Joe Homs

Play to People’s Fantasies
The truth is often avoided because it is ugly and unpleasant. Never appeal to truth and reality unless you are prepared for the anger that comes for disenchantment. Life is so harsh and distressing that people who can manufacture romance or conjure up fantasy are like oases in the desert: Everyone flocks to them. There is great power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses.

This law is something that I have been burned by in the past, but can be turned into something good. I think the only real defense against someone with malicious intent is to remember something that a teacher told me some time ago: Consider the source. More after the jump.

Does anyone remember when you could get a good grade in school when you did some hard work? It never seemed right to me that all I had to do was show the teacher that I worked hard, but didn’t actually have to finish the assignment. Outside of the classroom, this doesn’t work. People don’t care if you worked hard to get a report done, get a sale, or whatever it is you do. They just care that you can get the job done.

Last time, I talked about doing what you want to do with confidence. How do you get the confidence to know that you will be able to pull through? Part of that comes with having faith in yourself and those that you work with to get the job done. The other part comes from planning.

I haven’t done one of these in a while, but today seemed prescient for this law of power like so many other times I have opened up this list. It’s something I was told by so many other strong leaders I have modeled my own leadership on. More after the jump.

This law of power is used at some of the hottest up-and-coming and established companies today. Companies like Apple and 37Signals use peoples’ need for a belief system to help brand themselves. More after the jump.

I don’t particularly like this law of power. It seems like an easy way to get ahead, but will hurt you in the long run. Keeping a clean appearance is important, but I believe there are better ways to do it. More after the jump.

I’ve been watching a few movies lately that have reminded me about this law of power. We’re constantly told what to do in life by many different people. Parents, bosses, friends, governments, you name it. It’s like a quote I remember from Joe Versus the Volcano when one of Meg Ryan’s characters is explaining her father. She says something like, “My dad says that most people in this world are asleep. The few that are awake are the ones who are in control and they are constantly amazed at what they see.” Well, I’m awake now and I’m not going back to sleep. More after the jump.

In consulting, soft skills go a long way to getting what you want. Negotiating, delegating, supporting; all of these skills come in handy the more you have to interact with other people. That’s why I like law 24. More after the jump.

From what I’ve seen in business, it takes all sorts of things to make you successful. You have to have talent, intelligence, experience, humility, be comfortable with change, and even have a little luck. The most important virtues to have though are determination and focus. A sheer will to get things done will get you the furthest in business. More after the jump.

Many things in this life are counter-intuitive on the surface. You do one thing and you get the opposite of what you want. Sometimes to get what you want, you have to do the thing you least want to do. Of course, this tactic can backfire, but it’s another tool to use through life that many people could use, but don’t.

Being a consultant is a tricky job. There are usually plenty of political issues within the client to deal with. In particular, people don’t like to be told they are stupid. Bringing in a consultant to work on a project that couldn’t be done in house or was not able to be completed by internal staff seems to signal that there is something wrong with the people at the organization. While this may be true in some cases, people still don’t like to _hear_ that. A great trick to use is this next law of power. More after the jump.

After having problems with an owner of a business, this week’s law of power came in handy by allowing us to get out of his way and do the right thing. More after the jump.

In my relatively short time in business, I have made a few enemies. It was a painful process, but it taught me some powerful lessons about doing the right thing even if it wasn’t popular. More after the jump.

This week’s law of power talks about a need to keep your ear to the ground and not defend yourself in a fortress. More after the jump.

This week’s law talks about being unpredictable and how it can work against those who would try to predict what you are going to do next.

This week’s law of power is a great one about scarcity. Most people know about supply and demand and can understand that things become more valuable when they are rare. Some however, don’t realize it takes rarity along with demand to make something (or someone) valuable. It is this subtlety that escapes some and is at the heart of this week’s law. More after the jump.

I took a break with these for a while, but now they are back. More on that in another post. This week, I talk about completely defeating an enemy so that they do not come back. More after the jump.

This week’s law talks about knowing your rival. I recently used the same advice to make myself better for a position. More after the jump.

This week’s law is great. I’ve always heard from people, “It’s better to catch flies with honey…” and, “A spoonful of sugar…” These sayings all get to the core of what people respond to: something sweet for them. More after the jump.