The word ‘Machiavellian’ gets bandied around all the time. Frank Underwood from House of Cards, Richard Hatch from Survivor, Lord Baelish in Game of Thrones or Scar from The Lion King, each were able to manipulate in different ways to ultimately get what they want. For them, effectiveness was more important than being perceived as “nice”.

The Prince was written in 1532 by Niccolo Machiavelli.  To Machiavelli, the greatest evil was stagnation and complacency. The agents of healthy change were what he called “new princes”.

When he died in 1527, the name ‘Machiavelli’ seemed to be destined to vanish from history. The book was an utter failure for the duration of his life.

 This all changed after his death, when it was picked up by Cromwell the Minister to the King of England. He loved the historical anecdotes, the amoral language and its bizarreness. 

We were all brought up on the story of Jesus, as the ideal character to emulate. But the real details are usually missed. Jesus got betrayed by one of his mates, got publicly  shamed and was tortured and killed on the cross, in front of his friends and family. His life was a  disaster! 

Machiavelli was straight up about how the world really works. Nice people don’t get far and the wicked tend to win. If you have any ambition, you need to learn these dark arts.

 Slowly, the book emerged from obscurity to become one of the most influential instruction manuals for leaders throughout history. Decades after Machiavelli’s death, it spread far and wide. Napoleon consulted it to win his wars, the American President John Adams had it beside his bedside and the Prussian King Frederick the Great used it. As it reached a larger and larger audience, the influence went beyond politics. Over the centuries, millions have used it for advice on power.

To have good laws, you must have good arms.

The Prince must lay solid foundations, otherwise he will inevitably be destroyed. Now the foundations of all states, whether new, old or mixed, are good laws and good arms.  But since you cannot have laws without arms, And where you have arms, you likely have laws, he omits the discussion on law and just looks at arms.

Imagine if a new manager enters into a new organisation with a goal of culture change. The team has become slack and unproductive not achieving any meaningful targets. It is clear that they are not using their time adequately. An obvious solution would be to introduce mandatory time sheets so that the team becomes accountable with how they use their time.  Machiavelli would call this a good law.

Her character is of utmost importance to implementing such laws. If she is a push over that nobody respects, surely the slackers will conveniently “forget to fill them in”. However, things are different if she has good arms; a shadow, a darkside, the ability to destroy those who don’t implement her orders. If people fear the repercussions, then they are much surer to obey. 

Between an armed and an unarmed man, no proportion holds. And it is contrary to reason to expect that the armed man should voluntarily submit to him who is unarmed

Being armed is critical for those who want power. If you are a pushover, you can’t expect to influence any of your team. You don’t necessarily need to explicitly be an asshole. You just need the capability that if required, you would be prepared to get there. People will smell both the weakness or strength within you.

Learning to be things other than good

And the manner in which we live, and that in which we ought to live, are things so wide asunder.

Ideally the world would be full of co-operation. It would be nice if the US didn’t spend $732 Billion every year on the military. An investment in finding ways to destroy fellow human beings that could be used to instead to solve  global hunger. It would be great if people were honest, generous and tender hearted.

But this just simply isn’t what the world is. People can be these things, but they are also more often than not greedy, cruel and crafty.

If you go around trying to be pure, you’ll get chewed up and spat out by those who reflect the real values of the world. It is impossible to be perfect all of the time. You need to learn how to be things other than good.

There may be a line of conduct having the appearance of virtue, but to follow which would be his ruin. And there may be another course having the appearance of vice, by following which his safety and well-being are secured

The rest of the world still idealizes the “manner in which we ought to live”. So at all times, you must have the appearance of virtue.

Since anyone who would act up to a perfect standard of goodness in everything, must be ruined among so many who are not good..

A popular manipulator is Cartman from South Park. He uses different emotions to blackmail his mother into giving him more food whilst he hangs out on the couch. He constantly outwits his friends Kyle and Stan, who are ignorantly living in the realms of the way “the world ought to be”. They are like pawns in his own game of chess, with a complete lack of empathy for the repercussions he causes. Like Cartman, we can use goodness, but only where “necessity requires”.

 Be a man and a beast

Be it known then that there are two ways of contending. One in accordance of the laws, proper to men. And the other by force, which is proper to beasts. But since the first method (laws) is often ineffectual, it becomes necessary to resort to being a beast. A Prince should therefore understand how to use well both the man and the beast. That it is necessary for a Prince to use both natures and that one without the other, has no stability.

A lion is mighty and brave, so strong that he often doesn’t even need to fight. His reputation and size is so great, that his opponents won’t even bother contending. Like the lion, you need to build the reputation that you’ll destroy the people who confront you directly. Your day to day dealings with people will be easier, simply because they don’t want to fuck with you. 

But when you’re a lion, you become vulnerable to the crafty ‘fox character’. The Fox may spread gossip, rumours or controversy that can take down the lion indirectly.

You need to learn all three attributes as you rise to power:

•       A human of noble character
•       A lion that nobody wants to fuck with
•       And a fox that can avoid traps and play the games behind the scenes

Whether it is better to be loved or feared

And here comes in the question whether it is better to be loved than feared, or feared than loved. It might perhaps be answered we should wish to be both.

We all want to be loved by all the people we deal with. But there is another option we rarely consider, being feared. Out of these two attributes, which is more appropriate for obtaining and maintaining power for Princes?

But since they hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved. For men it may generally be affirmed that they are thankless, fickle, false, studious to avoid danger, greedy of gain. They are ready to shed their blood and sacrifice property, their lives and children. But in the hour of need they turn against you. Moreover, men are less careful how they offend him who makes himself loved, than him who makes himself feared. For love is held by the tie of obligation, which men are a sorry breed. Is broken on every whisper of private interest. But fear is bound by the apprehension of punishment which never relaxes its grasp.

Human beings are only concerned with their own self-interest. People might love you, but they will cross you at any opportunity if it is a benefit for themselves. On the other hand, if they fear the repercussions for messing with you, then they will think twice before acting.  Therefore as a leader, you are better off being feared rather than loved. Don’t spend too much time worrying about people thinking that you’re a bit of an asshole. Just let them fear the repercussions of not obeying your command. 

Nevertheless, a Prince should inspire fear in such a passion that if he do not win love, he may escape hate. For a man may very well be feared and not hated.

All of this comes with this caveat: you can’t be such a dick that you are hated. If you are hated, your team will take any opportunity to get rid of you. This is a delicate balance. In all your actions that inspire fear, you must be reasonable and avoid hate.