 'I thought was a crushing event at the time, has turned out for the better.'

Meredith Vieira

Getty Images; NBC Universal (inset)

'Today' show co-host
Had she not been rejected by Harvard, she doubts she would have entered television journalism.

Lee Bollinger

Bryan Derballa for The Wall Street Journal; Baker City High School (inset)

Columbia University president
To 'allow other people's assessment of you to determine your own self-assessment is a very big mistake.'

Harold Varmus

Bryan Derballa for The Wall Street Journal; Harold Varmus (inset)

Nobel laureate in medicine
Rejected twice by Harvard's medical school. One dean there chastised him and advised him to enlist in the military.

Ted Turner

Bloomberg

Entrepreneur
Rejected by Princeton and Harvard. 'I want to be sure to make this point: I did everything I did without a college degree.'

John Schlifske

Kevin J. Miyazaki for The Wall Street Journal

President of Northwestern Mutual
Lesson he learned from Yale's rejection helped him years later counsel his son, Dan (standing), who was rejected by Duke.

Tom Brokaw

Getty Images

Broadcast journalist
Harvard rejection prompted him to settle down and stop partying. 'The initial stumble was critical in getting me launched.'

Mr. Buffett regards his rejection at age 19 by Harvard Business School as a pivotal episode in his life. Looking back, he says Harvard wouldn't have been a good fit. But at the time, he "had this feeling of dread" after being rejected in an admissions interview in Chicago, and a fear of disappointing his father.

As it turned out, his father responded with "only this unconditional love...an unconditional belief in me," Mr. Buffett says. Exploring other options, he realized that two investing experts he admired, Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, were teaching at Columbia's graduate business school. He dashed off a late application, where by a stroke of luck it was fielded and accepted by Mr. Dodd. From these mentors, Mr. Buffett says he learned core principles that guided his investing. The Harvard rejection also benefited his alma mater; the family gave more than $12 million to Columbia in 2008 through the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, based on tax filings.

The lesson of negatives becoming positives has proved true repeatedly, Mr. Buffett says. He was terrified of public speaking—so much so that when he was young he sometimes threw up before giving an address. So he enrolled in a Dale Carnegie public speaking course and says the skills he learned there enabled him to woo his future wife, Susan Thompson, a "champion debater," he says. "I even proposed to my wife during the course," he says. "If I had been only a mediocre speaker I might not have taken it."

Columbia University President Lee Bollinger was rejected as a teenager when he applied to Harvard. He says the experience cemented his belief that it was up to him alone to define his talents and potential. His family had moved to a small, isolated town in rural Oregon, where educational opportunities were sparse. As a kid, he did menial jobs around the newspaper office, like sweeping the floor.

Mr. Bollinger recalls thinking at the time, "I need to work extra hard and teach myself a lot of things that I need to know," to measure up to other students who were "going to prep schools, and having assignments that I'm not." When the rejection letter arrived, he accepted a scholarship to University of Oregon and later graduated from Columbia Law School. His advice: Don't let rejections control your life. To "allow other people's assessment of you to determine your own self-assessment is a very big mistake," says Mr. Bollinger, a First Amendment author and scholar. "The question really is, who at the end of the day is going to make the determination about what your talents are, and what your interests are? That has to be you."

Others who received Harvard rejections include "Today" show host Meredith Vieira, who was turned down in 1971 as a high-school senior. At the time, she was crushed. "In fact, I was so devastated that when I went to Tufts [University] my freshman year, every Saturday I'd hitchhike to Harvard," she says in an email. But Ms. Vieira went on to meet a mentor at Tufts who sparked her interest in journalism by offering her an internship. Had she not been rejected, she doubts that she would have entered the field, she says.

And broadcast journalist Tom Brokaw, also rejected as a teenager by Harvard, says it was one of a series of setbacks that eventually led him to settle down, stop partying and commit to finishing college and working in broadcast journalism. "The initial stumble was critical in getting me launched," he says.

Dr. Varmus, the Nobel laureate and president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, was daunted by the first of his two turndowns by Harvard's med school. He enrolled instead in grad studies in literature at Harvard, but was uninspired by thoughts of a career in that field.

After a year, he applied again to Harvard's med school and was rejected, by a dean who chastised him in an interview for being "inconstant and immature" and advised him to enlist in the military. Officials at Columbia's medical school, however, seemed to value his "competence in two cultures," science and literature, he says.

