---
title: "Using a cat's-paw"
description: "How Greene says to use a third party for the dirty or dangerous work."
canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/using-a-cats-paw/
updated: 2026-11-03
---

# Using a cat's-paw

> How Greene says to use a third party for the dirty or dangerous work.

Robert Greene's framework, from 48 Laws of Power, pp. 293 to 317.

Framework 13 of 27 from [48 Laws of Power](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/index.md) by Robert Greene. Category: Life and thinking.

## The steps

1. **Find a person outside your circle.** Pick someone who will not realise how he or she is being used, often someone who likes doing favours.
2. **Disguise your goal.** Shroud your intentions so rivals and helpers react in ways that serve you.
3. **Plan several moves ahead.** Think far enough to bait others into doing the job, like a billiard ball bouncing off the sides.
4. **Plant information.** Feed the cat's-paw information he will spread to your target while you play innocent.
5. **Get rid of the cat's-paw in time.** Let him go once his role has been fulfilled.

## Where it comes from

From chapter: LAW 26, pp. 293–317

Never let your own hands be dirty. In part one, conceal mistakes by putting the blame on a scapegoat: Ts'ao Ts'ao beheaded his innocent chief of commissariat when his army ran short of grain, and Cesare Borgia let his brutal lieutenant de Orco take the hatred of Romagna and then displayed his body. In part two, use a cat's-paw to do unpleasant or dangerous work: Cleopatra used Caesar and Antony to remove her rivals and Mao used the Nationalists and then the Japanese against each other, while Kuriyama Daizen quietly cleared his friend's debt by trading a vase for a painting. Greene warns that the cat's-paw and scapegoat must be handled with care, because exposure turns everything against you.

## 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/using-a-cats-paw.mp4
- MP4, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/using-a-cats-paw-dark.mp4
- Still: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/using-a-cats-paw.png
- Still, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/using-a-cats-paw-dark.png