Thinking books · Strategy & competition · Niccolò Machiavelli, 1532

The Prince — the big ideas

A cold description of how power is actually acquired and kept, as opposed to how it is said to be.

Free — no account needed to read

The big ideas

Its method is the interesting part: describe what rulers do rather than what they should do. Separating description from prescription is a real analytical move, whatever you think of his conclusions.

It takes incentives seriously — people behave according to what their position rewards, and a plan that requires them not to will fail.

It is widely read as an endorsement of ruthlessness. Read as a warning about what power does to people who hold it, it is more useful and probably closer to the intent.

Practise it — no need to have read it

Take a situation where someone is behaving in a way that frustrates you. Write what their position rewards and what it quietly punishes.

A hint: Almost nobody is being difficult. They are responding to what is there.

Where it shows up in real life

• Organisational politics
• Understanding a boss or a client
• Designing incentives

This book is old enough to be freely available in most countries.

Described in our own words with the source named — never quoted, and not a substitute for reading the book.