Customer Reviews

What Would Machiavelli Do? : The Ends Justify the Meanness

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

This is a five-star book if you're interested in the decadence and peril of corporate culture, or if you like Stanley Bing. It's a SIX STAR book if you work for the real-life Bing and have learned anything at all from its pages.

"What Would Machiavelli Do" is both a satire of America's sadistic corporate culture AND an instruction book on how to be a ruthless, self-indulgent ladder-climber.

It's very funny, except when you think too much about it. Bing acknowledges and accepts--even celebrates--the twisted idiosyncrasies of life among the suits; stuff that would make any blue collar worker or crunchy granola idealist puke. But it's all true, and that's the sad part. Bing sees it all for how strange it is, and it's his perception that enables him to both make fun of the system while succeeding in it. It's a strange contradiction. It's as if business were a mudhole and Bing glides along easily without ever getting dirty because he has a profound understanding of mud.

Anyway, I liked it. The book put in writing a lot of what I thought about the business world, and a lot that nobody in upper management would ever admit to.

I got a real kick out of reading this book--it's humorous and I would hope that people take it at that. It's not a philosophical romp or anything of the like--it's just funny.

What ISN'T funny is that it demonstrates a sad state of affairs in business culture today and of yesteryear. Knowing there are managers out there that do practice these principles is somewhat disturbing; you don't have to be a jerk to get ahead.

If anything, this book tells you how to look out for these people--it's up to you to beat them at their own game.

I'll have to write this review anonymously, because one can't publicly admit to enjoying and agreeing with this book. Bing speaks too many unspeakable truths about the business world. His writing style is bracingly frank yet witty. The drill sergeant for business world recruits. With each new chapter, Bing reminds us that the reality of business is more horrible and ruthless than we can comprenend. Do you think he's exaggerating? Hardly at all. Beneath the cynicism and dark humor, the overall thrust of the book MUST be taken seriously. Fresh out of college, I worked for a businesss owner who acted just like the bosses he describes in this book. Within two months, he fired me and ruined my career. You ignore Bing's cyincal advice at your own peril. There are no real workplace rights. With weak labor unions and "Employment At Will" as the rule, bosses are free to act this way and get away with it. Everything he describes about the business world goes against my nature. I now know that I'm doomed.I must give you a warning, though. Following Bing's advice can just as easily get you fired as advance you. If you're at the bottom of the corporate ladder, or in a job with no ladder, following his advice WILL get you fired! This advice is only for people who are already on their way up. Use his advice judiciously. Reading this book is like having a bucket of ice water dumped on your head. It's painfully shocking, but you MUST endure it if you hope to survive and advance in the business world. Ultimately, you'll be glad you did.

It is supremely ironic and supremely sad and scary that many of your reviewers have not caught on to the fact that this book is a SATIRE. "Mr. Bing" is not advocating the Machiavellian approach but is loathsome of those who behave this way in corporate America.

Oh please, how can anyone with two brain cells to rub together not "get" this book? Like it or not, the "Machiavellian Way" is indeed Corperate America. Most people simply don't have the self-confidence, work ethic and guts to admit that this is exactly how they should behave in their work environment. To bring this subject to light in such a brazenly honest and humourous book is sheer genius, Bing steps out of the Corporate Lie Box and tells it like it is. I own a small business and I do not hire my employees so I can help them to build better lives for themselves, I hire them to make money for my company. Why does society glorify the workplace slug (think MSN Messenger commercial "I need fifteen copies of the A.S.A.P!") and revile the boss? Jelousy I think, because those slugs don't have the chops to succeed on their own and spend their pitiful lives riding other people's coat-tails complaining all the way. This book tells you one thing, if you want to be someone in this life, get off the pot and get to work. Do away with the sniveling babies in the office who should do themselves a favor and quit thier jobs and join the Peace Corps, the rest of us have work to do.

Stanley Bing has done it again with What Would Machiavelli Do? A hilarious, insightful, and all-too-true send-up of corporate America in the era of looking out for Number One.

Makes you wonder whether everything you have learned since you were a child, from your parents, teachers, and even religious advisors, really applies today. Everybody talks about living a straight life, honor and values, but when you get out in the real world nothing seems to match. Sadly this is an X-ray of today's global world an how nobody gives a nut about anything but themselves. Ironic, funny and scary. I can say that before I read the book I practiced some things myself and they worked. People somehow react when you act like a spoiled brat.

A wonderful broadside against Western Civilization as we know it today. Is it essential to your corporate survival to be completely demented at the outset of your career, or do you only become more and more demented the higher you rise in your organization? Clearly Stanley Bing, tongue in cheek, is praying to the gods for some rescuse from our current corporate structures(s. Do NOT do what he recommends in this book. Instead, have a good a laugh at all of human kind. And let's all of us figure out some alternatives to this madness.

I agree with the reviewer from Raleigh, NC (3/26/00). The book is a satire -- great humor based on a perceived reality of corporate America today. To see it as ANYTHING else is to completely miss the theme (and value). To see it as a handbook to use today -- well, it proves there are many dangerous people out there. As for those who gave it one star (or less than four) -- maybe it WASN'T for everyone -- the serious business types it pokes fun at. And the bigger point is that if we can't see the humor in such otherwise tragic behavior (and beliefs), and if we can't laugh at this portrayal, then we do have serious problems. Forget the handbook -- enjoy the pointed satire.

Take it for what it is worth...It is worth a read. There are many truths buried in these pages. You can't help thinking about your fellow managers and bosses and how they fit into the context of this book. If you take on the business world with any zeal you will find this book all too real. Business is battle. Only the strong will survive. If you aren't even strong enough to read this book and take it for what it is worth you won't make it. Enjoy.