Speaker 1: If Niccolo Machiavelli were alive to day, he wouldn't be
Speaker 1: writing books. He'd be running empires silently. He wouldn't tweet,
Speaker 1: he wouldn't post. He'd be the man behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: pulling strings so subtle you'd swear it was destiny. Because
Speaker 1: in a world addicted to visibility, Machiavelli would dominate through invisibility.
Speaker 1: And today I'm going to show you exactly how not
Speaker 1: with quotes, with doctrine twenty one psychological rules for total
Speaker 1: control based on what Machiavelli would do if he were
Speaker 1: among us now, men judge more by the eye than
Speaker 1: the hand. Control how they see you, and you control
Speaker 1: what they do. Rule one, always let them underestimate you.
Speaker 1: Machiavelli understood that power is safest when hidden. To day,
Speaker 1: everyone's in a rush to prove themselves, to flash credentials,
Speaker 1: to assert dominance, to show there the smartest person in
Speaker 1: the room. But Machiavelli wouldn't walk in loud. He'd walk
Speaker 1: in last, observe, first, speak when no one expects him to,
Speaker 1: and say what no one else dared to, and in
Speaker 1: doing so he'd control the room without being noticed until
Speaker 1: it's too late. Let them think you're quiet, let them
Speaker 1: think you're harmless, Let them think you're small, because when
Speaker 1: they believe you pose no threat, they expose themselves fully,
Speaker 1: and that's when you strike from a position they never
Speaker 1: prepared for.
Speaker 2: Rule two, Charm.
Speaker 1: Is more dangerous than truth in a hyper connected, image
Speaker 1: obsessed society. Truth doesn't spread, perception does. Machiavelli knew everyone
Speaker 1: sees what you appear to be. Few experience what you
Speaker 1: really are, so he wouldn't spend his time proving integrity.
Speaker 1: He'd spend it building illusion. He'd smile in board rooms
Speaker 1: while planting seeds of misdirection. He'd charm enemies, feed them
Speaker 1: false confidence, and disarm them through likability.
Speaker 2: That's the art, not.
Speaker 1: To be good, but to be believed as good. You
Speaker 1: don't need to be honest, You need to be persuasive.
Speaker 1: Don't correct how people see you, exploit it. Let them
Speaker 1: crown you the hero while you quietly rewrite the ending.
Speaker 1: Rule three, create ambiguity on purpose. Most people fight to
Speaker 1: be understood. Machiavelli would do the opposite. He'd leave people
Speaker 1: guessing one day, cold, the next day, generous, sometimes silent,
Speaker 1: sometimes intense, not because he's confused, but because they are.
Speaker 1: Confusion creates obsession. Obsession creates focus, Focus creates influence. When
Speaker 1: people can't define you, they study you. They analyze every word,
Speaker 1: They overinterpret silence. They begin to orbit your ambiguity, trying
Speaker 1: to make sense of what they cannot control. That's the power.
Speaker 1: You're not just a person anymore. You're a puzzle, and
Speaker 1: puzzles become fixations. Machiavelli would say, the people you control
Speaker 1: the most are the ones who think about.
Speaker 2: You the most.
Speaker 1: So stop over explaining, Stop clarifying your position, stop filling
Speaker 1: every silence, leave gaps, speak in riddles, smile when they
Speaker 1: ask questions you refuse to answer. Because confusion breeds curiosity,
Speaker 1: and curiosity becomes gravitational rule. For control what they see,
Speaker 1: hide what you do. In a world where every move
Speaker 1: is broadcast, Machiavelli would move in shadows. Everyone's building their
Speaker 1: personal brand, posting updates, sharing progress, showing receipts. But the
Speaker 1: second people see how you move, they start preparing counter moves.
Speaker 1: They form a life alliances, they build narratives, They plant
Speaker 1: traps in your path. So what would Marchiavelli do? He'd
Speaker 1: keep his output public, but his input private. He would
Speaker 1: appear transparent while hiding his true mechanics. A prince must
Speaker 1: always be prepared to act against loyalty, against charity, against humanity,
Speaker 1: against religion to preserve the state, translation appear noble, move ruthlessly.
Speaker 2: Don't reveal your.
Speaker 1: Strategies, don't explain your systems. Don't tell people what you're
Speaker 1: building until you've already built it. Let them think you're slow,
Speaker 1: let them think you're resting, then pass them by with
Speaker 1: a silence they never prepared for. Control the feed, guard
Speaker 1: the factory.
