Machiavelli’s Take on Advisors
May 4, 2010 by Harvey Wigder
The word Machiavellian is often regarded as synonymous with manipulation. But, is that really what Machiavelli was about?
I recently read The Prince and was taken with Machiavelli’s sensible and straightforward message. He showed how applying an understanding of human nature would allow a ruler to increase power and territory. The manipulation inherent in the concepts was based on strategies that increased the ruler’s power through providing influence and wealth to supporters.
When he classified states in terms of how they were governed, it was clear to Machiavelli that democratic states were more lasting than despotic ones. They found a way to balance extremes and give each class a piece of the action. Sooner or later, he observed, a ruler in a monarchy would get caught up in himself and forget to govern for the common good. This would alienate subjects, leading to revolution and vulnerability to ambitious rival regimes.
Leadership requires wisdom and knowledge and no one individual has a monopoly on it. As a result, Machiavelli understood how important it was for a Prince to have advisers who could help him stay grounded in reality. Sustained power required that policies and decisions spread rewards and minimize discontent.
He cautioned that the price of choosing advisors who were sycophants would sooner or later be high. Conversely, he documented that Princes who had the wisdom to use advisors with knowledge and skill and the backbone to be truthful had a better chance of survival and enhanced success.
These insights are as relevant today for a business owner as they were for a Prince in Machiavelli’s time. (Read more.)
The business owner whose advisors are cronies or dependent vendors and employees without the background and insight to provide needed advice or who have been trained not to offer it will lose out in the end. If you are an owner, it might meet certain human needs to have your judgment reinforced by yes men. (We will review the tale of the Emperor’s New Clothes on the right hand side bar.) However, it isn’t good business practice. Here are ways you can evaluate your advisors and your ability to benefit from good advice:
- Does the advisor have experience and success in an area where you need help and where you are seeking guidance? (This could be in domains as distinct as general management, whether to invest in new plant or technologies, or financial management.) You should seek people with the resume to provide guidance and bolster your strengths.
- When you ask for advice, are your views reinforced or are you challenged (respectfully) to see things in a new way, think out of the box, examine prejudices, or question past policies?
- If you take the risk of following advice and doing something that is out of your comfort zone, does following the advice lead to hoped for improvements?
- If yes, you are probably on the right track and have a valuable advisor and should followed his/her advice literally and in sprit. Treasure that person and your collaboration.
- If no, there is a problem. Then you need the wisdom to find out if the problem was the advice or the way you implemented it or something else. Whether the problem was with you or the advisor, the business will be preserved and enhanced if you show the courage to deal with reality.
Machiavelli remains pertinent today because human nature remains the same. We can get caught up in our technological world and forget the universal principles that tend to repeat themselves through recorded history. One universal principle is that self insight and the ability to learn and change behavior remains problematic. People are complicated.
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