If rejected by the school you love, Dr. Varmus advises in an email, immerse yourself in life at a college that welcomes you. "The differences between colleges that seem so important before you get there will seem a lot less important once you arrive at one that offered you a place."

Similarly, John Schlifske, president of insurance company Northwestern Mutual, was discouraged as a teenager when he received a rejection letter from Yale University. An aspiring college football player, "I wanted to go to Yale so badly," he says. He recalls coming home from school the day the letter arrived. "Mom was all excited and gave it to me," he says. His heart fell when he saw "the classic thin envelope," he says. "It was crushing."

Yet he believes he had a deeper, richer experience at Carleton College in Minnesota. He says he received a "phenomenal" education and became a starter on the football team rather than a bench-warmer as he might have been at Yale. "Being wanted is a good thing," he says.

He had a chance to pass on that wisdom to his son Dan, who was rejected in 2006 by one of his top choices, Duke University. Drawing on his own experience, the elder Mr. Schlifske told his son, "Just because somebody says no, doesn't mean there's not another school out there you're going to enjoy, and where you are going to get a good education." Dan ended up at his other top choice, Washington University in St. Louis, where he is currently a senior. Mr. Schlifske says, "he loves it."

Rejected once, and then again, by business schools at Stanford and Harvard, Scott McNealy practiced the perseverance that would characterize his career. A brash economics graduate of Harvard, he was annoyed that "they wouldn't take a chance on me right out of college," he says. He kept trying, taking a job as a plant foreman for a manufacturer and working his way up in sales. "By my third year out of school, it was clear I was going to be a successful executive. I blew the doors off my numbers," he says. Granted admission to Stanford's business school, he met Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla and went on to head Sun for 22 years.

Paul Purcell, who heads one of the few investment-advisory companies to emerge unscathed from the recession, Robert W. Baird & Co., says he interpreted his rejection years ago by Stanford University as evidence that he had to work harder. "I took it as a signal that, 'Look, the world is really competitive, and I'll just try harder next time,'" he says. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame and got an MBA from the University of Chicago, and in 2009, as chairman, president and chief executive of Baird, won the University of Chicago Booth School of Business distinguished corporate alumnus award. Baird has remained profitable through the recession and expanded client assets to $75 billion. 

Courtesy: Sue Shellenbarger, Wall Street Journal.

Nigeria’s Billionaires Plan to Conquer Africa

This year, Nigeria adds a new billionaire Mike Adenuga, and sees Aliko Dangote’s fortune skyrocket.

Alike Dangote

In the past year Aliko Dangote’s fortune surged 557% to $13.8 billion, up from $2.1 billion, after he consolidated all his public and private cement holdings throughout Africa into the continent’s largest cement manufacturer and took it public on the Nigerian stock exchange in October. Dangote Cement now has a market value in excess of $13 billion, and accounts for a quarter of the Nigeria Stock Exchange’s total market capitalization.

The dearth of native suppliers to meet increasing cement demand is driving the stock price. Dangote projects demand at 72 million metric tons and growing because of the drive to build infrastructure in Nigeria, Africa’s most populated nation, as well as other countries; current supply is 67 million metric tons, a shortfall of 5 million metric tons.

For perspective, he is now richer than longtime white South African billionaires Nicky Oppenheimer of Debeers and Johann Rupert of luxury goods group Richemont, which owns Cartier, Dunhill and other premium brands.

For now he’s gearing up to introduce Dangote Cement to foreign investors. Companies listed on the Nigerian stock exchange are required to have a minimum free float of 25%, Dangote initially listed 5% of shares. According to analysts at Thaddeus Investment Advisors, the Nigerian market is too shallow for a stock of Dangote Cement’s size to be listed on the exchange; this is why the balance of the free float will be listed outside of Nigeria. Dangote, who recently bought himself a $45 million Bombardier aircraft for his birthday, has been shuttling back and forth to London for months, in anticipation of a public offering in London later this year.

He is certainly one to watch. After a lucrative career in trading, Dangote ventured into manufacturing pasta, salt, sugar, and flour in 1997, in part encouraged by the policies of former president Olusegun Obasanjo. Eventually Dangote went from importing and rebagging cement to production as well; he was awarded the government’s then state-owned cement business and began building his own plant in 2003. Cement revenue which has been primarily based on imports grew 15% a year between 2001 and 2005; once the Obajana plant was fully operational in 2007, revenue quadrupled; in fiscal 2009 revenue was $1.2 billion.