Speaker 2: Rule five.
Speaker 1: Build a mask, then let it fracture. Machiavelli understood something
Speaker 1: every manipulator now uses. Perfection is forgettable. Flaws are addictive.
Speaker 1: So you build a mask. You become confident, poised, intelligent, calm,
Speaker 1: But just once let it crack, reveal a controlled imperfection,
Speaker 1: a sharp word, a calculated vulnerability, a sudden burst of
Speaker 1: insight that reveals your far deeper than they realized.
Speaker 2: Why.
Speaker 1: Because people don't obsess over what they already understand. They
Speaker 1: obsess over what feels just out of reach. Give them
Speaker 1: ninety percent of the story, then go silent. They'll chase
Speaker 1: the other ten percent four years. A wise ruler should
Speaker 1: cultivate in appearance of virtue while being ready to act
Speaker 1: contrary to it. So be the light, then flash the darkness,
Speaker 1: let them glimpse the abyss, then close the curtain. You'll
Speaker 1: become unforgettable. Not because they loved the mask, but because
Speaker 1: they saw it slip, and now they need to know
Speaker 1: what's behind it. Rule six, say less than necessary all.
Speaker 1: When people talk too much, they reveal their weakness, their
Speaker 1: need for validation, their fear of being misunderstood, their emotional
Speaker 1: dependency on clarity. But the one who speaks with precision
Speaker 1: and stops before explaining too much dominates the room. Macchiavelli
Speaker 1: didn't speak to be understood. He spoke to create distance.
Speaker 1: He used words like blades, not blankets, in a negotiation,
Speaker 1: in a disagreement, in a moment of tension, he'd say
Speaker 1: one sentence, two at most.
Speaker 2: Then let the.
Speaker 1: Silence speak louder. And that silence that's where the fear begins. Why,
Speaker 1: because now they project, They start thinking, what does he know?
Speaker 1: Why isn't he reacting? What's he planning next? You've said nothing,
Speaker 1: but they've written a novel in their heads and you're
Speaker 1: the villain. They can't outmaneuver.
Speaker 2: So what do you say in power?
Speaker 1: Exactly enough, not to satisfy, not to impress, just to
Speaker 1: control the rhythm of thought. Then stop, let them lean in,
Speaker 1: let them guess, let them sweat, because mystery, real mystery,
Speaker 1: is forged in the space between words. Rule seven blur
Speaker 1: the line between threat and ally.
Speaker 2: In today's world, people.
Speaker 1: Are obsessed with knowing where everyone stands, who's on their side,
Speaker 1: who's against them, who's safe, and who's a threat. Machiavelli
Speaker 1: would never let them feel that certainty. He'd sit with
Speaker 1: enemies at dinner, compliment rivals, publicly defend people he privately
Speaker 1: plan to remove. Why Because when people think you're dangerous,
Speaker 1: they prepare for war, But when they think you're neutral,
Speaker 1: they sleep, And the best time to move is when
Speaker 1: they're asleep. The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and
Speaker 1: the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore
Speaker 1: be a fox to wreckgize traps and a lion to
Speaker 1: frighten wolves.
Speaker 2: You must be both.
Speaker 1: So you compliment your enemy's idea just before you out
Speaker 1: maneuver them. You agree with the critic just before replacing
Speaker 1: them in silence. You appear passive until your absence becomes
Speaker 1: a weapon. Be warm, be supportive, be disarming until the
Speaker 1: moment you move.
Speaker 2: And by then it's too late to stop you.
Speaker 1: Modern translation say less, smile more, play neutral, and then
Speaker 1: remove them while they're still confused about whether you were
Speaker 1: even a threat.
Speaker 2: Rule eight.
Speaker 1: Make them feel safe right before you take power. The
Speaker 1: easiest way to remove someone is not by fighting them.
Speaker 2: It's by making them believe you're no threat.
Speaker 1: You're on their side, you want them to win. Then,
Speaker 1: when they finally trust.
Speaker 2: You, you move. Machiavelli would study.
Speaker 1: Your patterns, mimic your language, praise your ideas, and disagree softly.
Speaker 1: He'd never make you feel like you're losing. He'd make
Speaker 1: you feel like you're guiding him. And once you feel safe,
Speaker 1: he would act decisively, quickly, cleanly, and by the time
Speaker 1: you feel betrayed, he's already in your seat. Men are
Speaker 1: so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs
Speaker 1: that a deceiver will never lack victims, so tell them
Speaker 1: what they need to hear, show them what they want
Speaker 1: to see, and take what they never thought you'd touch,
Speaker 1: all while smiling.
