Page 407 - Deception at work all chapters EBook

408 Deception at Work

humiliate subordinates and vendors. Too many people engage in a skirmish without deciding
whether they want to win, lose or draw.

Determine your objectives

In fact, if you want to create really enduring rapport with someone, you need to draw or
‘halve’ the match. You can do this by getting ahead and cunningly losing the last couple of
holes. Your opponent will feel really good and bond with you. Sharing any tight, emotional
competition is rapport building and this is true with both golf and interviewing.

Create rapport

Losing at golf is easy, if not instinctive, and made easier by applying the reverse of the
techniques explained later, so we will assume you always want to win. Unless you play with
yourself (and this to be avoided, because it makes your hands hairy) you will always have
one or more opponents. Many will be younger, fitter and more skilled than you and some
will cheat badly. Nevertheless you can beat most people, most of the time and thereby make
enough money to buy a second or third copy of this book.

Never underestimate your opponent

Get the background

The second step of the cunning plan is to know everything possible about your opponent
and what makes him tick. Ideally you should only play against people who are less athletic,
older, dumber and not as rich as you. Thus you should concentrate on golf societies associated
with Masonic lodges or pubs, the Law Society, Japanese tourism, Women’s Institutes and old
people’s homes.

You can safely play these people and never lose. You are also in no danger playing anyone
in Florida or Cornwall. However, never play the Irish or Scots, especially for money. The simple
reason is that the former are fantastic golfers and the latter never pay up.

Know everything about your opponent

If you have no choice but to play against capable opponents, your chances of success are
clearly reduced, but you can still win.

Understand your opponent’s weak points

If you don’t already know, find out which club or golfing society the potential opponent
belongs to, telephone the secretary and confirm his handicap. Believe it or not, some people
cheat on this point and claim a high handicap so you have to give them lots of strokes and then
they beat you. A person who falsifies his handicap is the lowest form of life and if you believe
someone has tried this you should report him to the Serious Fraud Office.