Editor’s note: This article was first published in August 2017. The opening, which refers to “the free time August has given us,” was written in August 2017.
With the free time August has given us, I’ve taken the chance to rewatch The Godfather saga, with the idea of drawing a few lessons that can help us both in life and in business.
Fiction though it may be, certain actions and behaviours in it are pretty well founded from a neuroscientific point of view. Without a doubt, this saga leaves us some very useful lessons we can put to good use.
1. All warfare is based on deception
This line from Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War, is played out again and again in The Godfather.
Both Vito Corleone and his son Michael Corleone use the art of war when they sit down to negotiate with the other families and make them believe that everything is fine, that there are no hard feelings. Meanwhile, they’re planning their revenge.
I’ve seen plenty of people storm out of the companies they work for, telling their boss: “You’ll see, I’m going to take all the clients with me…” or something along those lines. And that’s not very smart of them.
Never underestimate the power of the “Judas kiss”.
At one point in my career in sales, I had it in mind to take all the clients I had won with me to the company where I was about to start working.
As I walked out the door of that company, I said a friendly goodbye, telling my superiors that although we had had our differences, it had been a pleasure working with them.
Following this cordial farewell, my boss asked me: “What are you going to do now? What are your plans?”
I told him that the first thing I was going to do was take a holiday, and then I’d head north to start a project that had nothing to do with the sector I’d been working in until then.
The truth is that the day after I left, I started visiting all my clients. Calmly, unhurriedly. One by one. By the time they realised, I already had what was mine.
If I had announced my intentions, they would very likely have prepared themselves and hurried to visit my clients themselves.
My cordial exit from that company was just “the hidden hatchet”. And that brings us to the next lesson we can draw from The Godfather.
(See: 5 business lessons you should never forget)
2. Don’t let anyone know what you’re thinking
Information is power. Don’t give it away. Vito Corleone reprimands his son Sonny for saying what he thinks in front of members of another family. Michael Corleone makes the same criticism of his nephew.
If you say what you think, you reveal your intentions and weaknesses. You allow other people to prepare, and you lose the element of surprise. In other words, showing others your thoughts and intentions makes you more vulnerable.
This advice can be very useful in our personal lives, but in the business world there’s an increasing tendency towards that aura of mystery when it comes to a new product. Can you imagine what would happen to companies like Apple or Microsoft if their competitors knew what their next moves were going to be?
Apply this in your everyday life too. If you’re planning to do something, don’t say it; do it. Then talk about what you’ve done once it’s done. That’s more useful than talking about what you plan to do.
I’ve sometimes seen people tell their friends they intended to achieve something. For some reason, their friends then went out of their way to ruin those plans. Sometimes the people you least expect can use the information you hand them for their own benefit, or simply to try to screw you over. The reason? Many of your friends want you to be well and to do well, but they don’t want you to be better off or to do better than them.
If you share all your plans, other people’s envy or conflicting interests could wreck them.
(See: 7 powerful business lessons from Breaking Bad)
3. If you don’t control your emotions, they’ll end up playing tricks on you
In The Godfather, the clearest example is the reason Vito Corleone’s son Sonny was killed: he’s portrayed as hot-tempered and therefore very predictable. If your emotions drive you to act and make decisions in the heat of the moment, they’ll get you into trouble.
Emotions are the reason many investors lose money, because of the two main emotions at play in stock market investing: panic and greed.
The same thing happens in business. Emotions and business don’t mix. Stay as cool as you can and make decisions with your head, not your heart, because a decision made in anger will be the worst decision. Likewise, it isn’t wise to make decisions when you’re euphoric either. Whenever possible, look for a neutral emotional state when making decisions, or find someone you trust to help you make sure your decision is a rational one.
Keep your cool. Don’t react immediately. That’s what others expect you to do. A period of silence and inaction is a powerful weapon that can leave others confused.
4. A counsellor
The Corleone family has a trusted consigliere, who gives his opinion and advice, although in the end it’s the head of the family who makes the decision.
A counsellor is necessary in the business world, and in fact more and more executives have their own adviser (or even a coach) who always thinks coolly and rationally about what would be best for the business.
5. If you’re going to lie, give them a reason to believe the lie
This scene in the film is a perfect illustration of a psychological trick. When Vito Corleone sits down with the other families, he tells them he won’t take revenge for the death of his son Sonny. At that point, the other families might or might not have believed him. To make that lie sound more believable, he gives a very logical reason: “on condition that no one makes an attempt on the life of my other son”. This makes his lie more credible by showing the others a reason for his decision, that reason being a plausible fear of losing his other son.
Once the lie has been believed, the other families lower their guard, and I think we all know how it ends: in the end, it’s his son Michael who plans the execution of the heads of the five families.
Conclusion: if you don’t give a logical reason when you say something you want to be believed, people will wonder why you’re doing it.
6. Keep your enemies close
There’s the old saying: “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” This famous saying goes back a very long way. When a king knew that certain individuals or generals might be plotting against him, he would invite them to his court, and that way he kept them under control, finding out through various channels what their next steps would be and who was involved.
It’s an excellent way to learn how your enemy thinks, what they’re really like and what their weaknesses are, so you know how to act when the time comes.
As we can see, it’s all about being cool and calculating, qualities that are very much needed in the business world.
See also: How to influence people with these 4 psychological tricks
Featured image: Pan Peter12, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
