How to Be Mean and Powerful

I just finished reading a book written by Fortune Magazine columnist, Stanley Bing. As an insightful student of American business potentates, Bing has planted his tongue in his cheek and written a very readable, tell-all handbook for the would-be power-monger/prince.

“What would Machiavelli Do?” is the title and refrain of the book. Bing encapsulates the habits of mind and behavior that characterize the powerful (and therefore wealthy) leaders who the rest of us adore and/or fear.

To get the right answer, one must ask the right question, he says, and the right question to guide the prince-in–training is always, “What would Machiavelli Do?”
The answer: Whatever is necessary to get your own way.

This is exactly why most of us nice guys are left in the dust. We are hampered with an adolescent desire to be liked. We care about people - not just to find out how they can help us get our own way – but we tend to see others as ordinary flesh-and-blood human beings like ourselves with feelings and hopes of their own. We have difficulty with Machiavellian concepts like justifying a multimillion dollar bonus for ourselves as a reward for cutting thousands of jobs and throwing good workers out on the street as you would toss out yesterday’s newspaper into the trash bin.

We have all met these men and women – who did whatever was necessary to get their own way – in our personal and career lives. We used to call them names like egomaniacs, narcissists, and pompous assholes. We could not fathom why they were successful. We acknowledged that they were smart and hard working people. But, we thought of them as ruthless, self-serving manipulators. Who would be foolish enough to trust such people with increased power? Answer: Those in power who are just like them.

So, when we were laid-off or harassed until we left on our own, these princes were rewarded with promotions and bonuses. Our enmity and loss did not bother them in the least. They grew in power and mean-ness. That’s the way Machiavelli would have done it too.

Being the nice guy has been moderately successful. I have a nice family and a nice home located in a nice neighborhood. I have sufficient means to live in moderation for the remainder of my nice little life. I have my garden and my books to entertain me. I have friends and relatives for social intercourse. Nice. Nice. Nice.

But, think of all the things I don’t have! A boat! A seaside villa in Italy! A new Hummer! Cosmetic surgery! These are all things that mean bastards already have. I wonder if it too late for me to change my stripes.