--- title: "Concealing your intentions" description: "Two families of tactics for keeping people from reading your purpose." canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/concealing-your-intentions/ updated: 2026-11-03 --- # Concealing your intentions > Two families of tactics for keeping people from reading your purpose. Robert Greene's framework, from 48 Laws of Power, pp. 44 to 64. Framework 3 of 27 from [48 Laws of Power](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/index.md) by Robert Greene. Category: Founder mindset. ## The steps 1. **Use decoyed objects of desire and red herrings.** Dangle a goal you seem to want, or back a cause you secretly oppose, so people stop looking at the real one. 2. **Use false sincerity.** Publicly value honesty and share a meaningless confidence so your words carry weight. 3. **Use smoke screens.** Give a bland, familiar front such as an ordinary business deal, a noble gesture or a repeated pattern, so the real action goes unnoticed. 4. **Blend in.** Look like you belong to the group so suspicion never starts. ## Where it comes from From chapter: LAW 3, pp. 44–64 Hide your real purpose so nobody can prepare a defence. Greene gives two techniques. The first is the decoy or red herring: talk endlessly about desires that are not your real ones, back a cause you secretly oppose, and use false sincerity, as Bismarck did in his 1850 speech. The second is the smoke screen: a bland, familiar front such as the Yellow Kid's business deal, Selassie's humility or an unreadable face, which lets you move unseen. The reversal is that once you have a reputation for deception, you do better to own it as an honest rogue, like Barnum. ## The animation 24 seconds, 4:5, no sound. - MP4: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/concealing-your-intentions.mp4 - MP4, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/concealing-your-intentions-dark.mp4 - Still: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/concealing-your-intentions.png - Still, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/concealing-your-intentions-dark.png