What Would Machiavelli Do? The Ends Justify the Meanness (Paperback)

by Stanley Bing (Author) "In short, nobody knows what you're likely to do next..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Wall Street, Lou Gerstner (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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!

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (March 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0066620104
• ISBN-13: 978-0066620107
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #85,487 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A satire or an instruction book?, December 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: What Would Machiavelli Do? The Ends Justify the Meanness (Hardcover)

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.

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Funny...and not., February 23, 2000

By	i-read "i-read" (Chevy Chase, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Would Machiavelli Do? The Ends Justify the Meanness (Hardcover)

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.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Your reviewers are missing the point, March 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: What Would Machiavelli Do? The Ends Justify the Meanness (Hardcover)

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.