Machiavelli on Modern Leadership : Why Machiavelli's Iron Rules Are As Timely and Important Today As Five Centuries Ago

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Summary: Read the Republic of Plato before this book.
Review: A non cynical and practical view of how Machiavelli's principles of statecraft are applicable to everyday life. The author's use of modern figures lends credence to his arguments.

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Summary: Michael Ledeen: right on!
Review: Even after half a millennium, Machiavelli's advice to leaders is as contemporary as it was then. He goes to the essence of power and the means to achieve it. The struggle for power begins with the attempt to carve out a zone of freedom from others and continues with the extension of domination over others. First comes the fight for survival or for freedom from domination, then comes the fight for ambition, which is so powerful in humans that no matter what rank they rise it never abandons them. For Machiavelli the tools for discipline is to have a well armed force and laws enforced. Without them a nation is enfeebled and the survival of the state is mutually threatened. In present times the balance of the two distinguishes a successful state. There are many under developed states, which are facing extinction due to non-enforcement of the laws, as corruption takes precedence.

At times it is necessary for a good man to perform evil acts, even to accomplish a honourable result. Consider the case of Turkey in the late 1970's when the nation was inundated by a terrorist wave without precedent. The feeble multi party democracy was unable to deal with the excruciating terror. The military seized power; in the next two years 50,000 people were arrested on charges of corruption. Turkey was denounced for its repression and violation of human rights. In all evil methods were used to achieve a noble task. In the mid 50's-60's, human rights were sacrificed in places like Malaysia, Taiwan, and Singapore by an authoritative rule to ensure the progress of the nation.

Ledeen's "Machiavelli on modern leadership" is an account of Machiavelli's beliefs tied with situations in present times.

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Summary: Factual errors degrade what could be a good subject
Review: It is too bad that what could be a great book is dragged down by factural errors. On page 13 he says that "Gates and Allen created the programming language, Basic." This is not true, it was developed in 1964, more than a decade before Gate's version. On the same page he says "while he ruthlessly fought to dominate the market, he never tried to dominate its direction" (referring to Gates). Anyone involved in high tech knows this is not true, and the recent ruling by the court of appeals shows this is not rue.

If you read a book that uses facts to make its case, and the facts are incorrect, sometime you find yourself in the embarrasing position of stating a fact and then being proven wrong. The author of this book makes up facts, so take it with a grain of salt.

As for Machavelli. When I saw this book I was excited becuase I had recently read the Prince through 3 times. I discovered if you substitute the word "fire" for "kill," "aquire" for "conquer", "CEO" for "Prince" and read the book with no other alterations it was stunningly accurate in describing contemporary events. For instance, the outcome of the Mercedes Benz Chrysler merger was accurately predicted.

There are so many refrences apologizing and lauding Microsoft business practices, I suspect that the book is really a PR book paid for by Microsoft and not what it claims to be at all.

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Summary: Neocon propaganda masquerades as practical advice
Review: Judging from the title, Ledeen ostensibly wrote this book to illustrate how today's leaders have attained influence and power by adhering to Machiavellian principles. Such a volume would be a welcome addition to the growing commentary linking The Prince to contemporary power structures.

But when the author isn't oversimplifying or omitting essential tentents of Machiavelliian theory, or just plain getting his facts wrong, he shamelessly truckles at the dubious -- at best -- achievements of John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and Margaret Thatcher. Those who have the good sense to read the back flap of the book will note that Ledeen is a "resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute," which accounts for his cultish hero-worship of the above-mentioned illuminaries.

Notwithstanding Ledeen's blatant factionism, few serious, intellectually competent neocons would rush to claim the author as "one of ours," despite the whole chapter that Ledeen reserves for a meaty screed against Bill Clinton.

But ultraconservatism is not his only bias. Ledeen also wears blinders that drive him toward just about any devotee of bridge, topped by Bill Gates. If one were to believe Ledeen, Gates attained his empire solely on his proclivity towards bridge.

In fact, Ledeen should have had the discipline to focus on the game of bridge and its (alleged) value to anyone aspiring towards leadership because he certainly knows more about that game than Machiavelli's writings, or for that matter, their meanings.

This book does nothing worthwhile to clarify or exemplify the true spirit of Machiavelli's political theory, but it certainly will delight insecure reactionaries who need endless validations of their notorious heroes.

Anyone searching for accurate, practical commentary on Machiavelli that connects his principles to contemporary society, espcially business, would do much better to read Anthony Jay's Management and Machiavelli, The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Green, or even the humorous, sly, and surprisingly pragmatic The Mafia Manager: A Guide To the Corporate Machiavelli by "V."

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Summary: Unlimited applications to every "boss" you've ever known!
Review: Machiavelli on Modern Leadership by Michael A. Ledeen is one of the most entertaining and instructive books I've read. It's one that I am going to keep at hand because I am sure to be going back to it time and again. It's also the perfect book to buy for your friends-and your enemies. Ledeen serves up Machiavelli's thoughts on the makings of a leader in easily digestible morsels, garnished with wonderful (good and bad) examples from the modern world of politics, government, military life, business, sports, religion. He has so much fun at this game that you inevitably start playing along with him, applying Machiavelli's rules to all the "bosses" you've ever known in your own life. With this book in hand you can also gain a new perspective on all the political figures you have learned to love and hate. Many world figures have already been dispassionately dissected for you by Ledeen, but you will find yourself looking around for others on whom Machiavelli would have conferred his seal of approval or disapproval.