Dangote Cement now owns three cement plants and two terminals in Nigeria where he both produces and still imports cement. The Obajana plant is Dangote’s largest to date and controls the largest market share in Nigeria; Dangote terminals at Lagos and Port-Harcourt have the highest import quotas of all local companies. With additional capacity coming on line this year, total capacity is expected to reach 26 million metric tons by the end of 2011. (also helping boost profits: Dangote’s newly combined entity is tax exempt through 2017.)

But he won’t stop there. Dangote has started building investments in cement plants and terminals across Africa including Senegal, Zambia, Tanzania, Congo, Ethiopia, Cameroun, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Ghana.

Mike Adenuga

Meanwhile his compatriot Mike Adenuga who founded Globacom, the mobile, fixed, broadband, and international gateway carrier, joins Forbes’ billionaires list with a net worth of $2 billion. Globacom launched services in Nigeria in 2005, in the Republic of Benin in 2008 and has licences to operate in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire (with Togo and Senegal next). He took a big gamble laying a $1 billion undersea fibre optic cable, Glo-1, to link Africa with the rest of the world. (partnered with Alcatel-Lucent) The connection will help lower prices for customers as well as help Adenuga expand more quickly.

[FORBES]: Africans on the 2011 Forbes List of Billionaires

Forbes Magazine recently released its list of billionaires for 2011. The Forbes list of billionaires is based on an annual assessment of wealth and assetts compiled and published by Forbes magazine. Check out the list of Africans that made this year’s list.
Africans on the 2011 Forbes List of Billionaires

The Nigerian businessman’s fortune surged 557% in the past year, making him the world’s biggest gainer in percentage terms and Africa’s richest individual for the first time. The catalyst was listing Dangote Cement, which integrated his investments across Africa with his previously public Benue Cement; it now accounts for a quarter of the Nigeria Stock Exchange’s total market cap. Already the continent’s biggest cement maker, he has plants under construction in Zambia, Tanzania, Congo and Ethiopa and is building cement terminals in Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Liberia, among other places. Dangote, who recently bought himself a $45 million Bombardier aircraft for his birthday, has been shuttling back and forth to London for months, in anticipation of a public offering there later this year. Dangote began his career as a commodities trader; built his Dangote Group into conglomerate with interests in sugar, flour milling, salt processing, cement manufacturing, textiles, real estate, and oil and gas.

The ‘forever’ part of the diamonds story don’t seem to be rubbing off on the fortunes of De Beers. The world’s largest diamond producer, owned by Oppenheimer, has seen a choppy ride in the last couple of years. Buyers took flight in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and are now slowly coming back led by developing countries such as India and China. The company cut costs aggressively last year and has been selling off some of its assets in 2010, a year that it said was better than expected.Oppenheimer quashed speculation in January that he was divesting the family’s 40% stake in De Beers to Anglo American, which already owns 45% in it. The Oppenheimer family, in turn, owns 2% in mining giant Anglo American, founded in 1917 by grandfather Ernest. Passionate conservationist, owns Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, largest private game reserve in South Africa.

Youngest son of Orascom founder and billionaire Onsi Sawiris. Took over leadership of empire’s flagship construction and fertilizer division in 1998. In 2007, sold cement business in Algeria to French construction giant Lafarge. Owns 13.9% stake in Lafarge, and sits on board . Also largest shareholder in cement producer Texas Industries. Had berated management’s poor performance, but recently reached agreement to boost stake to no more than 20%. Shares of Orascom on London exchange plunged by more than one-third after uprising in Egypt.

Owns publicly traded Swiss luxury group Richemont, which owns Cartier, Dunhill, makes Chloe bags and MontBlanc pens. Company has been doing better than analyst expectations on the back of accelerating sales in Asia-Pacific. Big on acquisitions: Richemont bought out online fashion portal Net-a-Porter 350 million pounds in April 2010 while his South African holding company, Remgro, bought out private South African investment outfit, VenFin, earlier. Appointed as Chancellor of the University of Stellenbosch,in South Africa where he has an office. With family relatives, owns two of South Africa’s best-known vineyards, Rupert & Rothschild and L’Ormarins; owns one of the country’s most exclusive golf clubs. Launched L’Ormarins 1200 car rally;has been pushed back from October 2010 to end-2011. Recently, he vowed to take on oil multinational Shell, opposing shale gas development in SA.

