Payroll, Power, and Reality: 5 Business Lessons I Learned the Hard Way

Over the past few weeks, I have been referring back to notes I took when I read Robert Greene’s Books. Robert Greene wrote extensively over his career documenting counter-intuitive laws of power.

I took a step back to reflect on some key stories from my life, which indicate some of the core ideas that Greene explained in his books.

Here are five Greene principles that changed how I navigate business with specific moments they became real for me.

Mastery Is Forged, Not Found

I used to believe some people were just “good at business.” Natural entrepreneurs who understood the various aspects of business instinctively.

Growing up, I watched my father work for over 30+ years across logistics, manpower, telecom, and construction, moving between industries not for better opportunities.

Initially it appeared he was chasing trends. However, as I reflect back now, its clear that he was developing his own mental model of how businesses actually work: not just revenue and growth, but working capital cycles, compliance footprints, and the operational drag that kills profitability.

When I took over in 2019 after his sudden demise, I realized my background had prepared me for nothing.

I’d worked in startups and corporate roles. I’d been “Business Head at Ola.” I’d managed P&Ls. But here’s what they don’t teach you in senior roles: I never worried if we had cash to make payroll. My job was growth or cost reduction. Someone else managed the cash flow timeline.

I had numerous debates with my peers on burn rates, but I’d never lived the reality of “If this client pays 15 days late, I can’t pay 200 people on the 1st.”

Mastery wasn’t inherited. It was forged through three years of making payroll by 11 AM on the 1st of every month, no exceptions. Of learning TDS refund processes that take around 9-18 months after it was deducted from my payments. Of understanding that a ₹48 lakh contract can bankrupt you if payment terms are 60 days.

Greene: “Do not talk about giftedness, inborn talents! One can name great men of all kinds who were very little gifted. They acquired greatness… through qualities the lack of which no one who knew what they were would boast of: they all possessed that seriousness of the efficient workman.”

Key Takeaway: Neither the senior startup role or MBA prepares you for founder life. Mastery comes from doing the un-glamorous work i.e. calculating working capital requirements, chasing payments, understanding statutory compliance, can I make payroll this month and so on. Stop waiting to feel ready. Start building. The initial days will be clumsy. A year or so later is when your “talent” appears.

Use Absence to Increase Respect

In mid-2022, just as the post-COVID recovery began, one of my customer called with bad news. Their client, a massive telecom operator with draconian SLAs and strict operational rules, wanted to replace our security unit at one of their critical warehouse unit. Despite meeting 95% of their requirements, the 5% gap was enough for them to demand a change.

We’d deployed our best officers. We’d documented everything. But the telecom client was the kind of customer who measures guard arrival times to the minute and uniform press quality to the thread. I always felt that they manufactured problems when their team were bored.

My ops manager was frustrated. “We’re doing better than any vendor they’ve had. They’re just impossible.”

“Forget it, lets just exit for now and see how it goes” I said.

We executed a professional exit. Full handover. Clean documentation. No arguments.

Nine months later, my phone rang. It was the our old customer again .

“Three vendors have failed spectacularly at the Warehouse,” he said. “One couldn’t handle ensure proper compliance needed. Another had guards absenteeism. The third made such lousy documentation, that they failed every monthly audit.”

They wanted us back.

This time, I didn’t negotiate from a position of need. I negotiated from a position of absence.

“We’ll come back under three conditions,” I said:

30% service fee increase (our service was proven valuable by their failure to replace it)
Clear SLA documentation (every metric defined, nothing left to “interpretation”)
Direct escalation path (issues resolved at ops level, not manufactured into email trails)

After some negotiations and discussions, they agreed to a 20% increase in our service fee and our other demands.

We’ve been on-site since January 2024. The Telecom company representative still complain, but now we have documented SLA’s to reference.

Greene: “Too much circulation makes your value go down; the more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear and the more you are taken for granted.”

Key Takeaway: If a customer is draining your resources without appropriate compensation, withdraw. Let them feel the void. Let them try to replace you. When they can’t, you return not as a vendor, but as the solution they couldn’t find elsewhere.

Strategic Weakness Beats Blind Strength

For 47 days, we received 4–5 complaint emails daily at a manufacturing plant contract.

Guards arriving late. Minor issues with Uniform. Issue with how we are making entry in the security log book. Minor issues that most customers discuss with local team and avoid escalations.

Our service quality was actually excellent as the HQ contact was happy. But the on-site Admin lead manufactured a paper trail of “service failures,” copying senior management on every minor issue.

My field staff were frustrated as they kept saying — “We’re doing everything right, but nothing stops the complaints.”

My initial reaction was to resolve the complaints by adopting the mindset that We’ll fix every issue immediately. We’ll over-communicate. We’ll prove them wrong.

Even after 2 weeks of making multiple improvements, complaints never stopped. So I sent my ops manager to investigate. He discovered the real issue: the on-site Security Officer — an informal gatekeeper role — was receiving ₹8,000 monthly from the previous vendor. We were not aware of such dynamics, so we never made any such payments to him. Now he was manufacturing complaints to force our hand.

