Page 502 - THE MARKET WHISPERER

498 PART 16 - Preparedness and Empowerment

expensive membership fees quickly paid off and were dwarfed by the
scope of deals in millions of dollars I closed on the golf course.

External communication puts amazing power into the hands of those
who know how to use it. Look how far external communication led people
like Barack Obama, or at the other extreme entirely, Mussolini and Hitler.
Strong external communication is the outcome of correctly applying
internal communication, which is the source of power in individuals who
succeed.

Aspiring to Be Powerful

The aspiration for power has impacted human history more than all the
forces of nature put together. For those doing the controlling, their power
is positive; for those being controlled, that power is generally negative. It
makes no difference how you feel about power. You need to accept the fact
that in the world we live in, the powerful control and the powerless are
controlled. So what is it that you prefer: to set your own agenda, or live
your life according to an agenda set by someone else? Simply put: are you
the sheep or the wolf?

Power itself can be controlled. Power does not necessarily mean
controlling the fate of other people. We can accumulate great power, but
use it only to the degree where we have absolute control over our own
fates. Power does not have to carry negative connotations, but can be used
positively by assisting others. I tend to lecture free of charge to high school
students, college students, and soldiers. The demand for my knowledge
gives me a great feeling of being powerful in a different way.

The significance of power altered as civilization developed. In prehistoric
human history, the powerful individual was the physically strongest.
Over time, as the world developed into an economic organization, the
focus of power shifted to those with capital. The wealthiest was the most
powerful. At some point, an interesting shift became apparent when the
socially-accepted norm determined that power would be passed down by
inheritance from the nobleman to his son. If you were not born into nobility,
your chances of succeeding, influencing, and accumulating power and
assets were zero. The only way that might happen was if you were close to
the nobleman in some way. These dark times, in which nobility was richly
remunerated and the commoner found no positive incentive, typified the
Middle Ages, a time in which the world almost stopped progressing. The
Industrial Revolution, when the holders of capital and therefore power