Greene's method of acting royal so that others treat you as royal.
Robert Greene's framework, from 48 Laws of Power, pp. 419 to 431.
Believe in your own greatness
Be overcome by self-belief so that it radiates outward and others assume you have reasons for your confidence.
Keep your dignity
Act with dignity whatever the circumstance and avoid caving in under threat.
Make a bold demand
Set your price high and do not waver (the Columbus Strategy).
Go after the highest person
Challenge the top figure in a dignified way to be seen as an equal (the David and Goliath Strategy).
Give a gift
Give those above you a gift to imply equality instead of begging.
From chapter: LAW 34, pp. 419–431
The way you carry yourself determines how you are treated, so act like a king and you are treated like one. Louis-Philippe, the bourgeois king with his grey hat and umbrella, dissolved the aura of kingship and was despised by nobles, workers and bankers alike until he fled in 1848, whereas Columbus, a cheese seller's son, asked for the title Grand Admiral of the Ocean and won Queen Isabella's backing by projecting calm noble confidence. Greene calls this the Strategy of the Crown: be overcome by your self-belief, keep your dignity under attack as Haile Selassie did, and set your price high. The reversal is that arrogance, looming too high or humiliating others undoes you, as Charles I found.
