Machiavellian Leaders — As Sly As A Fox

Machiavellianism is one of the three types of “Dark Triad” personality characteristics, with the other two being narcissism and psychopathy. For those unaware, the Dark Triad is often used to describe individuals who have negative personality traits, such as those lacking remorse and empathy.

Defining Machiavellianism:

Machiavellianism became a common term in the 16th century to describe the art of deception and for gaining advantages. The word “Machiavellianism” derives from Niccolò Machiavelli, a diplomat, philosopher, and author of the political treatise “The Prince”.

Machiavellianism is a personality trait that implies deceit and manipulation, as well as harsh and calculating attitudes toward others. It also causes people to be self-centered, frugal, and exploitative to others for personal gain.

In my view, Peter Baelish from Game of Thrones is a prominent example of Machiavellianism. His conniving and mysterious nature in social politics gave him many opportunities to deceive others when they least expected it.

Personality Traits of Machiavellian Leaders:

As the personality concept of Machiavellianism implies the lack of ethical and moral belief system thus, the leaders possessing Machiavellian characteristics tend to practice manipulativeness tactics to gain control over the organization.

In most cases, this type of leader will use fear, retaliation, and intimidation to have the upper hand in certain situations. Also, most of the Machiavellian leaders who have narcissistic traits can create a domineering and authoritative work environment as they continuously seek power adoration, and superiority. As this type of leader does not take any responsibility for the failures thus, their arrogance and fallacious decision-making behavior only lead to an organization’s demise.

These leaders are well capable of handling stress and confused situations, also their cold nature and emotional detachment usually help them in terms of achieving a definite outcome in everything.

Thus, most often national and corporate cultures adopt Machiavellian values or at least behaviors. Because corporate cultures sometimes require the individual to disregard the ethical approaches to business, therefore, they had to practice the Machiavellian strategies to achieve beneficial purposes. No matter what are the reasons it is inevitable that if a Machiavellian leader is delegated in any leadership role of an organization the employees and community of that organization will endure suffering.

In the present day’s political world some of the leaders might have a few Machiavellian characteristics and traits. For instance, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and China’s Xi Jinping are some of those political leaders with Machiavellian traits. Their ambitious, exploitative, and manipulative nature provides them the advantageous situations to regulate the system. These leaders are identified as Machiavellian as they possess cynicism along with the charm and most often they get things done in their way without tolerating any external restraint.

Bottom Line:

From the concept of Machiavellianism, we can have in-depth insights into the political power and personality traits of the political leaders and these insights can help us to understand these twisted leaders.

It is also important to know who the Machiavellians are in your life. It will help you identify who is pulling the strings in the background, using that to influence and/or manipulate your or others.

Thank you for reading 😊

Disclaimer: The original version of this story was published on another platform.

Link to original version:

https://afshara71.medium.com/machiavellian-leaders-as-sly-as-a-fox-391c04f7970c

https://medium.com/preoccupy-negative-thoughts/everything-you-need-to-know-about-machiavellianism-8851c3745a25

References:

Machiavellian leadership: How toxicity can lead to an organization’s demise. (2018, December 1). Firehouse. https://www.firehouse.com/leadership/article/21025131/machiavellian-leadership-how-toxicity-can-lead-to-an-organizations-demise

Rego, P., Lopes, M., & Simpson, A. (2017). The Authentic-Machiavellian Leadership Grid: A Typology of Leadership Styles. The Authentic-Machiavellian Leadership Grid: A Typology of Leadership Styles, 11(2), 48–51. https://doi.org/10.1002/jls.21524

Barnard, L. (2020, March 21). The Machiavelli measure: Which modern leaders fit the definition? The Big Smoke. https://www.thebigsmoke.com.au/2020/03/21/the-machiavelli-measure-which-modern-leaders-fit-the-definition-politics/

Furnham, A. (2010). The machiavellian leader. In A. Furnham (Ed.), The Elephant in the Boardroom: The causes of leadership derailment (pp. 140–151). Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230281226_6