A few days ago, I was hitting golf balls with my son when I got a text from someone I hadn’t spoken to in months. It said, “You were right.”
That was it.
Later that night, we spoke. He reminded me of a call we had earlier this year, just after he learned he was the target of a federal investigation. Like many people in our community, he found our interviews with Judges. I also connected him to David Moulder.
By now you know what I told him to do: Start preparing! Not because I thought he was guilty, but because building something early gives you options later. “Treat it like insurance,” I said. “You hope you never need it. But if you do, you’ll be glad it’s there.”
His lawyer told him, “Let’s get through discovery,” In other words, “Let’s wait and see.”
This week, he learned that others in his case had already proffered and cooperated. When he asked his lawyer this week about meeting with the government, his lawyer told him they were no longer interested, as they already had all they needed.
“Trial or plea,” the lawyer said.
At the end of our call, he said, “What I would do for a do-over.”
We all would.
Some people, like David Moulder, build early. Others, like me, wait. That’s the difference between long-term positioning and short-term reaction, what Robert Greene calls the Grand Strategy. It’s really about working while others are waiting, stalling, delaying and convincing themselves the “silent” strategy leads to success.
In a previous newsletter we covered Montaigne. He didn’t wait for clarity to start writing. He wrote while things were still in motion. That’s why others couldn’t define him.
One doctor I spoke with this year called and told me, “It is coming. I know it. I did bad. It is inevitable.” Let’s as Pink says, “get this party started.”
We got the party started and he will get an outcome most would only dream of. Why? We embraced Strategy 6 from Robert Greene’s book, 33 Strategies of War. Strategy 6: Segment the Forces. Isolate each piece: What is the next right move, like in the next 15 minutes? Move steadily, learn, adjust, slowly, steadily. Don’t try to win the entire war in a day.
Most people do what this father did who texted me while my son was swearing off golf due to its difficulty. They wait. They assume silence looks like discipline. But it’s often interpreted as absence. That’s Strategy 32: Blitzkrieg. The longer you wait, the more others prepare, move, and define you. Once the field shifts, your choices shrink. I had options when I met with the FBI on April 28, 2005. Instead, I stalled and others, like my former business partner and co-defendant, seized the opportunity. I do not blame them. I was stupid, they were smart. They simply did what was best for their family.
A few months ago, someone told me, “I want to see how this plays out.” I’ve heard that thousands of times. It sounds careful. But it’s really about hoping someone else makes the first move so you don’t have to. That’s Strategy 11: Non-Engagement. Greene warns that not every battle is worth fighting, but not fighting must be a choice. Most people don’t choose. They drift. They watch. And by the time they’re ready, it’s too late to shape how they’re seen.
In the Seneca newsletter, I wrote that wasted time doesn’t feel wasted in the moment. It feels like caution. People stay close to the process without actually entering it. They read, call, skim, but don’t act. They divide their attention across so many areas, they never finish anything.
That’s Strategy 3: Divide and Rule. Greene talks about dividing your opponent (and yes the government treats you as an opponent–just read the things they write in press releases.) I’ve also seen people divide themselves. They say one thing in private and show something else in public. They never produce a consistent version of who they are.
This good man and father of three who texted me didn’t realize the field had already changed. The government had what it needed. Others had defined the facts. He hadn’t moved. And now his best opportunity was behind him.
In the Montaigne newsletter, I wrote that reflection becomes indulgent if it doesn’t lead to movement. Strategy 33: Chain-Reaction. Others act, others align, others write the narrative. And if you’re silent, the room moves on without you.
I’ve seen people delay under the banner of strategy, when really they’re avoiding clarity. One man told me, “I’m not ready to go public.” What he meant was, “I’m not ready to prepare.”
Greene’s Strategy 18, Expose and Attack the Center of Gravity, requires that you name the thing you’ve been avoiding. Until you do, it defines you by default.
In our newsletter on The Stranger, I wrote about Camus’ protagonist watching his own life unfold from a distance. He doesn’t protest. He doesn’t argue. He just lets it happen. The man who texted me while I was golfing with my son did something similar. He waited until the judgment had already formed. The difference is Meursault welcomed death.
Those who rebuild trust, whether in court, at work, or at home, don’t get there by saying the right things. They start building a new record the second they learn they are in the crosshairs of the government. They build when no one is watching. And when the questions come, they have something to point to.
That’s what I’ve tried to explain in every newsletter. Montaigne didn’t wait for permission. Seneca didn’t believe in delay. Rand argued that your value is something you show, not something others discover. Camus warned about what happens when you disappear into your own silence.
Robert Greene speaks through strategy. He puts structure to the thing we know already: If you don’t act, others will. If you don’t write the record, someone else will fill it in.
The father who texted me will be fine. But it will be harder now than it had to be, not because of what anyone else did, but because of what he didn’t.
So I’ll leave you with the same question I asked him:
What have you actually done with the time others assumed you were using?
Justin Paperny
