The Great Manipulator

The best place for evil to hide is behind a veil of goodness.

For nearly two decades, I’ve advised people and organizations navigating the blurred lines between deception, seduction, and inspiration. Sometimes, the goal is insight—for the sake of self-defense. Other times, it’s about exercising influence with integrity in roles where leadership, persuasion, and direction are not optional, but essential.

One of the earliest insights I gained in this work is this: deceit never pays off in the long run. It corrodes trust, drains energy, and leaves even the deceiver spiritually bankrupt. But that doesn’t mean the deceiver isn’t flourishing. They are. In boardrooms, institutions, social movements, and in the everyday roles we rarely suspect.

Deception always comes at a cost

Emotionally. Economically. Psychologically. Spiritually.

Seduction, on the other hand—when used with awareness—can be a powerful and even elegant tool. Especially in leadership. After all, to lead is to influence. And to influence is, by definition, to guide people toward a direction they might not have chosen on their own.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: if you are not seducing (ethically) as a leader, you are either deceiving—or you’re irrelevant.

The challenge, then, is not whether influence is at play. It always is. The challenge is: what kind of influence are you using?

At The Muunnos Company, we’ve made a choice

We operate under a different assumption than most traditional businesses.

Instead of hiring based solely on competence and then spending years trying to manipulate employees into adopting a shared vision, we reverse the process.

We match motivation first.

We look for people who are already pulled toward the direction we’re headed—people who are inwardly aligned, not just outwardly capable. Only then do we match them with the right responsibilities and competencies.

Old leadership cultures selected for skills and coerced the rest.

We select for resonance—and build everything else from there.

Why?

Because you can train skills. You can support performance.

But you cannot train someone to care.

So, what’s this article really about?

It’s about the blind spots we all share.

We assume that kindness equals credibility. We confuse vulnerability with virtue. We trust the soft tone, the gentle smile, the carefully chosen words—and we overlook the strategy beneath the surface.

Real deception doesn’t look threatening.

It wears your values as camouflage.

The manipulator knows exactly which traits you associate with decency—and they master them.

The question isn’t whether you’re being manipulated.

It’s who is doing it—and why.

Why does this matter?

Because deceptive influence is no longer the exception.

It is, in many environments, the foundation.

And because every genuine transformation—personal, organizational, or societal—starts with insight.

This is not a moral lecture.

This is a strategic alert.

When you begin to see the mechanics of influence clearly, you stop being a passive target—and start becoming a conscious participant.