The Grip
Feed Your Suppliers.
A well-fed supplier never bites the hand. A starved one looks for the exit.
Your suppliers are not your enemies and they're not your servants - they're your engine. Give them steady, reliable work and you become the best thing in their week: the phone call they want to get, the customer they never have to chase. A supplier who eats well through you will protect you, prioritise you, and never try to go around you, because going around you would cost them their best stream of work.
Starve them, squeeze them, treat them as disposable, and you teach them to treat you the same way. The strongest middleman position isn't built on having power over suppliers. It's built on being the reason they thrive. Feed the people who do the work, and they'll keep the whole machine loyal.
Keep your suppliers well-fed and loyal. They guard the doorway with you.
This is one of 48 laws from MIDDLEMAN - The 48 Laws of the Money in the Middle. Read it in full to climb the whole building, floor by floor.