12 Laws Of Power & Human Nature - Robert Greene - #383 artwork

12 Laws Of Power & Human Nature - Robert Greene - #383

Modern Wisdom

October 11, 2021

Robert Greene is an author and historian. Many people want and need power in life, but almost none of us admit it. Robert's new book compiles 366 of his best lessons on power, seduction, human nature and mastery, and today we get to go through my favourites.
Speakers: Chris Williamson, Robert Greene

Topics: Society & Culture, Health & Fitness

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
What's happening, people? Welcome back to the show. My guest today is Robert Greene. He's an author and a historian. Many people want and need power in life, but almost none of us admit it. Robert's new book compiles 366 of his best lessons on power, seduction, human nature and mastery. And today, we get to go through my favorites. Expect to learn how remaining absent can increase respect, why you should suffer fools gladly, why focusing on actions, not words, is the best way to judge someone's character, how to avoid losing your sanity in a group and much more. It's been three years, nearly three years, since Robert was last on the show, which is mental to think that. But today's episode, I really, really enjoy it. These ones where I get to take a big body of work and then just chop them up into little lessons like the harsh psychology truths episode with Adam Lane-Smith or there's another one with Gwenda Bogle coming up this Saturday on mental models that you need in life. I find it keeps everything really fast-paced and it means that we're constantly changing and switching and it keeps us accountable and then it still gives us time for tons of lessons and examples that Robert gives from history and from politics and stuff. It's really, really interesting. I know that you're going to love this one. In other very exciting news, I finally got the Modern Wisdom community sorted and ready to launch. Tons of you have been asking for it. Somewhere where we can go and discuss episodes and I can do live streams and you can connect with me and give me ideas and everything. We're going to do it on Locals. I'd had a launch Patreon about a year ago, but I just felt a bit itchy about it. I don't really know what it was and I think it's because I didn't feel like I was adding a ton of value and it wasn't actually providing what I wanted, which was for people who listened to the show and think about these topics and have interests that align with mine and everyone else's. It didn't help them create a community, it didn't bind them together, and Locals is perfect for that. It's like a private social media feed where all of us will be in one huge community. It means that not only am I posting stuff on that feed, but you can post things as well. You can connect with other people that listen to the show. We can have threads about different episodes, and you can give me ideas for upcoming guests and questions. I can do live streams, you can connect with me directly, and all sorts like that sounds absolutely sick to me. And it's going to launch one week today. So it will be Monday, the 18th of October. That will be live. Membership will be open. You can actually join for free, and then you can upgrade to be able to support the show, and also comment and post your own stuff as well. So yeah, I'll be telling you a lot more about that over the next week. In these other news, this podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. You do not know how good the texture of your own mind could be if you spent a little bit of time working with a therapist. You don't have to wait until something catastrophic or traumatic occurs in your life before you can start working with a professional counselor who might be able to raise up the quality of your daily existence. We all have things, especially over the last 18 months, whether it's from work troubles, whether it's mental health, whether it's relationship problems, there are things that you probably could do with working through. And BetterHelp is the cheapest, most convenient and most effective way to get started working with a therapist. It's not a crisis line or self-help. 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