...This is both a guide and an antiguide, according toMs. Rubin. "If you're a striver, you'll find material to spur you on." "If you're a nonstriver, . . . you can use the guide defensively . . . ." Much like Machiavelli before her, then, the information can be used in a variety of ways. The information itself is described in morally neutral ways (hence, amoral). That point will upset many people, much as the moral neutrality (and supreme practicality) of Machiavelli does.
How can one be neutral about the subject of using other people for base pleasures? Perhaps no one can. Upon closer inspection, some elements of the book are not so neutral. For example, there is something morally uplifting about having a negative reaction to the grubby details of striving for more power, money, fame and sex! This is an important point because much of what you read in this book has to cause you to disapprove. I imagine few will be inspired by the image of the business tycoon who yells so loudly at subordinates that they are constantly drenched in saliva in addition to having their ears and egos abused. Few women will be enthralled by the descriptions of athletes who send seating attendants to proposition female fans for a quick interlude before locker room interviews begin after the game.
Ms. Rubin also sneaks in the consequences in another way. Each section ends in a discussion of "the blues" -- the downside of having achieved one's strivings. Many people find themselves profoundly unhappy. Thoughtful people will wonder why bother if the results aren't worth the candle. That undoubtedly had to be the intent of including these smuggled antigratification observations into a book about how to strive to get these gratifications.
For the careful observer, there's a potential voyage of self-discovery here. She bluntly asks you to consider why you want power, money, fame, and sex. On the surface, this seems to be because some people are confused about means and ends...There are many confusions among the strivers outlined in the book.
What is missing, though, is any consideration of satisfaction beyond the moment. For example, the power section helps you figure out whether you get more pleasure for direct power (authority) or indirect power (influence). Neither links however to the idea of using the power for some greater good...
At its best, this book is much like Robert Cialdini's excellent book, Influence, in looking effectively at how we respond to each other. Ms. Rubin is a very astute observer of human nature and social situations. I was very interested in her list of common themes that showed up in all four gratification categories:
-- signaling (act, dress, and speak for the role you want)
-- sprezzatura (show only a graceful, easy carelessness that hide your strivings)
-- dis-expectation (to demonstrate your triumph, reverse expectations . . . such as the CEO who shows up for an important formal meeting in suit and sneakers)
-- platinum rule (to whom much is given, more is given)
-- the blues (satisfying these urges doesn't tell you how to be happy)
Now reverse your role, and imagine that instead of using this information to strive you want to use it to guard against rampages by wanton strivers. Now, the book starts to get more interesting. The phoniness behind many of the otherwise powerful public displays is revealed here, much like showing a magician's secrets...We are encouraged to test these public displays, quietly and gently, and often . . . the balloon will pop. In fact, we should normally expect it to.
Viewed from the "protection against phony strivers" perspective, this book is better than moralizing in some ways. The primary advantage is that it will make more phony posturing observable as such. As a result, it will also help people better understand the posturing that is going on around them, how to deal with it, and how to overcome it when necessary. I see that as a major advance!
Although the book rarely deals with it, there is one area where these are considered purely as techniques . . . and you can begin to see them as such. Techniques, by themselves, can be helpful for good as well as for gratification. This point seems to be made by some of the examples at the ends of the four sections for power, money, fame and sex. Consider Anne. She has a choice of offices, and takes the one nearest the boss. Discovering that he is shy, she makes it her business to communicate with him in ways he finds comfortable. She buys lunch where he does, and carries it back to her desk to eat in as he does every day. They become confidantes. When he is promoted, she gets his old job, and everyone finds that natural. She has made herself his deputy, de facto, even though she never had that job.
Before leaving the book, I must observe that the major danger of a work like this is to make those who want harmful ends more effective in some cases. We will all have to be on our toes more than usual after a book like this. Many will justifiably point at that creating this moral danger makes any amoral book, in fact, immoral. I certainly came out that way. But I left this point to near the end in order to leave the field open to your judgment.
Whether you decide this book is totally serious, immoral, a satire, a useful guide to get things that will make you unhappy, or something else, I suspect it will intrigue you. I have never seen a book quite like it. Having opened Pandora's Box, we all need a dose of this book to help innoculate us from the ills it can generate...Go beyond that to consider the leaders who matter in your life, and examine how they are using these levers. After you have demystified your world in this way, pick a worthy goal and some ethical techniques . . . and see what you can accomplish. I suspect that the combination of a virtuous end and ethical, effective means will make you much more irresistible.
