Law 16 of The 48 Laws of Pow­er high­lights the strate­gic advan­tage of mak­ing one­self scarce to enhance influ­ence, respect, and desir­abil­i­ty. Human nature is such that peo­ple often take for grant­ed what is con­stant­ly avail­able, while they are drawn to what is rare or elu­sive. By mas­ter­ing the art of with­draw­al at the right moments, indi­vid­u­als can cre­ate an aura of mys­tery that ampli­fies their val­ue and keeps oth­ers long­ing for their return.

A clas­sic exam­ple of this prin­ci­ple is Gre­ta Gar­bo, the leg­endary actress who delib­er­ate­ly removed her­self from the pub­lic eye at the peak of her career. Her deci­sion to retire at a young age only inten­si­fied pub­lic fas­ci­na­tion with her, solid­i­fy­ing her sta­tus as an enig­mat­ic and unfor­get­table fig­ure. Rather than over­ex­pos­ing her­self, she ensured that her absence increased her allure, mak­ing her more desir­able than any con­tin­ued pres­ence could have.

This law applies beyond the world of enter­tain­ment and into busi­ness, rela­tion­ships, and pol­i­tics, where scarci­ty can sig­nif­i­cant­ly boost influ­ence. In nego­ti­a­tions, skilled pro­fes­sion­als know that walk­ing away or mak­ing them­selves less avail­able often forces the oth­er par­ty to con­cede more, as peo­ple instinc­tive­ly want what they believe they might lose. Like­wise, in lead­er­ship, those who do not con­stant­ly seek atten­tion but instead remain selec­tive about when they engage tend to com­mand more respect and admi­ra­tion.

The psy­cho­log­i­cal foun­da­tion of this strat­e­gy is root­ed in sup­ply and demand—when some­thing is always avail­able, it los­es per­ceived val­ue, but when it is rare, it becomes more desir­able. Lux­u­ry brands like Rolex and Fer­rari lever­age this con­cept by lim­it­ing pro­duc­tion, ensur­ing that their prod­ucts remain exclu­sive and high­ly sought after. The same applies to per­son­al rela­tion­ships, where indi­vid­u­als who main­tain a sense of inde­pen­dence and occa­sion­al dis­tance often attract more inter­est than those who are over­ly eager or con­stant­ly present.

A his­tor­i­cal exam­ple of this prin­ci­ple can be seen in the tac­tics of Napoleon Bona­parte, who under­stood the pow­er of mak­ing his pres­ence felt through both action and absence. He would delib­er­ate­ly retreat from the pub­lic for short peri­ods, allow­ing antic­i­pa­tion and spec­u­la­tion to build, mak­ing his return even more impact­ful. This delib­er­ate use of absence ensured that he remained at the cen­ter of pub­lic atten­tion even when he was not active­ly lead­ing mil­i­tary cam­paigns.

In the dig­i­tal age, this law holds even more rel­e­vance, as social media has cre­at­ed an envi­ron­ment where peo­ple are con­stant­ly vying for atten­tion. Those who post exces­sive­ly or over­share often see dimin­ish­ing engage­ment, while those who care­ful­ly curate their pres­ence and dis­ap­pear at times cre­ate intrigue. Influ­encers and celebri­ties who under­stand this prin­ci­ple know when to take a step back, allow­ing demand and curios­i­ty to rise before mak­ing a care­ful­ly timed reap­pear­ance.

How­ev­er, this law also comes with a warning—disappearing too much or for too long can lead to irrel­e­vance rather than desir­abil­i­ty. Those who with­draw must do so strate­gi­cal­ly, ensur­ing that their absence is noticed and that antic­i­pa­tion is built in their favor. The key is to strike a bal­ance between pres­ence and scarci­ty, mak­ing each return feel like an event rather than a return to the mun­dane.

A mod­ern exam­ple of this can be seen in Apple’s prod­uct launch­es, where the com­pa­ny delib­er­ate­ly with­holds details and releas­es new prod­ucts on a strict sched­ule, keep­ing con­sumers eager and excit­ed. By not flood­ing the mar­ket with con­stant updates, they cre­ate an air of exclu­siv­i­ty and high antic­i­pa­tion for each release. This method not only strength­ens brand loy­al­ty but also ensures that each launch gar­ners mas­sive atten­tion and sales.

Ulti­mate­ly, Law 16 teach­es that true pow­er often comes from know­ing when to step away rather than always being in the spot­light. By cul­ti­vat­ing mys­tery, con­trol­ling avail­abil­i­ty, and using absence as a tool, indi­vid­u­als can increase their influ­ence, attract greater admi­ra­tion, and com­mand high­er lev­els of respect. Those who mas­ter this art under­stand that less is often more when it comes to main­tain­ing desir­abil­i­ty and sig­nif­i­cance.