MBA2482 Must Read: The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene

0:09Heyo, welcome to the$100 MBA show, the place to be to build a business you want with our practical business lessons. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher, Omar Zinhome. And today's episode is a must read episode. On our must read episodes, I share with you a book that I have read that has influenced me as an entrepreneur. I share with you some of its takeaways, its insights, and why you should read it too. Today's must read is The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene. Robert Greene is one of my favorite authors. He is the author of the very popular 48 Laws of Power, Mastery, one of my favorites.

0:46The 33 Strategies of War. He even wrote a book with 50 Cent called The 50th Law. But in my opinion, The Laws of Human Nature, this book that we're going to be talking about today, is his best work. And in a recent interview, Robert Greene even stated that this was the hardest book to write in his career. The reason why I want to share this book on this podcast is because business is dealing with humans. That's really it. And the better you understand human nature, the better you understand how other humans operate, how they think, how they react, how they present themselves, the better you will do at business, whether it's working with your customers, your suppliers, partnerships, your own employees, your co-founders, whatever it might be.

1:31the better you are dealing with other human beings, the better you will be at business. It's just going to elevate your game as an entrepreneur if you understand how people operate. So in today's episode, I'm going to share with you my favorite bits of this book, right? My favorite takeaways, the things that really made me think differently as an entrepreneur because of the things he shares, because of the strategies he points out, because of the things that he reminded me of as well as made me aware that, oh, there's so much I don't know that I need to learn about how we work as human beings.

2:10This book will help you prepare not only in business, but in life to make sure that you don't fall into the traps that most people do, that you see through the illusions of what's presented in front of you by other human beings, by other people. Let's get into it. Let's get down to business. This book, The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene, is a comprehensive exploration of human behavior and psychology. Robert Greene delves really deep into the intricacies of why people act the way they do. He draws from a wide range of historical examples and psychological theories. Each chapter provides an insight into a different aspect of human nature or laws.

2:51There's 16 laws in total. So accompanying these laws is also practical advice, advice on how to apply some of his own insights to improve personal and professional relationships. All of these 16 laws are important, but today I want to cover my favorite 10. This was really tough for me to pull out my favorite 10 and talk about what I learned from them. But here it goes. Let's start with law number one that I love the most, the law of irrationality. Robert Greene emphasizes that emotions often cloud our judgment, and he advocates for self-awareness and emotional regulation so that we can counteract irrational behavior.

3:33The interesting thing about this chapter is even if you think, I'm not an emotional person, I'm very logical, that response in itself is emotional. And one of the best things to do when anything happens, when anybody says something, when anything occurs or any kind of event or challenge or something that you're faced in life, the best thing to do is to stop, not react. Don't immediately react. As entrepreneurs, as business people, as problem solvers, our initial reaction, you know, our initial gut reaction is to react, is to solve, is to spring into action. But the best thing to do actually is nothing.

4:09It's just to pause for a second and examine the situation so that you don't react with emotion. You need to think. You need to just see things as they are and try to see it as a third party. Don't see it like this is happening to you. See it as a situation that's happening that you're examining, that you're looking at and saying, hey, if I was giving somebody else advice on this situation, what would I tell them? Like most people around us that we interact with all the time are constantly just reacting emotionally. They don't really actually stop and think. They're just doing things based on how they feel.

4:44Law number two I wanted to share with you is the law of narcissism. Robert Greene says everyone possesses a degree of self-absorption. By understanding and managing our narcissistic tendencies, we can foster better relationships and empathy with others. That's all to say that we all have a level of narcissism within us. We can't deny that. This is just who we are as human beings. We have a survival mechanism inside of us that's just in our DNA. Some of us have a large level of narcissism and some of us have less, but we all have some and we have to recognize that there is self-absorption. There is self-interest constantly in our head, in our minds.

5:24and we often need to remind ourselves, no matter how non-narcissistic we think we are, that, hey, there is a side of me that is selfish. There is a side of me that wants to talk and not listen. There's a side of me that doesn't want to give somebody something that's mine in fear that I'll never get it back or I'll never be able to have an advantage. Just being aware of this when you're dealing with other people and dealing with people that matter to you in life, like your loved ones, is super helpful. We're all narcissistic to some level, so we need to be aware of that when we're dealing with other people and when we're making decisions.

