NEVER OUTSHINE THE MASTER

Always make those above you feel comfortably superior.In your desire to please and impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite; inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.
___Robert Greene

Peter had searched a great deal for a place to work after graduation. Although he was top in his class and graduated with high honors (First class honors), he came from Nigeria:

1. A country where one needs a ‘connect’ to speak on his behalf before he got what he deserved (‘He’s my brother’ is bigger than ‘he passed the interview’).
2. A country where you can easily blame your failure on a family member in the village.
3. A country where groundnut is sold in bottles and water in satchets.😂

With all these in mind, Peter still went out seeking a job in order to avoid being called a lazy youth. He searched all the nooks and crannies, like he had lost a coin in a very dark room.

In his pursuit for a job and a better life, he was always assured of two things:

1. His mother’s prayers.
2. His brain.

Peter came from a very religious family. His mum was the kind of woman who would have some money in the house but still let her children go hungry if Sunday was approaching and she had no other way of getting funds to donate in church as offertory or tithe. Some said she was more religious then the Blessed Virgin Mary. She never took her prayer life for a joke.

One good morning, while jogging by the high way, Peter noticed a car by the side of the road. Since it had rained the previous night, there were still droplets of water dripping from the top to the bottom. He would have gladly ran by but something stopped him. He heard a sound. Someone was in the car and had honked. His instincts asked him to leave. But he went against them. He turned back and peeped. A man was inside, in his own blood, begging for his life.

Mr James had been robbed. He was returning from a journey around 4am when it happened. The robbers took everything he had on him and left him for death. Afraid that he’d raise an alarm, they tied him up and left him in the car. He had struggled and put his hand on the steering to raise an alarm by pressing the honk button. The closest house to the spot was miles away. He struggled until Peter came by.

The famous story of the Good Samaritan was one Peter’s mum never ceased to read out to her children. Since they were poor, she said helping strangers could help them win favors from both the strangers and God. With this in mind, Peter decided to help James. Perhaps, his mum was right all along. Mr James was the CEO of a very big company. Peter soon found himself working as an assistant to the CEO. He made so much money and made his family proud.Indeed, reading the story of the Good Samaritan to Peter was worth it.

Two years later, Peter worked so hard, earned a lot and became very proud of himself. He marveled at all he had attained in such a little time, felt indispensable to his superior and always bragged about his success. These and many other actions angered his boss and made him look at him with contempt.

On one occasion, James asked Peter to represent him at an event. The crème de la crème of the country would flood the venue as attendees. In order to do well and please his boss, Peter spent nights awake planning and arranging his speech. He read books, consulted scholars, confabulated with people he deemed fit to be his mentors and sought advice from google.

He received a standing ovation after his speech. The crowd offered him uncountable rounds of applause. Everyone cheered him except one; his boss. He feigned appreciation but cursed Peter in his mind. He felt unsecured. Peter had outshined him.

Two weeks later, some money was discovered to be missing from the CEO’s office. All fingers pointed towards Peter hence he alone had access to the office beside it’s owner.

Peter was fired (Sacked) and taken into police custody.

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What lessons have you learnt from this story? Kindly let me know if it’s worth reading in the section for comments below.

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The story has been drawn from the 1st law of ROBERT GREENE’s “THE 48 LAWS OF POWER.”