Books : What Would Machiavelli Do? The Ends Justify the Meanness

Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 817
EAN: 9780066620107
ISBN: 0066620104
Label: Collins Business
Manufacturer: Collins Business
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 176
Publication Date: March 01, 2002
Publisher: Collins Business
Release Date: March 15, 2002
Studio: Collins Business
Sales Rank: 70678

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:

What Would Machiavelli Do?

He would feast on other people's discord
He wouldn't exactly seek the company of ass-kissers and bimbos, but he wouldn't reject them out of hand either
He would realize that loving yourself means never having to say you're sorry
He would kill people, but only if he could feel good about himself afterward
He would establish and maintain a psychotic level of control
He would use other people's opinions to sell his book!

Amazon.com:
Machiavelli would feel at home in industry today. You don't need a birthright to be a modern prince--just an impulsive ruthlessness such as he described four centuries ago while trying to get back into the good graces of a Medici nobleman. A clever guy like him could really go places. Stanley Bing, a columnist for Fortune, is also a clever guy. In real life he has another name and works for a media company (a very, very clever person could probably patch together the clues he offers and figure out the company, if not the actual person), and as such he's been our spy behind corporate lines since he first started writing for Esquire back in 1984. In What Would Machiavelli Do? Bing gleefully offers hard-boiled Machiavellian advice about whom to fire in a downsizing (consultants first, secretaries last), how to make employees love you ("Give them perks.... When they're spending your money, you own them"), and why it's important that you also kick ass (one of the ways: "cutting them off curtly when they speak") and take names (so people know you'll not only hurt them, you'll also go after their friends). The overriding lesson of this book is always to love yourself, never apologize for anything you do, and when all else fails, recognize that the truth is flexible, and so can be bent any way you want. What makes all this amorality funny is that Bing plays it straight, putting his ruthless advice into an easily digestible how-to format. Sometimes the only way you can tell it's satire is when he mixes the musings of Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot in with those of modern business figures such as former Sunbeam CEO "Chainsaw" Al Dunlap. Firing people, killing people--same rules, different game. --Lou Schuler

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- If you can't Fire them make them crazy!!!
I love this book. Corporate Politics is fun, no one likes to talk about it. This book hits home! The end does justify the meanness, that is why the one's who yell and scream at your office are still there and not fired.

Rating:

- A Strong But Amusing Warning on the Greed, Egotism, Narcissism, and Pure Evil of the Powerful
With this book, businessman and Fortune Magazine columnist Stanley Bing began a long and continuing career of attacking outrageous bosses and managerial practices. There is no shortage of material in these categories, and this book is a good introduction to how rich the field of managerial abuse is.

This is not a book for true Machiavelli fans. Those who want to savor the finely nuanced distinctions and advices of Machiavelli's THE PRINCE will not be able to do so here. Indeed Bing ... Read More

Rating:

- Get back to work, wage slaves!!!
This was a deliciously entertaining and thought-provoking book. When you think about all the hedge fund/private equity hawks, Russian billionaires and Mideast oil barons who are gobbling up real estate and stock exchanges left and right, you can't possibly believe they got to where they were by being 'nice'???

This book gives you a genuine insight into how ruthless and sociopathic the business world truly is.

I didn't believe that people could truly behave this way, but ... Read More

Rating:

- It pays to be bad --- or does it?
I enjoyed this short read. It's funny. While we read what, in the opinion of the author, Machiavelli would do in the course of most all business situations, he ends the book saying, "But evil does have its limitations, ones that even the biggest, baddest Machiavellis around should keep in mind. That may be the very best --- and most useful--- lesson of all."

So one is left having to decide for himself how far he wants to take his Machiavellian ways. The author leaves it to the reader to ... Read More

Rating:

- Stress relief using sarcasm and humor.
What Would Machiavelli Do? The Ends Justify the Meanness is a is full of sarcastic humor that anyone who has had a "bad" boss can identify with 100%. Stanley Bing describes the many characteristics of tyrant and/or mean bosses with humor and sarcasm. So much is true and easily identifiable. Very fun book to read. Will help relieve any work stress you may have. I recommend this book.

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