Chapter 8: Carrying Out Good and Bad Initiatives

In chapter VIII in ‘The Prince’: ‘Of such as have achieved sovereignty by means of crime’ Machiavelli a.o. states that it cannot be called brave or valour to massacre one’s fellow-citizens, to betray one’s friends, and to be devoid of good faith, mercy, and religion. Such criminal means may enable a man to achieve empire, but not glory. He states that the reason why some princes who came to power by crime, managed to live securely in the conquered territory, while others have not been able to maintain their state with cruelty, even in times of peace, is because the first used proper crime. Proper crime is when it is committed all at once from necessity for self-protection, and afterwards not persisted in, but converted as far as possible to the public good. Benefits, on the contrary, should be conferred one at a time, in order to be more appreciated. If they are given all at once, men soon forget the generosity and start to complaint.

To what extent do Machiavelli’s thoughts apply to the roles and responsibilities of modern leaders from different countries, cultures and trades? Should initiatives good or bad be carried out all at once or little by little?

Discover The Mind of a Leader…

Participants:
  Mads Øvlisen
  Bengt Baron
  John Dunn
  Edward Ashbee
  Friedrich Mutter
  Lynda Curtis
  Tony Visconti