Eldest son of Orascom founder Onsi Sawiris played a role in Egypt’s revolution, calling on Hosni Mubarak to step down and new government to be formed. Now seems to be distancing himself from politics. Heads Wind Telecom, which provides mobile services across Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Europe and Canada through Orascom Telecom, Italy’s Wind Telecomunicazioni and Greece’s Wind Hellas. Russian mobile operator Vimpelcom offered to buy Wind Telecom assets for $6.6 billion; Naguib is reportedly considering a revised offer. Failed earlier to sell his telecom assets to South African operator MTN Group.
Patrice Motsepe
$3.3 B
Net Worth Calculated March 2011
Age: 49
Source: Mining, self-made
Residence: Johannesburg, South Africa
Country of citizenship: South Africa
Marital Status: Married
Children: 3
World’s Billionaires
#336 overall
#3 in South Africa
Johannesburg mining magnate is South Africa’s first black billionaire. Net worth up this year by $1 billion as a result of rising stock prices. Born in the sprawling black township of Soweto and then trained as a lawyer, became first black partner at Bowman Gilfillan law firm in Johannesburg, before starting a contracting business doing mine scut work. Bought low-producing gold mine shafts in 1994, turned them profitable using lean, mean management style. Since then built $1.5 billion (sales) mining conglomerate, African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), with interests in platinum, nickel, chrome, iron, manganese, coal and gold. Benefited from South Africa’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) laws, which mandate that companies be at least 26% black-owned in order to get a government mining license. Also holds a stake in Sanlam, a publicly traded financial services company outside Cape Town where he sits on the board.
Onsi Sawiris
$2.9 B
Net Worth Calculated March 2011
Age: 81
Source: construction, self-made
Residence: Cairo, Egypt
Country of citizenship: Egypt
Marital Status: Married
Children: 3
World’s Billionaires
#393 overall
#3 in Egypt
Founding patriarch of Egypt’s most famous business dynasty. Onsi’s three sons Naguib, Samih and Nassef run separate Orascom telecom, hotels and construction divisions. Studied agriculture in college after father urged him to pursue farming. Found it boring, and instead opened a small contracting firm in Upper Egypt. Was forced to rebuild after Nasser nationalized company in 1960s.
Mohamed Mansour
$2 B
Net Worth Calculated March 2011
Age: 63
Source: cotton trading, inherited and growing
Residence: Cairo, Egypt
Country of citizenship: Egypt
Education: MBA, Auburn University
Marital Status: Married
Children: 2
World’s Billionaires
#595 overall
#4 in Egypt
Mansour and his two brothers debut on the billionaires list, each with their own billion-dollar fortune despite revolution raging in their native Egypt. The Mansours are the biggest sellers of GM vehicles worldwide, and their Mansour Group has other interests including the largest supermarket chain in Egypt and the country’s second largest real estate developer. Sustained little damage during the Egypt uprising; any long term impact remains unclear. Mohammed was the country’s Minister of Transportation from 2005 until 2009; his sprawling estate in Cairo overlooks the pyramids.

Nicknamed “the Guru” in his native Nigeria, Adenuga debuts on our billionaires list after making waves with mobile technology. His telecoms carrier Globacom recently launched a 4G network, and he’s invested $1 billion on a submarine cable connecting Nigeria to the rest of the world. He made his first million at age 26 selling lace and distributing Coca-Cola, then won a contract to build military barracks in the late 1980s. He owns a stake in the Equitorial Trust Bank and chairs Niger Delta oil exploration firm Conoil. Adenuga is a soccer devotee and sponsors a number of tournaments.
Yasseen Mansour
$1.8 B
Net Worth Calculated March 2011
Age: 49
Source: Diversified, inherited and growing
Residence: Cairo, Egypt
Country of citizenship: Egypt
Education: BA/BS, George Washington University
Marital Status: Married
Children: 4
World’s Billionaires New to the list
#692 overall
#5 in Egypt
New on the list. Youngest brother of Mohamed Mansour, 49-year-old Yasseen heads Palm Hills Developments, Egypt’s second largest real estate developer. Builds luxury housing and resorts. Impact of Egypt’s revolution still unclear. Cousin who was Mubarak’s housing minister before ouster in cabinet shake-up, is a shareholder in Palm Hills and other Mansour holdings. He now faces allegations of corruption. Youssef is graduate of George Washington University.
Youssef Mansour
$1.8 B
Net Worth Calculated March 2011
Age: 65
Source: Diversified, inherited and growing
Residence: Cairo, Egypt
Country of citizenship: Egypt
Education: MBA, Auburn University; North Carolina State University
Marital Status: Married
Children: 5
World’s Billionaires New to the list
#692 overall
#6 in Egypt
New to the list. Older brother of Mohamed Mansour, Youssef, 65, was instrumental in building the largest supermarket chain in Egypt, Metro. Stores spared looting during uprising; loyal employees stood guard daily to defend from theft and stay open for business. Now situation unclear. Devotes time to family foundation, with mission to eradicate illiteracy and promote education. With wife, enjoys collecting Louis XIV furniture and Renaissance paintings.