5:59Law number three. I love this one. The law of role playing. In the book, Robert Greene explains how humans tend to wear masks. We wear masks in our day-to-day life in social situations. We put on a facade. We put on a disguise because that disguise, that mask in our head seems better than who we really are. We want to present ourselves as something that we're not because we're not happy with who we actually are. Very few people in the world actually are who we are, say what they really believe. And he says that's not a bad thing because obviously we want to hurt people's feelings. We don't want to say bluntly honest things to people's faces.

6:39In a lot of ways, we do this to keep things smooth in society. But we have to recognize that this is what the world is doing. This is how the world works. And recognizing this can help us see through other people's facades and understand their true intentions. After reading this chapter, I looked back at some situations in business I was dealing with recently and realizing, you know, some people are saying one thing and putting a mask on and kind of saying, oh, and really they mean something else. You kind of have to read between the lines and really think, hey, maybe they're saying no because of another reason.

7:14Maybe there's something they're not telling me. Maybe they're putting up a mask because they don't want to be embarrassed. And to consider this and give them options knowing this. I realized this very quickly when I was reading this chapter. Oh my gosh. And I actually changed the way I approached a certain situation, offered different options to this person, knowing that maybe what they're presenting is not true. And maybe there's something else going on behind the scenes. And by doing so, I was successful. I won this person over. I also thought about looking at myself. You know, what masks do I wear?

7:46You know, when I'm in certain situations, What am I trying to cover up? And why am I trying to cover that up? Why am I presenting something in a different way? Is that hurting me? Is that serving me? It's a really great thought experiment. All right. The fourth law I want to share with you is the law of compulsive behavior. In the book, he says repeated patterns in behavior stem from deep-seated emotional issues. Understanding these patterns can help in personal growth and change. We often do things on autopilot. Where does that come from? Let's dig a little deeper. There are root causes to this.

8:21Compulsive behavior often originates from some sort of emotional conflict or trauma that we've had in our past. These behaviors are a way to cope or manage with unresolved issues we have. Why do we actually repeat these things? You know, why do we actually repeat these behaviors through our lives without even conscious awareness? It's a coping mechanism. And unfortunately, the repetition can lead to negative consequences and personal and professional relationships. Recognizing and examining these patterns is the first step towards change. Being aware is really like half of the battle, being aware of the behaviors.

8:55Once we know this is happening and we can kind of point it out, we can then look at the root causes. Robert Greene uses the example of Richard Nixon to illustrate this compulsive behavior. Nixon's distrustful and secretive nature was rooted in a difficult upbringing, which led to the Watergate scandal. His inability to trust others and his need to control were compulsive behaviors that ultimately led to his downfall. Now, this is good to know about ourselves, but it's also great to know about others because some people are just doing things compulsively. Like they're just saying no out of compulsion.

9:28It's not because they actually want to say no. Next law, the law of covetousness. Envy is a powerful motivator. By recognizing and redirecting envy into positive action, we can achieve greater satisfaction and success. Robert Greene argues that envy is not a bad thing necessarily. You can actually use it to your advantage. If you see somebody doing something, achieving something that you want, it could be a great motivator for you to be like, I got to get myself in gear. I need to really start doing things differently so that I can achieve the same success. A lot of negative energy like envy can be channeled as motivation to help you move forward.

10:05Next, the law of short-sightedness. Humans often focus on the immediate concern over long-term goals. This is just our nature. We only tend to focus on what's going to happen today, tomorrow, next week. Even next month seems a little bit far out there for some people, for a lot of people. Adopting a farsighted perspective can help you make better decisions, can actually give you a huge advantage in achieving long-term success. This is something I learned about a decade ago. It was a hard lesson to learn. I used to be one of the entrepreneurs that just like next win. Let's just focus on today. Let's just focus on getting to the next step.

10:44And that's great when you're starting out as an entrepreneur. But I wasn't starting out. It's been it was, you know, a decade into it. By that time, I had to shift my perspective and realize, wow, I spent 10 years in that mode and I haven't really had long term success. Once I started shifting my mindset that way and started building things for the future, Understanding my decisions today will affect me not just tomorrow, but the next year, the next decade, the next 20, 30 years. How do I make better decisions so that those decisions serve me not just now, but in the long term? Everything changed in my business when I did that.

11:21Literally, I grew. I made more money. I had better contacts. I had a better network. I felt better about what I was doing. I felt like I was building something for the future and not just for the right now. Law number seven, the law of defensiveness. People naturally resist change and criticism. This is just in our nature. It's actually unnatural for people not to be defensive. Approaching others with empathy and understanding can actually give you a huge leg up. It can reduce defensiveness and encourage openness to the other person, you know, to be open, to be considerate. They're seeing you kind of being sensitive to how they feel about the situation and they're gonna give you more information.

