Law #17: Keep others in suspended terror; cultivate an air of unpredictability.

I love the portrayal of the fictional Japanese Tribe assassins from Lian Hearn’s ‘Tales of the Otori’ series. By day, they represent standard components of Japanese culture—they act on different occasions as minstrels singing songs about the old heroes everyone knows about, or merchants selling the same kinds of ware everyday. By night they play on their victims’ false senses of safety, and delight in different methods of murder—maybe poison pellets for this one unsuspecting enemy, and a swift twist of the garrote for another. Immediately the village is in uproar about their victims—who are the killers? What is their modus operandi? Who are their next targets? Unpredictability, as well as the tension that comes with it, is a potent weapon.

The discussion of this law was appropriately opened by a detailed description of the baffling conclusion of the match between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer in the 1972 World Championship of Chess, with the latter opponent deliberately employing all sorts of unpredictable strategies—from his moves to his erratic behavior—to destroy his Russian rival. Chess is a sport that functions primarily on the act of reading your opponent, and if you’re given no basis for his or her judgment, your own may be affected greatly as a consequence.

The strategy plays on a state of confusion that has the power to defy logical norms and even prevent the making of rational decisions. Those who encounter it will usually put on the ‘hit-or-miss’ defense—they try to play along with each tactic of unpredictable behavior, at the cost of putting holes in their protective barriers--letting the strategist know of their every reaction and giving him time to determine the best way to secure victory.

However, sometimes it is best to pay attention to the concept of cultivation—the background that you allow your subjects to familiarize themselves with, the knowledge of even the simplest daily patterns for them to base their own patterns on. In this sense a certain degree of consistency may be required as a prerequisite for gaining power—those whose lives you intend to rattle later on will be more dependent on their state of comfort, and even more unsettled and less discerning when you suddenly turn the tables.

Do you use unpredictability tactics in your everyday life, and with whom and pertaining to what events? In what instances do these tactics work, and to what benefit?

Peep Warren

Hi18-L