The South African makes the cut thanks to his stake in the continent’s biggest retailer, low-price supermarket chain Shoprite. Known as “Christo”, he also owns a stake in discount clothes, shoes and textiles chain Pepkor (slogan: “Making the desirable affordable.”) Restored a South African farm estate and remodeled it into a five-star hotel, Lanzerac Manor & Winery. Replanted the vineyards around it, created a modern cellar and has restarted brewing wine. Also owns wine producer Lourensford Estate and a private game reserve in the Kalahari
Samih Sawiris
$1.4 B
Net Worth Calculated March 2011
Age: 54
Source: hotels, inherited and growing
Residence: Cairo, Egypt
Country of citizenship: Egypt
Marital Status: Married
World’s Billionaires
#879 overall
#7 in Egypt
Middle son of Orascom founder and billionaire Onsi Sawiris. Samih runs real estate and hotel division which owns and operates hotels in eight countries, including Egypt, Jordan, Oman, UAE and Switzerland. Hotel properties in Egypt may take a hit, as tourists flee Egypt due to unrest. In 2010 partnered with French luxury goods company LVMH to develop two resorts in Oman and Egypt under Cheval Blanc brand. Also building luxury hotels and a golf course on a former Nazi supply route in Andermatt, Switzeland.
Mohamed Al Fayed & family
$1.2 B
Net Worth Calculated March 2011
Age: 78
Source: Retail, self-made
Country of citizenship: Egypt
Marital Status: Married
Children: 5
World’s Billionaires New to the list
#993 overall
#8 in Egypt
Flamboyant Egyptian businessman, father of Dodi Al Fayed who died in a car crash along with Princess Diana in Paris in August 1997. A natural born salesman, began flogging homemade lemonade to his classmates during recess; said to have sold Pepsi in market stalls, worked as a sewing machine salesman. Became an associate of businessman and weapons dealer Adnan Khashoggi, whose sister he eventually married. Became a British resident in 1974. Acquired House of Fraser group in mid 1980s, including the venerable Harrod’s department store, which he revitalized and refurbished. Sold it to Qatar Holding for a reported $2.4 billion in May 2010; now honorary chairman. Owner of the Hôtel Ritz in Paris, the Fulham football club, and a castle in Scotland. Anglophile has yet to be granted British citizenship.

The 5 Rules of Happiness

You know when you're happy, and certainly no one has to tell you when you're sad. But what is it that makes a person happy?

It is important to realize that what makes you happy might depress another person. There are people, because of guilt, a feeling they do not deserve what they have, or a feeling they will lose what they have that makes them unhappy when they should be happy.

Possessions are a poor measure of happiness. Possessions are subjective and relative to the individual and the individual's viewpoint. Instead, we will use a philosophy as an example.

This philosophy is about enjoying things you like, avoiding or changing things you do not like, and accepting what you cannot avoid or change by the skillful use of your viewpoint. The use of this philosophy, as embodied in the five rules, will allow you to test many problem areas in your life and find solutions. With this philosophy, you will be well on your way on your pursuit of happiness.

Rule Number One: If You Like a Thing, Enjoy It.

Now that seems outrageously simple. At first you might say, "That's ridiculous, of course if I like something I'm going to enjoy it." But when you stop to think about it you'll probably agree that there are many things in life that we like but don't enjoy. The reasons we don't enjoy things we like are (a) guilt, and (b) fear. You will not enjoy something you like if you feel guilty after having done the thing, or if you are fearful of the consequences of doing it.