Speaker 2: Rule nine.
Speaker 1: Make people dependent, then remove yourself. If Machiavelli wanted to
Speaker 1: dominate someone, he wouldn't threaten them.
Speaker 2: He'd help them.
Speaker 1: In ways that slowly, silently created dependence. He'd teach them
Speaker 1: something no one else could solve, a problem no one
Speaker 1: else would provide stability they hadn't earned, become irreplaceable without
Speaker 1: ever asking for recognition, and then he'd leave, not in anger,
Speaker 1: not with revenge, just withdrawal. Why because nothing destroys people
Speaker 1: faster than the sudden absence of what they've grown addicted to.
Speaker 1: Men are kept honest only by necessity. When they are
Speaker 1: free to act, they are dishonest. So Machiavelli would become
Speaker 1: your necessary illusion, the person you thought you didn't need
Speaker 1: until you lost them. That's how you become unforgettable. Create
Speaker 1: a void, make them lean on you, then take your
Speaker 1: hand away mid step. They won't hate you, they'll hate
Speaker 1: how much they need you, and spend years.
Speaker 2: Trying to fill the space. Rule ten.
Speaker 1: Weaponize the favor. Most people offer help to be liked.
Speaker 1: Machiavelli would offer help to create leverage. If he gave
Speaker 1: you something, he wouldn't let you forget it. He wouldn't
Speaker 1: collect with force, he'd collect with presents. You'd feel indebted,
Speaker 1: feel small, You'd feel a psychological imbalance you couldn't fix.
Speaker 2: And that's the point.
Speaker 1: You offer them a short cut, a solution, an advantage.
Speaker 1: Then you pull back slightly. You don't ask for anything.
Speaker 1: You just let the imbalance ache until they start paying
Speaker 1: you back. In loyalty favors, information or submission, and if
Speaker 1: they forget, you remind them subtly, remember that time. I
Speaker 1: just once enough to make them realize you own a
Speaker 1: piece of their pride. Favors, when used with patience, becomes
Speaker 1: psychological chains, And the longer they stay unacknowledged, the heavier
Speaker 1: they feel.
Speaker 2: Rule eleven.
Speaker 1: Manufacture loyalty by letting them betray others for you. People
Speaker 1: think loyalty is earned by kindness.
Speaker 2: It isn't.
Speaker 1: Machiavelli knew the best way to make someone loyal is
Speaker 1: to get them to compromise or your benefit. You don't
Speaker 1: force betrayal, You allow it. Let them tell you something
Speaker 1: they shouldn't, Let them break a small rule in your favor.
Speaker 1: Let them talk badly about someone to.
Speaker 2: Win your approval.
Speaker 1: You never ask, you never pressure, You just leave the
Speaker 1: door slightly open and they walk through it. Now they're
Speaker 1: tied to you, not by admiration, but by complicity. People
Speaker 1: protect the things they've compromised for. So when someone betrays
Speaker 1: others in your direction, they're investing in you, and the
Speaker 1: more they invest, the less they can afford to lose you.
Speaker 1: That's how Machiavelli would create allies, not through charisma, but
Speaker 1: through entanglement.
Speaker 2: Rule twelve break.
Speaker 1: Alliances from the inside. Machiavelli didn't just outmaneuver individuals. He
Speaker 1: dismantled entire networks, but not by confrontation, by erosion. He
Speaker 1: wouldn't attack the alliance. He'd infiltrate it. He'd plan ideas,
Speaker 1: seeds of doubt, misalignments in values. He who causes another
Speaker 1: to become powerful ruins himself. So he'd identify the strongest
Speaker 1: bond in the group and slowly infect it with suspicion.
Speaker 1: I heard he said something about you.
Speaker 2: Have you noticed how she never really defends you.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying anything. Just watch how they act. That's
Speaker 1: all it takes. You don't need to destroy the alliance.
Speaker 1: You just make them destroy it themselves. Let their fear
Speaker 1: of betrayal do the work for you, because once trust
Speaker 1: breaks inside a group, the whole structure collapses without a
Speaker 1: single blow.
Speaker 2: Rule thirteen. Reflect their insecurities back at them gently.
