Law 12 of The 48 Laws of Pow­er explores how selec­tive hon­esty and well-timed gen­eros­i­ty can be pow­er­ful tools for gain­ing influ­ence and con­trol­ling out­comes. Peo­ple are nat­u­ral­ly sus­pi­cious of manip­u­la­tion, but an occa­sion­al act of hon­esty or self­less­ness can low­er their defens­es, mak­ing them more sus­cep­ti­ble to future per­sua­sion. By strate­gi­cal­ly offer­ing some­thing of value—whether mate­r­i­al or emotional—one can cre­ate an illu­sion of sin­cer­i­ty, lead­ing oth­ers to trust and depend on them.

A strik­ing his­tor­i­cal exam­ple of this law in action is the case of Francesco Giuseppe Bor­ri, a 17th-cen­tu­ry Milanese adven­tur­er known for his extrav­a­gant lifestyle and seem­ing­ly lim­it­less wealth. Bor­ri built a rep­u­ta­tion for gen­eros­i­ty, refus­ing to accept mon­ey and giv­ing freely, which led peo­ple to believe he pos­sessed a secret source of wealth, pos­si­bly even the leg­endary philosopher’s stone. How­ev­er, his even­tu­al dis­ap­pear­ance, along with the for­tunes of those who placed their trust in him, revealed that his appar­ent hon­esty and benev­o­lence were cal­cu­lat­ed tac­tics designed to manip­u­late per­cep­tion and secure finan­cial gains.

Count Vic­tor Lustig, a leg­endary con artist, also demon­strat­ed the effec­tive­ness of selec­tive hon­esty in his deal­ings with the infa­mous gang­ster Al Capone. Lustig con­vinced Capone to hand over $50,000 with a promise to dou­ble the mon­ey through invest­ments. Instead of attempt­ing to increase the funds, Lustig lat­er returned the full amount, feign­ing fail­ure. Capone, tak­en aback by the unex­pect­ed hon­esty, reward­ed Lustig with $5,000—proof that even crim­i­nals can be dis­armed by a well-exe­cut­ed dis­play of integri­ty.

This prin­ci­ple is root­ed in the psy­cho­log­i­cal ten­den­cy of peo­ple to believe that hon­esty is a sign of trust­wor­thi­ness, often over­look­ing under­ly­ing motives. By offer­ing small truths or acts of kind­ness, manip­u­la­tors can cre­ate an image of reli­a­bil­i­ty, mak­ing it eas­i­er to deceive when it tru­ly mat­ters. From ancient China’s strate­gic roy­al mar­riages to the decep­tion of the Tro­jan Horse, his­to­ry is filled with exam­ples where gen­eros­i­ty and sin­cer­i­ty were used as weapons to weak­en ene­mies and gain access to pow­er.

In polit­i­cal and mil­i­tary his­to­ry, selec­tive gen­eros­i­ty has been a tool for dif­fus­ing resis­tance and con­vert­ing adver­saries into allies. The Romans, for exam­ple, used acts of cal­cu­lat­ed kind­ness when deal­ing with the city of the Falis­cans, whose loy­al­ty was won not through force, but through unex­pect­ed mag­na­nim­i­ty. Such strate­gies illus­trate how even in war­fare, a dis­play of good­will can serve as a more effec­tive con­quest strat­e­gy than brute force alone.

Beyond his­to­ry, this law applies in busi­ness, nego­ti­a­tions, and every­day rela­tion­ships, where an occa­sion­al act of good­will can open doors and cre­ate valu­able oppor­tu­ni­ties. Suc­cess­ful entre­pre­neurs and lead­ers often give first—whether in the form of free tri­als, bonus­es, or help­ful advice—knowing that the recip­i­ent will feel inclined to rec­i­p­ro­cate lat­er. Sim­i­lar­ly, in social inter­ac­tions, those who strate­gi­cal­ly show vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty or offer gen­uine assis­tance can quick­ly build trust, mak­ing it eas­i­er to gain influ­ence when need­ed.

How­ev­er, while this law can be an effec­tive tool for influ­ence, it must be used spar­ing­ly and with pur­pose. Overuse of gen­eros­i­ty can make oth­ers com­pla­cent or sus­pi­cious, while exces­sive hon­esty can reveal too much and weak­en one’s posi­tion. The key lies in bal­anc­ing sin­cer­i­ty with strat­e­gy, ensur­ing that acts of kind­ness serve a long-term advan­tage rather than being mere ges­tures of good­will.

Ulti­mate­ly, Law 12 teach­es that pow­er often lies in per­cep­tion, and by mas­ter­ing the art of selec­tive hon­esty and gen­eros­i­ty, one can shape how they are viewed. Peo­ple are drawn to those who appear trans­par­ent and giv­ing, mak­ing them more like­ly to over­look poten­tial decep­tion. By care­ful­ly craft­ing an image of sin­cer­i­ty, indi­vid­u­als can cre­ate trust, low­er resis­tance, and secure the pow­er they seek while remain­ing seem­ing­ly benev­o­lent in the eyes of oth­ers.