It can be very difficult to take care of oneself...looking out for #1 can be a real chore.
Machiavelli knew this.
Some 500 years ago Machiavelli wrote the facts of it. For all his wisdom, he is now seen by the ‘mob’ as the harbinger of bad things…sinister, the speaker of the unspeakable. But, like most of us, Machiavelli is at best understood just enough to be misunderstood. While he spoke simple, honest, straight-forward realism, his name is now a cliché for the toughness or nastiness of the human condition around strength and power.
It seems to me Machiavelli just wanted to support his homeland. He just wanted to guide those more powerful than he. He just wanted to be factual and ‘pragmatic’ and he just wanted to sell his novel-efficient ideas concerning lordship and power.
He just wanted a piece of the pie.
He wanted to help others make the pie bigger…and he wanted his piece.
But Machiavelli...boy...this guy was weak on sales skill.
He was horrible at it. Not as bad as some of the people who have worked for me, of course, but that’s another story and Machiavelli’s sales skills were awful nonetheless.
Sure, his words have stood the test of 500 years of time. But, at the time when he wrote them, his words were not selling anyone on anything. In fairness to him, there is no question – it was tough to find a good audience for much in the 1500’s.
Yes, Machiavelli was not that successful in his day. And, history and ‘mob’ rote-thinking has not been much kinder to him. Today’s ‘mob’, none of whom I am sure has ever read a word he put to paper, view Machiavelli as the cliché for manipulative skepticism. And, that is a damn shame. After 500 years it is time to cut this guy some slack. I mean everyone is pretty happy about giving many others credit where credit is due: Galileo, etc.
So, why not cut some slack for Machiavelli?