Blind strength would have meant fighting: documenting every complaint resolution, escalating to his boss, proving we were right. That would have poisoned the relationship and after a while, we would have been terminated.

Strategic weakness meant appearing compliant while calculating the real cost.

I ran the numbers. The base contract economics were solid: Even after an additional ₹8,000 monthly expense, our profitability ensures we get 20% ROI.

So we paid. Indirectly. Carefully. Through a conversation over drinks: “We understand we are new and we will make efforts to make sure things will remain same as they were before.”

We couldn’t say it directly. You never know what other games are in play or who might be listening. But the intent was unmistakable.

The complaints stopped overnight. Not gradually. Immediately.

Is this ethical? No.

Is it moral? Probably not.

But here’s the uncomfortable reality: I didn’t create this system. The client’s culture did.
Now I am very clear that we will not undertake any cuts in compliance in my business such as EPF or ESI payment. But paying an informal toll to avoid manufactured operational friction? That’s a relationship tax. If the total cost, including this tax clears my ROI threshold, I’ll pay it and move on.

Greene: “The calculated appearance of weakness can be one of the most devastating weapons in your arsenal.”

Key Takeaway: When you’re blindsided by unexplained friction, don’t react with force. Withdraw. Assess. Find the real pressure point. Sometimes the strongest move is writing a check for ₹8,000 to make operational headaches disappear, if the economcis still works.

Integrate Your Shadow

When I started working in my business in 2018, for months, I was frustrated with difficult customers. Not publicly, never in client meetings. But internally, I’d occasionally vent to my field staff.

“Why can’t they understand? We’re doing everything right.”

“Another complaint about a missing signature? Are they serious?”

My team was doing great work. But when issues escalated, my frustration leaked out. I’d question their documentation. I’d ask why they couldn’t prevent these complaints.

One day, my ops head pulled me aside.

“The team is doing their best,” he said. “They’re working 12-hour shifts, handling difficult clients. When you question them about complaints from unreasonable customers, it feels like you’re siding with the client over them. It’s not fair.”

It stung because it was true.

That conversation forced me to examine what I was actually frustrated about. I was angry at myself for not having the framework to identify bad clients early. I was angry that we had taken on contracts without calculating true ROI. I was angry that I was letting unprofitable customers drain my team’s energy.

My shadow wasn’t frustration, it was fear that I didn’t know what I was doing.

Once I named it, I could channel it. That anger became the fuel to build the True Cost Framework. Now, when a customer asks for extras, I don’t get frustrated. I respond with data:

“Our contract covers X and Y. You’re asking for Z. That’s not included in our pricing. We can absolutely provide it for an additional ₹___ monthly, which covers the actual cost of delivery.”_

We even provide some extras as a one-time courtesy, but with clear communication: “This is a one-time accommodation. Next time, it will be billed at ₹____.”

No frustration. No venting. Just clear boundaries backed by math.

Greene: “By acknowledging your own shadow, you gain a profound ability to recognize the hidden motivations and darker sides of others.”

Key Takeaway: What emotion is leaking out in your business? Anger? Fear? Greed? Name it. Channel it into system-building. When you integrate your shadow, you stop reacting emotionally and start responding strategically.

Embrace Your Enemies, Question Your Friends

An employee we’d trusted for seven years engineered his exit perfectly.

He created a paper trail of “service failures” while telling me he’d resolved issues verbally. He quit cleanly. A week later, our client terminated us for “persistent service quality issues.”

Two months later, he’d started his own business with that same client.

The betrayal was more painful because I’d trusted him. Friends wear a mask of support that makes their envy invisible.

Here’s what I learned: I now maintain healthy skepticism of “loyal” team members who have outsized power.

Not paranoia. Verification.

All client issue resolutions must be documented in writing
No one person controls access to a client relationship
Tenure doesn’t earn trust; consistent behavior does

Meanwhile, I welcome declared opponents.

When a competitor undercuts us on price, I see them not as a threat but as a force that keeps us sharp. When a client is brutally honest about our shortcomings, I see them as a whetstone for our improvement.

Friends can betray you softly, behind closed doors. Enemies attack openly, which makes them predictable and manageable.

Greene: “Never let the presence of enemies upset or distress you — you are far better off with a declared opponent or two than not knowing where your real enemies lie.”

Key Takeaway: Look at your team. Who has the power to hurt you most? Build systems around them, not paranoia. And look at your competitors. Study them. Let them sharpen you.

The Practice, Not the Theory

Greene’s laws aren’t just philosophy. They can be your survival strategies that help you navigate your business:

Walking away from customer contracts (the power of absence)
Paying an ₹8K tax (strategic weakness)
Being betrayed by a trusted employee (question friends)
Building systems from repressed fear (integrate shadow)
Spending a year to understand core business operations (forged mastery)