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53Principle · Group 7

Four Means

Persuasion before coercion

“Try persuasion first, then gifts, only after that division and force last, because each later means costs more and destroys more.”

There are four basic means of moving others: persuading, giving, dividing and forcing.

Group 7: People, Morale and PowerT2 Eastern Strategy
Go to the in-depth section ↓
Four steps of lines lead to a gate of two arcs; a dot descends step by step. On the first, the gate opens in gold and stays open; on the second, it swings half open and back; on the third, a crack runs through the frame; on the fourth, it bursts open, and the frame falls apart into mist-blue splinters.
In short

Try persuasion first, then gifts, only after that division and force last, because each later means costs more and destroys more.

What it’s about: There are four basic means of moving others: persuading, giving, dividing and forcing. In the ancient Indian Arthashastra, they are called sama, dana, bheda and danda. The order is no accident. Persuasion creates genuine agreement. Gifts create interest, but not loyalty. Division costs trust, and not only the opponent’s. Force produces obedience as long as the pressure lasts, and resistance as soon as it eases.

In depth

The principle in detail

Three steps through the principle: grasp it, place it, put it to work. Open each topic on its own.

The core messageCore statement and 3 clarifications
In essence

Persuading, giving, dividing and forcing cost more and more in that order, and the later means easily destroy what they are meant to secure.

It does not say
That the order is a law. Even in the Arthashastra, the choice of means depends on the situation and on the balance of strength.
It does not say
That every means is permitted. Whether your goal is good is a question the principle does not answer.
It also says
Giving is not persuading. Loyalty that rests on gifts ends when the gifts end.
The explanationIn a family, a church or a team, division and force easily destroy what they are meant to secure.
  • The Four Means describe how influence works, not which influence is permitted.
  • In a family, a church or a team, division and force easily destroy what they are meant to secure.
  • If you know the four means, you will also recognize them sooner when they are used against you.
The question

Which means do you start with when you want to move someone, and what will it cost you later?

The signs3 signs when you heed it · 3 when you overlook it
When you heed it
  • You explain first and listen to objections before you turn to incentives or orders.
  • Agreement in your team holds even when you are not looking.
  • You notice when camps form, even when you are the one forming them.
When you overlook it
  • You reach for orders because they work faster.
  • Cooperation ends as soon as the bonus or the oversight ends.
  • Camps form in the team, and trust declines without anyone saying so.
The backgroundTradition T2 Eastern Strategy
  1. 150 BC–AD 300
    OriginKautilya

    Arthashastra,

  2. 1958
    SupplementedHerbert C. Kelman

    Compliance, Identification, and Internalization

  3. 1959
    SupplementedJohn R. P. French and Bertram H. Raven

    The Bases of Social Power

  4. Tradition T2
    TraditionEastern Strategy

    Sun Tzu, Kautilya, the Thirty-Six Stratagems, the Tao Te Ching, Miyamoto Musashi, François Jullien

    See the tradition on the Origin page
Read more: the full background

From the Arthashastra, the textbook of statecraft attributed to Kautilya (compiled in layers between roughly 150 BC and AD 300). Supplemented by Herbert C. Kelman and by John R. P. French and Bertram H. Raven.

The research5 sources: 2 classics, 2 theories, 1 review · 1919–2013 · with limitations of the research
5 sources1919–2013 period2 classics2 theories1 review
Strength of evidence
  1. weak
  2. moderate
  3. strong

Herbert C. Kelman’s distinction supports the core (compliance based on reward and punishment holds mainly under supervision); the fixed ranking of the four means is a rule of thumb that has not been measured.

  1. 150 BC–AD 300trans. 1915
    Classic
    Kautilya

    “Arthashastra,” Book II, Chapter 10: negotiation, gifts, dissension and open attack are the means (upaya) of statecraft.

  2. 1919
    Classic
    Max Weber

    “Politics as a Vocation”: compared with the Arthashastra, Niccolò Machiavelli’s “The Prince” is harmless.

  3. 1958
    Theory
    Herbert C. Kelman

    “Compliance, Identification, and Internalization”: compliance based on reward or punishment holds mainly under supervision; an internalized attitude persists without it.

  4. 1959
    Theory
    John R. P. French and Bertram H. Raven

    “The Bases of Social Power”: bases of power such as reward, coercion, legitimacy, identification and expertise, each with its own range.

  5. 2013
    Review
    Patrick Olivelle

    “King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India”: a new translation of the Arthashastra; the text grew in layers, and the present version probably dates from the 2nd or 3rd century AD.

Where the research reaches its limits
  • The order is a rule of thumb, not a law.
  • Even in the Arthashastra, the choice of means depends on the situation and on the balance of strength.
  • Division and force in particular are ethically fraught: in a family, a church or a team, they easily destroy what they are meant to secure.
  • Some goals justify no means at all; the principle does not say whether your goal is good.
  • Herbert C. Kelman studies attitude change, not division; for the third means, the sources report no findings.
Read more: what research shows

The Arthashastra, a textbook of statecraft attributed to Kautilya, names negotiation, gifts, dissension and open attack as the four means of statecraft. In his 2013 translation, Patrick Olivelle considers the surviving text to be younger than tradition holds and to have grown over a long period. Social psychology supports the core of the ranking. In 1958, Herbert C. Kelman distinguished three kinds of influence: people who merely comply in order to gain a reward or avoid a punishment display the behavior mainly while someone is watching. Only those who internalize an attitude keep it without supervision. In 1959, John R. P. French and Bertram H. Raven classified bases of power such as reward, coercion, legitimacy and expertise. The claim that each later means costs more remains a rule of thumb from the Arthashastra.

