Law 7 of 48
Get Others to Do the Work, but Always Take the Credit.
Delegate tasks and responsibilities to others whenever possible, but ensure that you receive credit for their accomplishments. Manipulate situations to appear as the driving force behind successful endeavors, even if others contribute significantly. This strategy allows you to maximize your influence and recognition while minimizing your effort. By taking credit for the work of others, you can enhance your reputation and advance your goals.
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
Read plainly this is theft, and it is worth understanding mainly because it will be done to you. Credit attaches to whoever narrates the work, not to whoever did it, which is how steady contributors disappear from the record. The defence is not resentment, it is putting your own account on paper first.
Where you would have seen it
You do the analysis and a colleague presents it, saying 'we found'. In the follow-up email only his name sits beside the recommendation. Nobody lied at any point, and by the next quarter the project is simply his.
Try it today
Send one short email today summarising work you did, in your own words, to the person who decides — before someone else summarises it for you.
Where this shows up
Law 7 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 7 landed, these are the entries people usually read next — they cover overlapping ground: law 1, law 11, law 17.
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 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 PeopleLaw 17Keep Others in Suspended Terror.
Unpredictability is a control device.
Leading PeopleAt WorkFriends & Family