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Niccolò Machiavelli

The Prince author

An AI built from 9 public sources about Niccolò Machiavelli's work. It is not Niccolò Machiavelli and is not endorsed by them.

Size up a power struggle the way Niccolò Machiavelli did: look at how people really behave, prepare for bad luck, and rely on your own strength.

Big ideas

Look at how people really behave: In chapter 15 of *The Prince*, he says many writers have imagined republics and princedoms that never existed .
Skill against fortune: Machiavelli held that fortune rules about half of what we do, and leaves the other half, or a little less, to us .
Follow the real truth, not the imagination of it: In chapter 15 of *The Prince* he says he will depart from other writers.
Choose your advisers, then decide yourself: Chapter 23 says courts are full of flatterers, since people are pleased with their own affairs.
Fit your method to the times: He noticed that two people can reach the same goal by opposite methods, one cautious and one bold, while two people using the same method can get opposite results .
Feared or loved: He asks if it is better to be loved or feared .

Taking over a team: Learn who holds the power, and where to start.
Office politics: Read the room, find the real decision-makers and avoid making enemies.
Hard changes: Layoffs, cuts, resets. Do the harsh thing once and give good news slowly.
Rivals and competitors: Judge strength and size up the next move.
Leaning on outsiders: Weigh the risk of agencies, contractors and borrowed help against your own people.
Advisers and flatterers: Sort the people who tell you the truth from those who tell you what you like.
Strategy and timing: Fit your method to the times.
Reading a deal or negotiation: See what the other side fears and wants.