The related principles49 Fear and Love · 54 Soft Power · 58 Mandala of States · 83 Principles of Influence
Soft PowerPrinciples of Influence

To go deeper, see 54 Soft Power (the modern version of the first two means: attracting instead of forcing) and 83 Principles of Influence (they break persuasion down into psychologically effective levers)

Mandala of States

58 Mandala of States also comes from Kautilya and shows which means to consider against whom

Fear and Love

49 Fear and Love asks the same question from Machiavelli’s point of view

Read more: the full text

To go deeper, see 54 Soft Power (the modern version of the first two means: attracting instead of forcing) and 83 Principles of Influence (they break persuasion down into psychologically effective levers); 58 Mandala of States also comes from Kautilya and shows which means to consider against whom. 49 Fear and Love asks the same question from Machiavelli’s point of view.

The action steps5 action steps: Start every change with reasons.
  1. Start every change with reasons. Explain what it is good for, and listen to the objections.
  2. Use incentives as recognition, not as a substitute for conviction. Ask yourself what will remain once the incentive is gone.
  3. Avoid dividing people in your team, your family and your church. When resistance gathers, talk to the people instead of playing them off against one another.
  4. Save force for cases in which harm is imminent and everything else has failed. Then say openly why you are giving the order.
  5. Learn to recognize the four means when they are used against you or your team, too. Anyone who first courts, then tempts, then divides and finally threatens is following a well-known staircase.
The reflection questions3 questions: Which of the four means do you reach for when things have to move fast?
  1. Which of the four means do you reach for when things have to move fast?
  2. Where does cooperation in your team hold only as long as you reward or control?
  3. When did you last see someone form camps, and what role did you play in it?

Take your time with one question. Write down your answer – or talk it over with someone you trust.

To finish
The picture to rememberThe animation once more, with an explanation
  1. Four steps of lines lead to a gate of two arcs
  2. A dot descends step by step
  3. On the first, the gate opens in gold and stays open
  4. On the second, it swings half open and back
  5. On the third, a crack runs through the frame
  6. On the fourth, it bursts open, and the frame falls apart into mist-blue splinters
Strategy Check

What do you start with?

Get your profile across all 12 groups in about 10 to 15 minutes.

Start the Strategy Check
In context

Group 7: People, Morale and Power

Guiding question: What moves people to go along or to resist?

Stage 4 of 5: Act with others

Where the 92 principles come from: eight traditions of strategy, from classical war theory to dealing with uncertainty.

More about the origin

Background: WEGVISOR’s own selection from the strategy literature · More about the origin

Examples

The principle in practice

From the different spheres of society.

FaithGovernment

Louis XIV, the Huguenots and the Four Means

Louis XIV wants a France with a single faith. Against the Huguenots, he deploys, one after another, sermons and polemics, money, exclusion and finally soldiers. Here the sequence of the four means unfolds almost like a textbook case, and so does its bitter end.

Four Means
Business

John D. Rockefeller, the Cleveland Massacre and the Four Means

In early 1872, in less than six weeks, John D. Rockefeller buys 22 of the 26 competing refineries in Cleveland. He offers arguments, shares or cash, secures secret freight rebates and lets the doubters feel what awaits them otherwise. All four means mesh.

Four Means
Government

Lyndon B. Johnson, the Civil Rights Act and the Four Means

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson gets the landmark civil rights bill through a Senate in which such legislation had been blocked for decades. He and his allies persuade, flatter, peel Republicans away from the blockers’ camp and apply pressure. The result is the first successful vote ever to end a filibuster on civil rights.

Four Means
Government

Series: House of Cards

In “House of Cards,” Congressman Frank Underwood works his way up using all four means: he persuades, he hands out favors, he plays people off against one another and he blackmails. The series shows how effective the four means are and what happens when no limit applies anymore.

Four Means
FAQ

Questions about the Four Means

What does the principle of the Four Means say?

You can move others by persuading, giving, dividing or forcing. The gentle means should come first, because they are cheaper and create genuine agreement. Force is the last resort, because it destroys the most.

Where does the principle of the Four Means come from?

It comes from the ancient Indian Arthashastra, which is attributed to Kautilya. There the means are called sama, dana, bheda and danda. Social psychology supports the core: reward and punishment produce compliance, and only persuasion produces agreement that holds without supervision.

What are some examples of the Four Means?

Well-known examples include Louis XIV’s conversion policy toward the Huguenots, John D. Rockefeller’s takeover of the Cleveland refineries in 1872 and Lyndon B. Johnson’s path to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

How well is the Four Means supported by research?

Evidence: moderate – Herbert C. Kelman’s distinction supports the core (compliance based on reward and punishment holds mainly under supervision); the fixed ranking of the four means is a rule of thumb that has not been measured.

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