Rule Number Two: If You Don't Like a Thing, Avoid It.

The second rule seems simple enough, but reflect for a moment on how many people are involved with things they do not like -- a job, a person, a vehicle, a type of food, any one of a thousand things -- and for some reason they don't avoid those things. "Well, I can't avoid it. I have to work there because I need the money." Or, "I have to be involved with this person for many valid reasons." How many justifications can you think of for not avoiding the things you do not like to do?

Rule Number Three: If You Don't Like a Thing, and You Cannot Avoid It, Change It.

Here again, the answer is simple: change it. But just as in avoidance we rationalize that we need something about it -- the money, the time, the security -- something is holding you to that particular thing if you don't like it, cannot avoid it, won't change it, but are still involved with it.

Rule Number Four: If You Don't Like a Thing, Cannot Avoid It, and Cannot or will Not Change It, Accept It.

Acceptance -- now there is a catch. How can you accept something you don't like? How in the world do you accept something that is 'unacceptable'? How do you accept a situation that you're not happy with? How do you accept a person that you're not happy with? Well, you really don't have to accept anything; you can, of course, be unhappy. If you don't like it, won't change it, cannot avoid it, and will not accept it, I guarantee that you will be unhappy. There are, however, five rules to the secret of happiness, and within the fifth lies the key.

Rule Number Five: You Accept a Thing By Changing Your Attitude Towards It.

You are the result of your viewpoints and attitudes. Everything is relative to the person experiencing it. There are no absolutes -- nothing is good, nothing bad, except as it relates to you. Nor is life good or bad. Life simply is. You change those things you wish by changing your viewpoint about them.

How easy!
How difficult!

Your attitudes and viewpoints are all part of your mind and once you develop the power of self mind control you will be the master of your own attitudes and viewpoints. Using these five rules you'll soon find yourself on the right path on the pursuit of happiness. You'll realize why people are unhappy. Eventually it will become automatic, and you'll find happiness a predominant state of mind. Once you realize the ease of acquiring this emotion, you develop an entirely new scale of highs and lows.

Unremitting happiness, of course, is not a possible or desirable state. According to the principle of rhythm, there is always an inflow and outflow, an ebb tide and a flood tide. You'll always have highs and lows -- there's no way to avoid that. However, your highs will be higher and your lows will be higher. You'll then find that what is a happy state for you might be a state of depression for someone unaware of the Five Rules of Happiness. 

Adapted from Burt Goldman

Are you hungry for fresh "meat"?

Jesus said unto them,
My meat is to do the will of Him
that sent me, and to finish his work."

- John 4:34

What's yours?

What has He sent you to do?

TODAY, He has sent me to wake up
the sleeping eagle inside you...

... so you can join the MIDNIGHT
prayer army.

And experience firsthand the joy
of INSTANT answers to prayers ...
in every area of your life.

Just like this sister from Botswana:

"Good Day Elisha
Let me start by saying glory be
to Father God through son Jesus Christ.

Our Lord Jesus is an Awesome God
and he has done a miracle for me.

I was taking part on the 14 days
prayer and really what I was asking
God was to impart on me his holy spirit...

...so that his signs and wonders can
be seen through me, and on Friday 21
January something extra good happened.

On the night of Friday as I was watching
God Channel my neighbour came to ask me
to take his daughter to hospital as she
was sick,

but the Holy Spirit told me to just
finish off first what I was watching
and I did just that.

After the preaching I then went to see
the lady only to realize that she was
in a critical situation.

We then took her to the car and after
she got in the car she died.

 Her mum was just crying and I immediately
went and laid my hands on her chest and
called the name of Jesus five times and
her life was restored back.

Right now she is alive in Jesus name.

Wow this will go down as one of the
best testimonies in my life and all
the GLORY IS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.


Glory be to God our Lord Jesus Christ."

- Thabo M, Gaborone, Botswana

Yes, she asked for power to do exploits
and she received it.

The moment you make up your mind to become
a raging fireball at the midnight hour...

...and confront YOUR stubborn problems
head on, the LORD will respond with
a flood of shocking testimonies.

In your life EVERYDAY!

Be An Overcomer!

Courtesy: elisha@firesprings.com