Fitting that most top-tier business schools quite literally use The Prince as a textbook for building and maintaining organizational power structures. Future executives are taught that Machiavellianism is very bad... unless you're the one doing it.
The modern word "Machiavellian" has had a life of its own and doesn't correlate directly to what is actually in The Prince, though. When we (in 2019) describe someone as machiavellian, we tend to imagine some sort of mustache-twirling evil mastermind. The book itself is more like a dispassionate, semi-scientific textbook on how to be a ruler.
The quote I listed above is a good example. M. is essentially just saying that, "if you have to do bad things, do them quickly and all at once." Generally good advice, I'd say.
A modern analog would be firing employees - avoid it if possible, but once it's determined to be absolutely necessary, just do it. Don't waffle, give conflicting messages, or build an atmosphere of dread. Make the tough decision, execute it quickly, and then move on. Of course, one could argue that the manager should have made better decisions to avoid the need to fire people in the first place, but that's a deeper discussion.
And honestly, the reverse idea in the quote is also true. If you have finite resources to spend on perks, don't blow the perk budget in Q1; divide it up into several smaller boons and spread it out across quarters. We know human psychology has diminishing returns on positive feeling and you'll get more out of several small dopamine boosts than one big one.
Machiavelli is still taught because, frustratingly, it still applies.
I call bullshit. If there is a single class at HBS, Wharton or Stanford that uses The Prince as a textbook I will eat a teddy bear. I’d be slightly surprised if there was a class that used readings from it extensively but that at least is possible. Business schools don’t have courses in political philosophy, nor do top ones have courses that are brain dead airport business books in lecture form.
Good news for you though, 24-packs of Gummy Bears are available on Amazon for just $8.79, thanks to the demand for them from large companies as a low-cost perk that can be doled out across quarters cheaply. ;)
First of all, this is an excellent comment thread. Secondly - I think technically they said "used as a textbook," not sure if the link demonstrates this extent of reliance on the book.
> Business schools don’t have courses in political philosophy
You're completely wrong here. My business school (global top 10) had multiple required courses on political philosophy -- both corporate politics and government politics. Navigating complex political situations is the most important skill to have as an executive in corporate America. In fact, those classes are usually the most popular with students and consistently rated as being some of the most valuable by alumni.
I'm not surprised that business schools have students reading The Prince, but I highly doubt that any classes are treating as a practical how-to manual... which is what the GP was clearly implying.
That's exactly how it was taught, supplemented by HBS case studies that heavily referenced The Prince.
Granted, it's taught as "here are things to look out for from your subordinates" -- but if you read between the lines, it's "here's how to walk the line on this stuff and get away with it".
Fitting that most top-tier business schools quite literally use The Prince as a textbook for building and maintaining organizational power structures. Future executives are taught that Machiavellianism is very bad... unless you're the one doing it.