Speaker 1: Want someone to obey you without realizing it. Make them
Speaker 1: feel seen, but only in ways that confirm their self doubt,
Speaker 1: not with insult, not with criticism, with soft, carefully timed comments.
Speaker 1: You're really brave, especially for someone who's not used to attention.
Speaker 1: You always seem to pull through even when people don't
Speaker 1: take you seriously. You're doing great, even if your confidence
Speaker 1: doesn't always show it. What do these statements do? They
Speaker 1: trigger agreement from their pain, and once you've anchored yourself
Speaker 1: as the person who understands them, they attach, They defer,
Speaker 1: they begin to move under your emotional gravity. Machiavelli understood
Speaker 1: that fear and insecurity are far more effective than threats
Speaker 1: because threats trigger defenses.
Speaker 2: But in securities they open the.
Speaker 1: Door from the inside, and once you're in, you become
Speaker 1: the only voice they trust. Rule fourteen. Never be the
Speaker 1: one holding the knife in every betrayal, in every decision,
Speaker 1: in every ruthless removal. Machiavelli had one golden rule. Let
Speaker 1: others do the dirty work. He would orchestrate outcomes, whisper ideas,
Speaker 1: influence decisions, but never be the one in the spotlight.
Speaker 1: When someone needed to be cut off, he'd make it
Speaker 1: seem like they were never loyal to begin with. When
Speaker 1: arrival needed to be removed, he'd let themself destruct with
Speaker 1: just the right amount of provocation. When chaos needed to happen,
Speaker 1: he'd feed both sides information, then step away before the
Speaker 1: fire ignited. Why because if you're seen as the executioner,
Speaker 1: you gain enemies, But if you're seen as the inevitable
Speaker 1: alternative after someone else fails, you gain followers. This is
Speaker 1: the Machiavellian masterpiece, the illusion of clean hands. You orchestrated everything,
Speaker 1: You controlled everyone, but no one can prove it.
Speaker 2: And even if they.
Speaker 1: Suspect you, you're already sitting where the last man stood.
Speaker 1: Rule fifteen. Say nothing and let them reveal everything. In
Speaker 1: any room, the most powerful person isn't the loudest. It's
Speaker 1: the one who says nothing and watches everything. Why Because
Speaker 1: silence is a weapon disguised as passivity. Machiavelli would walk
Speaker 1: into today's world of podcasts, rants and digital noise and
Speaker 1: win by becoming the one person who doesn't broadcast. He
Speaker 1: wouldn't fill the silence. He'd let others choke on it.
Speaker 1: Here's how he'd use it. Someone insults you, You say nothing.
Speaker 1: Someone asks your opinion, You smile and let them keep talking.
Speaker 1: Someone tries to trigger emotion. You blink, stay quiet and
Speaker 1: offer no reaction. That silence it forces them to speak more.
Speaker 1: And the more they speak, the more they reveal their doubts,
Speaker 1: their intentions, their weak spots. You don't have to interrogate them.
Speaker 1: They'll tell you everything just to fill the space you've weaponized.
Speaker 1: Never attempt to win by force. What can be won
Speaker 1: by deception and silence is deception's mostly and form Rule sixteen.
Speaker 1: Be unpredictable, but only when it matters. Machiavelli would never
Speaker 1: be erratic, but he would be unreliable in critical moments.
Speaker 1: Why because predictability breeds manipulation. If they always know when
Speaker 1: you'll reply, they'll control the tempo. If they always know
Speaker 1: how you react under stress, they'll plan the provocation. If
Speaker 1: they know you'll always take the high road, they'll walk
Speaker 1: all over it. But if sometimes you forgive and sometimes
Speaker 1: you disappear, If sometimes you speak and sometimes you let
Speaker 1: them drown in silence. If sometimes you engage and sometimes
Speaker 1: you watch them implode, they will fear you, not because
Speaker 1: you're aggressive, but because you're unreadable.
Speaker 2: Machiavelli knew men are.
Speaker 1: Driven by two principal impulses, either by love or by fear.
Speaker 1: But fear is born from uncertainty. The person they can't
Speaker 1: predict is the person they can't prepare for Rule seventeen,
Speaker 1: make your presence felt even in absence. To dominate psychologically,
Speaker 1: you don't need to always show up. You need to
Speaker 1: make them feel your impact when you're not around. How
Speaker 1: by becoming the standard, the reference point, the shadow. In
Speaker 1: every conversation. They second guess their choices because of how
Speaker 1: you used to correct them. They can't celebrate wins because
Speaker 1: they wonder what you would have done. They don't trust
Speaker 1: others fully because they remember how precise your judgment was.
