Do not trust the state. The state does not trust you, Machiavelli wrote that it is necessary for the state to deal in lies and half-truths because people are made up of lies and half-truths, even princes.
Never trust any one person 100%. Never reveal the whole truth to any one person or enough parts of the truth to many people for them to put it all together.
There is a fashion for openness and transparency in financial matters. This is perfectly fine. It is right that those who are accountable to you should be open about everything. You do not have to be bound by such quaint notions as these.
Do not reveal financial information to anyone unless it is absolutely necessary and even then make sure you swear them to secrecy. Be wise, keep your own counsel; do not tell everything even then.
Operate always on a need to know basis. Remember that people do not need to know every thing that is happening or going on.
If you give people (especially those working for the state) too much information about yourself and your affairs, it can be used in many ways against you. Your ideas can be stolen. Your customers can be stolen. The knowledge that you give others can be woven into "evidence" and used against you. The truths that you tell can be taken and twisted into a rope of lies to bind you.
When you begin to make your way in the world, lesser men will see your achievements and envy you. They will try to take your wealth away from you and injure your reputation, self esteem, and damage you physically. Do not give them any ammunition to use against you. Only give away as much information as people need to enable them to carry out your wishes.
Keep your systems secret. When you have devised a system for making money or re-investing it once it is made, keep quiet about it. You have no obligation to make things easier for your competition. NEVER disclose your key numbers, gross margins, fixed expenses, key performance indicators, turnover, number of customers etc.
Only the tax man has the legal (not moral) right to any information and you should only give that if absolutely necessary. No-one should EVER know the details of your business systems.
Never allow letters, contracts, contacts, faxes etc. fall into anyone else's hands. SHRED your waste paper.
Remember, the information that drips slowly into your enemy's hands can become dangerous power for them to wield over you.
On the other hand, always be alert for information on the oppoaition. When you are in idle moments, ring them up to find out what they are doing or go and visit them to do some recconaisance work.
When asked an impertinent question, i.e. a question asked out of nosiness, curiosity or as part of a blatant piece of interrogation, resist the temptation to tell them where to go but answer the question with another question e.g. "Why did you ask that?", "What do you mean, profit?", Who wants to know the answer to that?" etc. Don't give anything away and eventually they will get the message and give up.
When faced with this situation, note well who is asking what. Maintain files on these people and log this information in them and cross reference them with the files you keep on your own operations.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
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