The 48 Laws of Power in Practice

Law 7: Get others to do the work for you but always take the credit

By using other people's wisdom, knowledge, and hard work you will appear impossibly efficient.

Application -

This one can seem quite ruthless, but it's good to open your eyes to what people do to gain power. Even if you don't take credit for someone else's work, you'll want to claim credit for your own. You may think you don't want to be a show-off, but the story about Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison illustrates a good point. Tesla was the true inventor of electricity but Edison took the credit when he made those inventions public. Edison gained fame and fortune while Tesla died poor. This goes to show you could be the best but will never succeed if nobody knows it. Keep in mind, you still shouldn't break law 1 when you take credit for your work.

Another way to look at it is using published knowledge so that you're not starting from scratch. Scientists build upon existing frameworks to come up with new applications. And we can learn from "life hacks" on the internet rather than banging our heads against the wall. 

My friend who is a real estate agent uses a big team but takes most of the credit. Her team follows up on all of the paperwork and bookings, while she creates compelling offers and uses her connections to seal the deal. As a result, customers have a great experience and a quick escrow process. She uses her talents where they are needed the most, and her reputation brings in even more business for her and her team.

How to bite off more than you can chew -

One of my co-workers knew how to play the game better than anyone. Even though he wasn't well-liked, he gained success in a short period. I was a casualty of his power plays on more than one occasion, but now it's time to learn from that.

Around his peers, he would act superior and aloof, but be silly and even make self-deprecating jokes around superiors. If an exec needed help he would be the first to offer his services, even doing personal assistant work. At work events, he would seek out and befriend the most important people in the room, while I would hang around with my team or whoever I felt the most comfortable with.

At work, I had signed up to be on an event planning committee but was very surprised to see his name there as well. We had only eight weeks to plan the event, and I knew that with his travel schedule, he wouldn't even be in the country for most of that time. The rest of us busted our butts to get everything done. But when they acknowledged our hard work on stage, he was right next to me receiving applause.