In Law 45: Preach the Need for Change, But Nev­er Reform Too Much at Once from Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Pow­er, the key les­son revolves around imple­ment­ing change grad­u­al­ly to avoid pro­vok­ing strong resis­tance. While peo­ple may claim they wel­come progress, in real­i­ty, they are deeply attached to their tra­di­tions, habits, and rou­tines. If reforms are intro­duced too abrupt­ly or appear to chal­lenge the famil­iar, indi­vid­u­als often respond with resis­tance, sus­pi­cion, or out­right defi­ance, as they see their estab­lished way of life under attack.

His­to­ry repeat­ed­ly illus­trates the dan­gers of impos­ing rad­i­cal change with­out care­ful prepa­ra­tion. One of the most strik­ing exam­ples is King Hen­ry VIII’s dra­mat­ic break from the Catholic Church, which result­ed in both reli­gious and polit­i­cal upheaval across Eng­land. While Hen­ry achieved his goal of secur­ing a divorce and estab­lish­ing the Church of Eng­land under his rule, the process was tumul­tuous, lead­ing to wide­spread unrest and insta­bil­i­ty. His chief min­is­ter, Thomas Cromwell, who orches­trat­ed many of these reforms, ulti­mate­ly paid the price for their dis­rup­tive impact, fac­ing exe­cu­tion when his poli­cies pro­voked too much oppo­si­tion from the nobil­i­ty and reli­gious author­i­ties.

A dif­fer­ent and more suc­cess­ful approach to trans­for­ma­tion is exem­pli­fied by Mao Tse-tung, who led a sweep­ing Com­mu­nist rev­o­lu­tion in Chi­na but intro­duced his poli­cies in a man­ner that blend­ed with exist­ing tra­di­tions. Rather than abrupt­ly impos­ing rad­i­cal change, Mao tied his reforms to his­tor­i­cal nar­ra­tives, invok­ing past Chi­nese philoso­phies and tra­di­tions to ease the tran­si­tion. By link­ing his poli­cies to famil­iar cul­tur­al ele­ments, he reduced resis­tance among the peas­antry and made his move­ment appear less for­eign and more like a nat­ur­al con­tin­u­a­tion of Chi­na’s his­tor­i­cal evo­lu­tion. This strate­gic approach demon­strates the pow­er of incre­men­tal change, which allows peo­ple to adjust with­out feel­ing as though their entire way of life is being dis­man­tled.

The idea that new ideas must be woven into exist­ing tra­di­tions is fur­ther sup­port­ed by exam­ples from reli­gious his­to­ry. The adap­ta­tion of pre-Chris­t­ian sol­stice cel­e­bra­tions into what is now rec­og­nized as Christ­mas allowed ear­ly Chris­t­ian lead­ers to inte­grate their faith into soci­eties that already had deeply root­ed win­ter fes­ti­vals. Rather than eras­ing or replac­ing beloved cus­toms, they pre­served ele­ments of those tra­di­tions, mak­ing the tran­si­tion smoother and ensur­ing accep­tance over time. This approach of align­ing inno­va­tions with what is already famil­iar is one of the most effec­tive ways to enact last­ing reform with­out caus­ing unnec­es­sary resis­tance.

One of the fun­da­men­tal aspects of Law 45 is that suc­cess­ful lead­ers under­stand the impor­tance of optics and per­cep­tion. Peo­ple are nat­u­ral­ly wary of sud­den, dras­tic shifts, and when they feel forced into change, they are like­ly to rebel. A leader who wish­es to intro­duce reforms must first con­vince peo­ple that the changes are not dis­rup­tive but instead nec­es­sary enhance­ments to what already exists. By appeal­ing to con­ti­nu­ity and pre­serv­ing key ele­ments of the past, reform­ers can soft­en the blow of trans­for­ma­tion and gain broad­er accep­tance for their ideas.

The prin­ci­ple of grad­ual change is evi­dent not only in polit­i­cal his­to­ry but also in busi­ness and orga­ni­za­tion­al lead­er­ship. Com­pa­nies that imple­ment dras­tic shifts in poli­cies, brand­ing, or man­age­ment struc­tures often face back­lash from employ­ees and cus­tomers. How­ev­er, those that intro­duce inno­va­tion in phas­es, allow­ing for adap­ta­tion and feed­back, tend to suc­ceed in bring­ing about mean­ing­ful change with­out alien­at­ing their stake­hold­ers. In busi­ness, as in pol­i­tics, small, strate­gic adjust­ments over time cre­ate more sus­tain­able and accept­ed trans­for­ma­tion than sweep­ing, overnight changes.

Psy­cho­log­i­cal­ly, peo­ple are more like­ly to embrace change when they feel in con­trol of it. If reforms are framed as nat­ur­al pro­gres­sions rather than rad­i­cal breaks from the past, they are eas­i­er to digest. Lead­ers who respect this real­i­ty and take a cal­cu­lat­ed approach to change man­age­ment are far more like­ly to suc­ceed than those who force sud­den upheaval. The key is to make peo­ple believe that they are not los­ing some­thing, but rather gain­ing an improved ver­sion of what they already have.

By acknowl­edg­ing the deep-seat­ed attach­ment peo­ple have to tra­di­tion, Law 45 teach­es that the most effec­tive reforms are those that appear to hon­or the past while guid­ing peo­ple toward a new direc­tion. Those who seek to intro­duce change with­out con­sid­er­ing the emo­tion­al and cul­tur­al con­nec­tions peo­ple have to exist­ing struc­tures risk cre­at­ing unnec­es­sary oppo­si­tion. When change is framed as an evo­lu­tion rather than a rev­o­lu­tion, it becomes more palat­able and less threat­en­ing.

In con­clu­sion, Law 45 pro­vides a roadmap for man­ag­ing pow­er by empha­siz­ing the impor­tance of pac­ing and per­cep­tion when imple­ment­ing change. It high­lights that the most suc­cess­ful reforms are those that respect the val­ues and cus­toms of the peo­ple they affect, rather than dis­re­gard­ing them. By strate­gi­cal­ly weav­ing new ideas into estab­lished frame­works, lead­ers can ensure that their changes endure, gain­ing sup­port rather than pro­vok­ing resis­tance. Whether in pol­i­tics, busi­ness, or per­son­al influ­ence, under­stand­ing and apply­ing this prin­ci­ple is essen­tial for long-term suc­cess.