Win hearts and minds with the Robert Greene Formula.

Use the Robert Greene formula to teach, persuade, or entertain more people with greater results!

Robert Greene has written bestselling books on topics of strategy, power, seduction, and human nature. His books are often lauded by famous artists and business superstars — they’ve also earned the honor of being banned in prisons.

Personally I respect Robert Greene because he’s able extract knowledge from books I’d never read and serve them up through useful principles and engaging stories that help me navigate the chess board of life.

While the majority of his success comes from meticulous research he puts into each book, I believe that part of his appeal can also be attributed to this simple formula you can replicate:

The Robert Greene Formula

1. State the Law: Start with a verb and end with a noun.
2. Elevator Pitch: Start with the problem, worsen the problem, show how the law helps, and paint the positive result of following the law.
3. Tell A Story: Use a famous person from history and tell a story that keeps the reader in suspense as to whether they are being used as a good example or a bad one until the end.
4. Interpret or Clarify: Sum up the lesson for a 3rd grader or specify exceptions.
5. End With a Quote: Use either a quote from one of the characters in the story or a famous quote that relates to what has just been taught.

Formula in Action: 48 Laws Of Power/Law 41

1. Law 41: Avoid Stepping Into A Great Man’s Shoes.
2. Judgement: ‘What happens first always appears better and more original than what comes after. If you succeed a great man….. you will have to accomplish double their achievements to outshine them…. Establish your own name and identity…. Gain power by shining in your own way.’
3. Story: How Alexander the Great paved his own way despite having an overbearing and successful father (Robert actually tells two stories in this law but in later books only tells one in which we don’t know whether the famous character followed or broke the law).
4. Interpretation: Robert explains in simple terms how hard it is for wealthy children to climb out from the shadow of their parents and explains that they must pave their own way and ‘start from scratch’ in some way, shape, or form.
5. Quote: “Beware of stepping into a great man’s shoes. You will have to accomplish twice as much to surpass him. Those who follow are taken as imitators. No matter how much they sweat, they will never shed that burden. It is an uncommon skill to find a new path for excellence, a modern route to celebrity. There are many roads to singularity, not all of them well-traveled. The newest ones can be arduous, but they are often shortcuts to greatness.” — Baltasar Gracian

Why This Formula Works

When you present a rule or law people, our natural rebel pops up and wants to question how or why it is in fact a law.

Why is this a law? How did it come to be? Why should I obey it? What happens if I don’t?

After you’ve gone through this formula not only will they not question the rule or law, but they will be grateful and happy that you’ve entertained them in the process. They will be primed and greased for whatever it is you want them to do next.

“Be Royal in your Own Fashion: Act like a King to be treated”
― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power

I hope this formula helps you become more persuasive and engaging! If you like my work then drop me a line at andrewhaimerl.com!