Written By : Andrew Samuel
You may have worked under people with no ethical conviction. These are people who believe that they can get whatever they want through self-driven manipulation.
A leader like this uses various devious tools to control their organisation. They induce fear, retaliate, and embarrass their subordinates.
They intentionally start internal rumours and they send out conflicting news on promotions and demotions. Choice assignments are only for their favoured underlings.
Leaders who behave this way are said to be Machiavellian, a term named after Niccolò Machiavelli.
Machiavelli was an Italian bureaucrat and diplomat who wrote a book in 1513 titled “The Prince”.
In it, he laid out guidelines for leaders on how to control others through manipulation, deceit, punishment, fear and distrust. He wrote it to offer advice to the then ruler of Florence on how to stay in power.
Today, psychologists and management experts use the term Machiavellian, to describe leaders who use these same tactics to gain and maintain power.
Simply put, a Machiavellian leader is someone who manipulates others only for their own purposes. Single-mindedly, they concentrate their efforts to achieve personal goals by any means.
Cheating, bending or breaking rules has no ethical consequences for them.
Such leaders will even hurt others, if they think it would be beneficial to them. And they easily switch between working with people, to then betraying the very same people to achieve their own objectives.
In the corporate world, without even knowing Niccolò Machiavelli’s theories, many business leaders and managers seem to unconsciously use this model of leadership.
This is also the case with numerous leaders in trade-unions, social groups as well as spiritual and religious organisations. Their leadership is marked by cunning, scheming, and unscrupulously exploiting people and situations.
In the world of politics, we constantly witness various Machiavellian scheming being played out. In fact, we are living through an episode right now.
If you accuse them of being Machiavellian, these leaders will vehemently deny it. But the reality is that almost all of them use exactly this tactic to gain and maintain power.
How do you recognise these traits when they are used in your company, society or even your country?
Let me give you a few examples.
Machiavelli wrote to the ruler – “…avoid becoming hated or despised.”
Looking at this statement, you would probably consider this great advice, wouldn’t you?
But contrary to saying that his ruler should be liked for doing good for his people, Machiavelli advises instead that he uses a series of cunning political manoeuvres to secure his power base ruthlessly.
This can also be seen in many companies.
Some leaders tend to secure important people in their orbit, especially their direct reports, and lavish them with money and tremendous benefits to make them their loyal subordinates.
In other words, these leaders buy loyalty. And once they have done this, their devoted down-liners are willing to do their dirty work.
Here’s another piece of advice Machiavelli gives in his treatise – “…for a man who wishes to act entirely up to his professions of virtue, soon meets with what destroys him among so much that is evil.”
Quite simply, he says principles and ethics are for the weak.
He says, if you want power, you must lie, cheat and deceive. Morality, goodness and compassion are all nice ideas, but realistically, you have to do what it takes to survive, and succeed.
I have seen many bosses who truly believe that in general, employees are indecisive, hypocritical, and greedy. So, they rather not themselves be virtuous leaders all the time.
Instead of building support through their honesty, insightfulness and fairness, these Machiavellian leaders will get rid of employees that they don’t control. And, they put together an alternative team with their “own” people, who are devoted only to them, but not necessarily to the organisation.
Isn’t this also a familiar occurrence in your company or the groups you belong to?
Can you also see this in the political dramas in Malaysia?
In his book, Machiavelli also wrote: “…he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived.
Pretend to win people over at your workplace through kindness, especially with your rivals, but, when they are not looking, be ready to backstab and gossip about them. In short, be a double-headed snake.
Machiavelli says that a leader who wants power, must master the art of acting in the most merciful, respectful, humane, faithful, religious and generous way. But behind the curtain, a leader must act in exactly the opposite way to achieve results.
Machiavelli says adherence to these noble values may not only come off as weakness, but they are disastrous to remain in power.
Is this not a common trait with many politicians we have in Malaysia?
The prevalent research on the personality of a Machiavellian leader indicates that they are emotionless, self-centred, and calculative in their approach to everything.
Leaders like this will always chase their goals in any way available to them regardless of ethics and principles. They are solely motivated by power, money, and the elimination of competition. This is their purpose-drive.
These Machiavellian leaders won’t give any importance or significance to community building or doing what is right for the collective. They will only focus on winning for themselves, at any cost.
So, the question is, would you want to work for, or vote for, or be led by a Machiavellian leader?
