Law 41 of 48
Avoid Stepping Into a Great Man's Shoes.
Forge your own path rather than attempting to imitate or replicate the accomplishments of others. While it's important to draw inspiration from great figures, avoid the temptation to directly emulate their actions or achievements. Instead, strive to make your unique mark on the world.
Independent commentary on a principle popularised in The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the authors or their publishers.
What it actually means
Following someone admired means being measured against their strengths on their terms, and every comparison is one you can only lose or draw. The escape is not doing their job better but changing what the job is judged on. Inheriting a role and inheriting a method are different things.
Where you would have seen it
You take over a team from a manager everyone loved. You keep their Monday meeting, their tone and their reporting format, and for a year you are a lesser version of them — until you scrap the meeting and do something they never did.
Try it today
Name one habit you kept only because your predecessor did it. Change or drop it this week and tell people it is now done differently.
Where this shows up
Law 41 tends to come up in these parts of life. Follow a path to read the other laws that belong with it:
Laws that go with it
If law 41 landed, these are the entries people usually read next — they cover overlapping ground: law 1, law 7, law 11.
Never Outshine the Master.
Competence is rarely the problem; displaying it in front of someone whose position rests on being the capable one is.
At WorkLeading PeopleLaw 7Get Others to Do the Work, but Always Take the Credit.
Read plainly this is theft, and it is worth understanding mainly because it will be done to you.
At WorkLeading PeopleLaw 11Learn to Keep People Dependent on You.
Being needed is not the same as being valued, and a deliberate bottleneck is the weakest security there is: the moment you are indispensable in one narrow place, you are also unpromotable.
At WorkLeading People