Conserve your forces and energies by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point. You gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper, than by flitting from one shallow mine to another — intensity defeats extensity every time. When looking for sources of power to elevate you, find the one key patron, the fat cow who will give you milk for a long time to come.

The Goose and the Horse — A Fable About Maximizing Your Strengths

A Goose who was plucking grass thought herself affronted by a horse who fed near her; and, in hissing accents thus addressed him:
“I am certainly a more noble and perfect animal than you,” the goose hissed, “For the whole range and extent of your faculties is confined to one element. However, I can walk upon the ground, just as you do, as well as take to the air with my wings and when it pleases me, I can land on a pond or lake, refreshing myself in the cool waters. I enjoy the different powers of a bird, a fish and a quadruped.”

The horse snorted disdainfully and replied, “It is true that you inhabit three elements, but you are not particularly distinguished at any of them. You fly, but your flight is so heavy and clumsy that you have no right to put yourself on a level with the lark or swallow. You can swim on the surface of the waters, but you cannot live in them as the fish do, you cannot find your food in that element, nor glide smoothly along the bottom of the waves. And when you walk, or rather waddle, upon the ground, with your broad feet and your long neck stretched out, hissing at everyone who passed by, you bring upon yourself the derision of all beholders.”

“I confess that I am only formed to
move along the ground,” the horse continued, “But how graceful is my make! How well turned my limbs!

How highly finished my whole body! How great my strength! How astonishing my speed! I would rather be confined to one element, and be admired in that than be a goose in all!”

Concentrate on a single goal, a single task, and beat it into submission. You will need help from other people, usually those who are more powerful than you. More energy is saved and more power attained when you affix yourself to a single, appropriate source of power.

• Find out who controls the operation.
• Find out the real director behind the scenes.

Power itself always exists in concentrated forms. In any organization, it is inevitable for a small group to hold the strings. And often it is not those with the titles. In the game of power, only the fool flails about without fixing his target.

In ancient times, many a kingdom or empire fell when it expanded too broadly and increased its vulnerability. It happened to Rome and Athens: They could no longer protect themselves on all fronts and came under multiple attacks.

By contrast, the Rothschild banking family, a global power that started in the Jewish ghetto of Frankfort, Germany, thrived due to a strategy of concentration and cohesion. They excluded outsiders (only family members controlled the business), their operation was impenetrable, and they lived by their founder’s advice to avoid diffusion, dissension, and division. One family member described their business as functioning as a watch, with the internal parts moving together invisibly.

While other powerful families eventually disintegrated, the Rothchilds protected and expanded their wealth because they knew to concentrate their forces.