The Wisdom of Dealing with People

People who are stubborn and autocratic are often at an information disadvantage.

Once you're used to being the only voice in the room, others won't dare to tell you the truth—or will only do so reluctantly and belatedly, for fear of your reprimand. Over time, you end up building an information cocoon, wrapping yourself in isolation.

Stinginess often saves you in the wrong places.

Because human energy is limited, if you spend every day obsessing over whether your meals have exactly four dishes and one soup, or whether your pants need another patch, you'll have no mental bandwidth to scrutinize other areas. You'll inevitably lose sight of what matters and get played on a much larger scale.

People who betray trust often leave themselves vulnerable.

If they hadn't betrayed trust in the first place, how would you convince their inner circle to band together and take them down?

People who dangle empty promises are often easy targets for them too.