Always make those above you feel superior and never try to overshadow them as a way of trying to impress them.

Everyone including powerful people has insecurities so when you bring those out in people, be ready for the backlash. At the very least, it means a mentor will stop helping you. The key to power is making the people above you look good and feel good.

It's counterintuitive because most people think they need to impress to get ahead, but that could be dangerous if the wrong person feels threatened. Think of a powerful head of state that turns on his supporters after being contradicted. Or all the backstabbing in that movie Showgirls when the star of the show felt threatened.

I was filled with absolute dread during the months after I graduated college. I still hadn't figured out what I wanted to do, and already failed a few times in trying to get into corporate America. I badly wanted to work in the fashion industry and one day a huge opportunity fell in my lap. While I was in college, I worked at a high-end women's boutique and the owner called me out of the blue. She had a vendor who needed help with their booth at M.A.G.I.C. and she would recommend me if I was interested. She was planning to go there to buy for the store as well, so we would travel to Las Vegas together. This was a huge break for me, and so I jumped at the chance.

When I worked at the boutique, the other salespeople would gossip about how she could be jealous and cruel, but she'd always been nice to me. After the tradeshow, we hung out together along with her assistant. Oftentimes, she would ask for our opinions, and while her assistant always said something agreeable, I foolishly spoke my mind. It happened to be my birthday so we went out for a nice dinner together with the two guys I had worked for at the trade show booth. Earlier in the trip, my old boss had said something about having a thing with one of the guys previously, which is a detail I should have put more weight on at the time.

After dinner, she ended up calling it an early night because she was pregnant at the time, and went back with her assistant to our shared hotel room. But I ended up staying out late with the guys; after all, I just turned 21 in Vegas! At some point in the night, she called me but it was too loud and I was probably too drunk to register the conversation. It was late (or early) when I got back to the hotel room so I tried to sneak in as quietly as possible but who knows if I was actually being quiet.

The next morning, I could feel the tension in the air. I still remember her asking me "Did you have fun?" with the blankest stare. Everything I did seemed to irritate her more after that. My phone died on the plane ride home. And when we got back to the airport, she told me that I needed to find my own way home.

Looking back, I broke law #1 in so many different ways. Can you count them all?