Looking back over my own life, I found many classic Machiavellian examples, especially of the "bad" prince, in that terrible Communist world I left behind in 1978. Machiavelli tells us that, because men are more disposed toward evil than toward good, the supreme leaders are bloody minded; that is exactly how Nikita Khrushchev, one of my "supreme bosses" from my other life, looked to me, both when he was sober and when he was drunk. The Machiavellian man uses change and flexibility to stay on top, but the Soviet bloc leaders I knew were increasingly dogmatic and inflexible, culminating with Leonid Brezhnev, who acted like a mechanical puppet (as does Boris Yeltsin today). Or take another of Ledeen's points, in which Machiavelli recommends avoiding the mistake of believing that all men are the same, no matter where they may live. When given a private tour of Macy's department store in New York, my former Romanian boss, Nicolae Ceausescu, believed the displays had been specially set up for him, because that was what he would have done to impress a foreign visitor to his Communist Romania. Today, when Yeltsin appointed the bloody KGB general Sergey Stepashin as prime minister of Russia, I pondered the fact that in the last four centuries all Russian/Soviet tsars have turned to their political police to defend their thrones. When I looked into Ledeen's book to see if Machiavelli also had an answer for that, there it was: "Machiavelli very badly wants to believe that a great leader can almost always be confident about his ability to win, provided that he has studied history carefully."

During the 20 years that Michael Ledeen has been my friend, we have often worked together to fight the evils of Soviet Communism-and today's crypto-Communism-by using Machiavelli's weapons, and I have always been sure he would some day write the ultimate contemporary book on Machiavelli. Ledeen has so admired this eminent mind of the Italian Renaissance that he has himself become the perfect American Machiavelli.

Ion Mihai Pacepa (former adviser to Ceausescu and acting chief of his espionage service)

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Summary: well presented and effectively argued-worth reading
Review: Micheal Leeden does a great job of demonstrating Machiavelli's theories of leadership using contemporary examples. Leeden passionately argues the benefits of how Ronald Reagan, Margret Thatcher, and George Bush Sr applied Machiavelli's principles. While I don't completely agree with his arguements, or political leanings, his examples clearly demonstrate Machiavelli's priciples.

One point that Machiavelli believed was that man leans toward evil, because he must dominate or be dominated. It is from the struggle to gain one's freedom that eventually leads to wanting to dominate others. Leeden clearly, states and shows through some examples how great leaders may have to enter into evil by comitting evil acts to acheive a nation of great glory, but once they have acheived the necessary results by entering into evil, the succesful leader will exit out of evil. It's this great balancing act that makes great leaders. This is the only area of his book that I thought could have been a bit stronger. However, this is only a minor point.

The bottom line is that Leeden clearly and thoughtfully demonstrates why Machiavelli's rules are as timely today as they were centuries ago without making a dry book. The book was thought provoking enough to make me want to learn more about Machiavelli. Buy this book and see for yourself.

Aslam Mohammed

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Summary: Superficial and shallow
Review: Obviously written for an American readership, this book is specious, shallow and facile. Revealing little understanding of the times or context in which Machiavelli's works were completed, it is suitable only for those seeking a bastardised view of Machiavelli's thought.

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Summary: Michael Ledeen: right on!
Review: Originally, I bought this book as a gift for my girlfriend, because she is a big fan of philosophy. I wasn't expecting much, but thought it might be a fun read.
Our first impression of Mr. Ledeen was that he was way out there. He has very strong opinions of how the world works. He loves Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher for instance. LOVES them. But after reading the book through, and then reading the original Machiavelli's "the prince," we determined that Michael Ledeen knew exactly what he was talking about!
We also decided to learn more about Michael Ledeen, so we went online. We went to a web site about him and learned that the man has a double Phd in Philosophy and history respectively. We found his e-mail address and send him a note, expressing our enjoyment of his book. He promptly replied BACK to us and explained his views on the George W. Bush presidency.
This book is fun, interesting, true to Machilavelli completely, and Mr. Ledeen makes a good comparison of the modern time with the time in which Machiavelli lived.

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Summary: An Excellent Book!
Review: There are enough reviews here to cover the major topics of the book. Allow me to add that it is also very enjoyable to read. If you love politics, or are just interested in what qualities a good leader should have, buy this book!

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Summary: "Machiavellian Leader" has a whole new meaning
Review: This book is not just for leaders, but anyone living in a democracy, simply because you get to vote for your leaders. This book gives one a whole new outlook on what a good leader should be like - not kind and caring as Greek Gods and kings of lore and old history were, but tough and pragmatic.
Numerous examples of this are given throughout the book, noting modern leaders from Winston Churchill to Pope John Paul II.
I liked the author's easy-to-read style as well, and the book is itself so encouraging that by the end of the first few chapters I was itching to read The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli, and dying to play a game of bridge (read the book - you'll find out).