Speaker 1: This is psychological branding, not based on content, based on energy.
Speaker 1: You imprint your presence by how you behave when you're
Speaker 1: still in the room, measured, observant, controlled, surgical, So when
Speaker 1: you're gone, they don't forget you. They compare everyone else
Speaker 1: to you. Machiavelli wouldn't need to fire people, he'd create
Speaker 1: such a powerful memory that even in absence, they'd still
Speaker 1: play by his rules.
Speaker 2: Rule eighteen.
Speaker 1: Never threaten, Let fear do the work. Threats create resistance.
Speaker 1: Machiavelli never needed to say I'll destray you. He let
Speaker 1: others wonder if he might. That wondering that psychological pressure
Speaker 1: far more damaging than words. Here's how it works today.
Speaker 1: You don't say I could expose you. You just pause
Speaker 1: when they lie and watch them squirm. You don't say
Speaker 1: I'll ruin your chances. You just make one call, then
Speaker 1: say nothing else. You don't say you're done. You simply
Speaker 1: disappear from their world and let them panic about what
Speaker 1: you're doing. Why Because fear based on imagination is more
Speaker 1: powerful than fear based on information. Once they fear what
Speaker 1: you might do, they start working for your approval just
Speaker 1: to avoid finding out.
Speaker 2: Rule nineteen.
Speaker 1: Delay your revenge it becomes devastating. Macchiavelli didn't believe in
Speaker 1: quick retaliation. He believed in watching, waiting, letting the offense
Speaker 1: rot until the timing was perfect. Injuries should be inflicted
Speaker 1: all at once, so that their ill savor may be less.
Speaker 1: Benefits should be granted little by little. This meant when
Speaker 1: someone wronged him, he didn't react. He studied them, He
Speaker 1: let them relax, He let them believe they'd gotten away
Speaker 1: with it, and then one day, when they least expected it,
Speaker 1: he moved clean, calculated absolute, Because revenge isn't just about punishment,
Speaker 1: it's about control. When you react instantly, you let the
Speaker 1: other person set the tempo. But when you delay, they
Speaker 1: live in paranoia. They can't enjoy their victories. They can't
Speaker 1: sleep soundly. They fear every silent moment, and that fear
Speaker 1: it does more damage than any outburst ever could. Rule twenty.
Speaker 1: Become a system, not a man. Machiavelli never wanted to
Speaker 1: be liked. He wanted to be respected, not because of charm,
Speaker 1: but because removing him meant removing the structure.
Speaker 2: That's the modern move.
Speaker 1: Stop being a name, start being a net work, an idea,
Speaker 1: a standard, a strategy embedded in how others operate, Train
Speaker 1: others to think like you. Make yourself essential in systems
Speaker 1: no one else understands. Imbed your voice in decisions that
Speaker 1: echo after you're gone. So even if they don't want you,
Speaker 1: they can't function without you. This is how legacies form.
Speaker 1: You aren't just feared. While present, you are remembered in
Speaker 1: systems they can't delete. That's not influence, that's permanent psychological control.
Speaker 1: Rule twenty one. Make them afraid to speak your name.
Speaker 1: The final form of power isn't recognition, it's haunting. Machiavelli
Speaker 1: would be the person people reference in directly. You know
Speaker 1: who I mean. Don't end up like him. You know
Speaker 1: how that move played out last time. They wouldn't say
Speaker 1: his name because even naming you feels like invoking something
Speaker 1: bigger than they can handle. You don't trend, you linger,
Speaker 1: You don't win arguments. You change the atmosphere. You become
Speaker 1: the one they fear bringing up because everyone else in
Speaker 1: the room already knows the consequences. If Machiavelli were alive
Speaker 1: to day, he wouldn't be shouting online. He wouldn't be
Speaker 1: looking for followers. He'd be hidden in power structures, shaping
Speaker 1: narratives behind smiles and silence. He'd be the voice in
Speaker 1: your head that says, don't respond, don't reveal, let them
Speaker 1: speak first, and most importantly, don't chase respect. Position yourself
Speaker 1: so they can't breathe without it. That's how you win,
Speaker 1: not with fame, not with noise, with a legacy, they
Speaker 1: can't stop, even if they never see you coming.