The secrets of tricking so-called clever people

Here's the truth: it's easy to con clever people. The thing is, clever people are arrogant about their brains. They think they know better. They think they are smarter than you. So they either don't expect to be conned, don't believe they are trickable, or think that they are so observant that they could spot your con-tricks a mile away. More fool them!

How to con clever people
Clever people make it easy to con them. They can have top class college degrees coming out their ass, but clever people are sitting ducks when it comes to the con. Clever people may be cleverer than you, but they may not be smarter. So what if they know all about Quantum Physics, can recite the works of Shakespeare, or know how to do the cryptic crossword? Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motorcar company, had a panel of buttons on his desk. When he wanted answers or to figure out how to do something complicated, he could press one of those buttons and summon a clever person who could provide or figure out the answer for him. These clever people were Henry Ford's employees! Henry Ford may have been little more than a farmer's son turned mechanic but he was smart. He used his wits and natural intelligence. He built a huge successful company, made hundreds of millions, and he took advantage of lots of clever people to get where HE wanted to go.

The weaknesses of clever people
If you want to know how to con clever people, look for their weaknesses. We've already started discussing them, but here's a partial list:

• Clever people think they are cleverer than they actually are. You can exploit their arrogance through flattery and disception.
• Clever people are often overly specialized and focussed. They are clever in specific areas but not others. The engineer who can figure out the bearing loads of bridges may have no clue about art or music or dealing with young women. Exploit ignorance.
• Clever people are judgemental. Let them under-estimate your ability and wits. Play down your intelligence. Let them think you the fool, until you deliver the killer blow to their ego and con them.
• Clever people are easily deceived and misdirected. Having learnt how to focus intently they have good concentration and will remain focused where you skillfully direct them, meanwhile, out of sight... the con occurs!
• Clever people have good imaginations. If you use conversational hypnosis, persuasion arts, or vivid engaging sales patters, you can get them swept up in your vision. For whatever devious purposes you devise. It could be a direct sale of an idea, concept or scheme... or it could just be to distract them while your real strategy is being acted out, unseen by them.

The difference between clever people and geniuses

The world is full of clever people. Most of them are little more than clever worker drones. They are happy to feel smarter than average. They like their college education advantages that keeps them in relative middle-class comfort. Geniuses are so much smarter than clever people. They don't fit in. They don't follow the herd. They shepherd the herd and drive it where they want it to go, for their own ends or for altruistic purposes (depending on the genius). If you want to know how to con clever people, the real answer is to become cleverer than they are, to become a genius.

Genius doesn't depend on college education, degrees or fancy titles. It requires a unique way of thinking, an aliveness and sharpness of brain that is frequently suppressed by normal education systems. Many uneducated 'street smart' people have more potential to be geniuses than most clever people. The clever people are too arrogant to think they need to become any smarter or any sharper. Potential geniuses see the need to up their game, get super smart, razor sharp, quick-witted. The kind of mind that knows how to con clever people, the kind of mind that gobbles up clever people and spits out their bones!