12:05They're going to give you more in the equation in the relationship. This is why I realized that I have to approach everybody understanding that they can be defensive. That's kind of the default. So how do I kind of be proactive and be more empathetic to kind of disarm them so they don't have their guard up and be defensive? And by the way, these law numbers are just my top 10, not Robert Greene's actual numbered laws in the book. Okay, law number eight, the law of self-sabotage. Negative attitudes and fears can lead to self-destructive behavior. People that are negative, that talk down about themselves, cultivate a negative attitude and actually sabotage their own success.

12:47You need to cultivate a positive mindset if you want to have any success. This is actually very important. You shouldn't talk negatively about yourself, even in jest, because the mind doesn't know the difference. One of my favorite quotes is by Bruce Lee. He says, don't speak negatively about yourself, even as a joke. Your body doesn't know the difference. Words are energy and they cast spells. That's why it's called spelling. Change the way you speak about yourself and you can change your life. Bruce Lee. I know it's common for people to self-deprecate as a joke or even when they are complimented, they say, oh, no, I got lucky.

13:28You got to be careful. You don't have to roll in your ego and just be like, yeah, I'm awesome. You could just say thank you. Thanks for the compliment. I really appreciate it. But a lot of people like to talk negatively about themselves as a way to look humble. Or even they just talk negatively about themselves because they really believe that they are who they say they are. Even if you believe those negative thoughts, don't say them. Law number nine, the law of repression. Very interesting chapter. Robert Greene says everyone has a dark side that they often hide. almost like their evil persona, right?

14:00Accepting and integrating this aspect of ourselves can lead to a more authentic and fulfilling life. I totally understand this chapter because I'm a huge sports fan. I've been playing basketball all my life and I love learning about some of the greatest basketball players, people like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. These people have a dark side. Sometimes they're not the best people to be around, especially in competition, But they use that dark side to achieve greater things. They use that dark side to put in eight hours of training a day. They use that dark side to find the will to beat their competition even when they're exhausted.

14:39Recognize we all have a dark side. Let's use that to good use. And finally, my 10th favorite law, the law of generational myopia. Understanding the cyclical nature of history and the influence of generational traits can help us navigate a better life. Let me explain. Robert Greene suggests that each generation is influenced by the historical context and social trends of its time. These influences shape our behaviors, our values, our perceptions, and shapes the individuals within that generation. For example, our generation right now is influenced by the fact that there's social media that's happening during our generation.

15:18Recognizing how generational cycles work and how they influence us can help us better understand ourselves and others. Let me give you an example. Let's say you're dealing with people that are from the silent generation or some people from the baby boomer generation. The silent generation who grew up during the Great Depression and World War II, they value hard work, discipline, and stability. In contrast, the baby boomers who were born in the post-war era were in an era of prosperity. They embraced more liberal values and had a desire for social change. Understanding these generational differences can explain the social and cultural shifts that have happened over time.

15:56And when you speak to somebody from one of those generations, you have to understand that the era that they came from influences who they are. Knowing this, just understanding that this actually is true and just keeping that in mind when you're talking to different kinds of people will allow you to really empathize with them, really understand where they're coming from and appeal to their needs, their values. This is huge. This is going to make you far more likable, far more agreeable, far easier to work with than somebody who doesn't even consider this. All right. That was my 10 favorite laws from the laws of human nature by Robert Greene.

16:37Robert Greene's writing is engaging, but it's also accessible, making more complex psychological concepts that maybe are a little bit above all our heads, a little bit more understandable. This book, as well as all his books, are really well-structured, and I highly recommend you pick up The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene. It's a fantastic book. It's dense, and if you are not one to kind of go through a big book in your hand, pick up the audiobook. It's a good alternative. That wraps up today's must-read episode. If you love what you hear, if you want to support the show, the best thing you could do is just follow the show.

17:13Click follow on your favorite podcast app. If you're listening on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or whatever, click the follow button. That sends a signal to the algorithm that you like the show. And this gives us more reach so that we can grow the show and invest right back into it, making the show better and better every single episode. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. These books by Robert Greene, especially this one, The Laws of Human Nature, they're pretty heavy. It's not a fast read. It's not something you can just zoom through. It's one of those books that you have to kind of read and then think for a while and ponder and look at your own examples in life and take notes.

17:45Take your time. Enjoy it. Even if you're going through it a little bit slowly, Robert Greene's books are an experience. So let it just happen. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in the next episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

18:07Thank you.