Niccolo Machiavelli was born in 1469 and was one of the most tragically misunderstood figures ever to enter political life. Never a prince himself, or even a CEO, Machiavelli was among the true masters of the Italian renaissance right up there with Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and that other ninja turtle. His name has become a part of the vernacular and perhaps, more importantly, his ideas permeate our business world and office memoranda.
Yet, he is remembered for all the wrong reasons. To utter the word ˜Machiavellian™” is to suggest cynicism, cruelty, cunning, and for some, tasty meat-filled pasta morsels that come in a can. Yet he was so much more. We can learn a great deal from Machiavelli today, though perhaps not by his good example.
After a string of lousy jobs, Niccolo became head of homeland security for his beloved Florence. There he honed his skills of statecraft, schmoozing, and strategic bootlicking. Some of the boots he licked belonged to the fabulously wealthy and powerful Medici family. Unfortunately, there were so many Medici, Niccolo apparently got confused and licked the wrong boots. In 1512, he was dismissed from court and tortured. He spent most of his later years impoverished, in exile, and with much time on his hands.
The upside to all this is that Machiavelli did some of his best writing while pining away for employment in the Tuscan tooleys. His masterpiece The Prince™ was a brilliant appeal for work submitted to Lorenzo (the magnificent) Medici. Niccolo’s ˜ideal prince”™ was probably modeled on Cesare Borgia who invited political opponents to dinner and had them slaughtered before the main course. Though replete with fascinating historical references and keen insights into military organization, ˜The Prince”™ is today read only by college freshmen. It did not get him a job.
Also not for sale at airport book kiosks is his stunningly overlong ˜The Discourses™” which is rarely read by college freshmen, and a lewd theatrical comedy entitled ˜La Madrigola™ which is never performed. Niccolo Machiavelli was eventually invited back to do diplomatic work for the Florentine government in 1526. He was buried in Santa Croce the following year. It would all have gone so much better for Niccolo if he had a Gmail account.
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