Move 15: Overtip and Carry $50's

This one is simple. A 15% or 20% tip is normal. Don't be normal.

The smallest bill denomination that you care about is the $20, and I'd suggest getting used to $50's -- they are the new $20's; $100's are just a little over-doing it and the idea of a good move is to get the point across without going overboard. Round things to the nearest bill, and then starting thinking about how good the service was. $20 minimum, period.

Tipping is something that "Your People" can't really do -- it doesn't come off as personal -- so therefore do it right.

Move 14: Vacation Homes in Great Places

There are some things that you need for multiple reasons. Great vacation homes are one of those necessary luxuries that bring with them a variety of moves:

1. Spending a week at your own house in Hawaii is great fun for you.
   
2. Telling people about the trip and vacation, and showing them pictures is a move.
   
3. Letting people use "The Tahoe House" for a getaway weekend gets you good press.
   
4. Bringing people out to the summer lodge on the lake for a meeting sets the right tone -- that you only use this house on occasion and it is twice as big as their "every-day" house.

Great places include Hawaii, Aspen, Lake Tahoe, The Hamptons (not anymore), London, Paris, and a take your pick of the small coastal cities on the French Rivera (Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat is a good one).

Move 13: Have Great Seats

It is important to get out and about; you always want the opportunity to drop things lightly into a conversation about, "you'll never guess who we ran into at the Derby last weekend."

The trick to this move is that you have to have great seats. Season tickets at all the local sports teams and theatrical venues is critical. You want to run into important people and you want them to see where you are sitting. Also, your own box comes with perks such as VIP parking, great service, and your own carved-out and familiar territory (you are the master of your domain).

Additionally, having your own box at the race track is a must. How much better is it to hand someone a couple of tickets to your personal box (with engraved nameplate) at the track, and then have them talk about it later to everyone they know.

Move 12: Go to TED

Going to the TED conference every year means something. Most people don't know what it means, and therefore that is why it is a move. The TED Conference is an annual conference that brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers. The majority of those attending have been extremely successful in some field or other, and TED wouldn't want it any other way.

Getting those TED Book Club boxes in the mail is a pretty subtle move that really gets people curious about what they're missing. And if they look into it, they are blown away. Yes, $6,000 a year in dues and a long waiting list makes the TED Conference the place to see and be seen.

Move 11: The Right Watch At The Right Time

Wearing the right watch for any occasion is a smooth move. The Rolex is fairly overdone.

A Breitling makes more of a move these days. You'll still want to own a Rolex for certain situations -- just remember that The Moves are more subtle than the classic ostentatious Rolex, Ferrari, and other Vegas-style moves. You’ll make more of a show in Vegas with the smooth Moves than the over-the-top overdone Vegas for amateurs-trying-to-look-rich moves. Especially if you aren’t anywhere near Las Vegas!

Any watch that is exclusive, part of a "secret-club", and not extremely wel-known by the general public is perfect. Tag Heuer was good up until a few years ago when they showed up at CostCo. Patek Philippe and Cartier are old-school that are still good to go.

Move 10: The Black Card

An important move is to have an American Express card, because paying for membership does have its privileges.

The best Am-Ex card to have is the Centurion card, popularly known as the Black Card. It is the most exclusive charge card issued by American Express, and has a $2500 a year membership fee. It used to be available by invitation only, and can now be obtained by anyone with the means to pay the dues.

Your People should carry your Platinum or Gold cards for normal purchases. When you have to step up personally to buy something, nothing is a better move than slapping down that Black Card.

Move 9: The Cell Phone

Most people have a cell phone now, so just having one is not enough to be a move any more -- it used to be a great move. Now you can do the opposite and have one of Your People carry a cell phone, and you actually don't have one -- that is a big move; you are above cell phones.

However, an acceptable variation of the Cell Phone move is to always have the very latest, greatest, and hottest cell phone -- whichever one costs the most, is the hardest to get, and is just started to get buzz. In early 2007 this was the Blackberry Pearl or the iPhone; in 2010 it is the iPhone 4 and the Droid X, and in the future it will be something even newer and more exclusive. The problem with those 2007 models in 2008 is that now eveyone has one... same as the 2009 models in 2010 -- they are so last year!

