Never Make Your Superiors Feel Insecure
Power is a game of appearances, and the first rule of survival is to ensure that those above you always feel comfortably superior. In a natural desire to impress, it is easy to overplay your hand by flaunting your brilliance, yet this often backfires. When you outshine a master, you do not inspire admiration; you inspire fear and insecurity. A master can forgive many things, but a wound to their vanity is often fatal to your career.
History provides a stark warning in the figure of Nicolas Fouquet, a finance minister who threw the most lavish party in French history to honor King Louis XIV. Fouquet intended the spectacle to prove his loyalty and indispensability. Instead, the King saw a man who possessed more grace, better taste, and more influence than the monarch himself. Fouquet was arrested weeks later and spent the rest of his life in prison. To stay safe, you must make your masters appear more brilliant than they are. If you are naturally more gifted, attribute your best ideas to their guidance or inspiration. By fading into the background to heighten their radiance, you become a godsend, and your ascent becomes inevitable.
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