Keep yourself small, stay in the trenches

'Don't ever let them see you coming. That's the gaffe, my friend. You gotta keep yourself small, innocuous, and be the little guy. You know, the nerd, the leper, shit-kickin' surfer... Stay in the trenches.' That line from Taylor Hackford's 1997 film, The Devil's Advocate, based on Andrew Neiderman's 1990 novel of the same name, isn't just cinematic devilry, but also an unofficial handbook of survival in a world that actually does reward camouflage over candour, behind-the-scenes over scenery. The trick is to shrink yourself into the background. That is one of the better - dare we say easier? - ways of gaining power, gaining wealth.

Today's exhibitionism is crowded, and will get even more unmoored from real value as we speak. Being over-the-top, in-your-face - which did have its moment in the sun - is on its way out in an overdone, OTT space. The genius of invisibility is that it makes your eventual reveal look like divine intervention. By the time you emerge, your understatement will come across as achieving what you intended it to do: have everyone underestimate you. But, remember, trenches aren't hiding places, they're launchpads. The devil's advice is less about humility than about timing. Keep yourself small. That way, when the world least expects it, you can rise up and gobble all that you need - while the world wouldn't know any better.