Your cell phone must be International, and you can complain that's why you only are "playing with" the iPhone and haven't fully moved over to it yet.

Move 8: Don't Carry Things

People with The Moves do not carry things. This move entails carrying the minimal luggage, including briefcase. Your People carry things; you do not carry things. When you are shopping on Rodeo Drive, you chit-chat with the manager as Your People ring up the bill, pay with your American Express card, and carry the items out to the car.

Your armed companion/driver carries your briefcase up until the last minute when you walk into the board meeting, leaving him in the reception area to wait.

Move 7: Armed Companion

This is a higher-level move to really convey wealth and power. Whenever you are in public, you have an armed companion with you who has a concealed handgun permit.

This person does all your dirty work.

They drive you at high speeds, stand in line, answer your cell phone, carry things, go into stores to grab some gum, open doors, argue with people, and anything else that you could do yourself.

You are much too important to chance losing your license, get into a fight, hurt someone's feelings, etc. Your armed companion should be the ultimate gentleman wing-man in the spirit of Leslie Charteris' Simon Templar, alias The Saint.

Move 6: Please Hold For...

Calls from you are patched through after screener establishes connection.

Your People make all your calls, have all the contact information, try all the numbers, and only bother you when the person you requested is waiting for you on the phone.

You don't want to be in the awkward position of leaving a message, talking to a voicemail system (which could come back to haunt you), trying multiple numbers, or waiting for someone to come to the phone.

Your time is money and everyone needs to know that. Having someone say, "Please hold for Mr. Simpson" when you called them is the perfect move.

Move 5: Voicemail

This one is simple and to the point. Don't record your own voicemail messages. Ever.

When people call you and get your voicemail system, which they will (naturally), there is a professional voice (of the opposite sex) informing them that you are not available and that they should leave a message.

The message should be changed daily by Your People for added effect.

Move 6 covers the way to avoid having to leave voicemail on other people's systems.

Move 4: Too Important for E-Mail

So how do you convey tremendous wealth and power over e-mail. The fourth move is to consistently answer e-mails in less than five words. Answer quickly (using your Blackberry Pearl or iPhone) with five words or don't reply at all. Never look back at old e-mails to follow-up at a later date -- it's now or never; you are much too important. If it is important to someone else, they will get back to you.

The technique for cleaning up your in-box is to select all and delete -- if that unread e-mail was important the sender will send it again.

Remember: things are urgent and quickly dealt with, or ignored. Nothing in between.

Move 3: The Presentation Genie

When you give a presentation, your PowerPoint slides advance automatically and are always on the correct slide due to some unseen intervention. This is the third move. Presentations are easy for you, and you glide right through them without any technical problems or manual clicking.

This move is facilitated by "one of your people" behinds the scenes, using a laptop to choose and click on the slide deck for you -- using the "freeze" option on the projector to hide their mechanics.

You never get your hands dirty and never have to struggle with those infernal clickers. You can have a bottom of water and a small laser pointer on hand if you need some props -- just make sure the laser pointer isn't red; green or blue is a better Move.

Move 2: Don't Dress For Success

The second move is dressing down inappropriately, almost in blissful ignorance of typical dress code for a given situation.

Once you have made it, you no longer have to dress for success -- that's for the other people; the ones who are not there yet.

This move can also include always wearing an item of clothing (e.g. Yankees baseball cap, sandals, shorts, no tie, a bow tie, all black, turtle-necks) regardless of the situation. This unique item is your signature fashion move.

Move 1: The Business Card

The first move is to get a new business card. You'll need one that is very plain, overly subtle, with no company name or enigmatic personal details.


There are only four items on the card:

1. Your full legal name with middle initial, centered on the card in a elegant serif font, preferably using small caps.
   
2. A P.O. Box address in New York, London, San Francisco, Rancho Santa Fe, or Beverly Hills.
   
3. A single phone number
   
4. And finally an e-mail address; the best have a subtle message: @post.harvard.edu, @aya.yale.edu, @gatesfoundation.org (if your name is Bill), or some other prestigious domain. Surprisingly @aol.com addresses are acceptable -- for some reason the rich and famous still use AOL as their own private club.

Additional subtlety depends on a very high grade of thick, slightly off-white card stock with a font that is not part of any package of fonts -- you can't have this font without paying full price is an important part of the understated message.