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Essays on the traits and characteristics of an effective leader
Key aspects of an efficient and effective leader
Qualities of a good leader in details
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Successful emperors throughout history have shared a few characteristics that make the job of being emperor much easier. The demands of ruling an empire are different than the demands of ruling a nation, and a good emperor understands that. An emperor is the sole ruler of his territory, and he must have control over all his people. This means that he must have the characteristics of a good leader. He must be confident in his own abilities and in the people around him. He must be a complex thinker, not too trusting and completely committed to the success of his empire. He must demand the respect of his staff and his subjects, and he must inspire in them the desire to please him and to hold the empire together. A good emporer must also be one …show more content…
A ruler must always look good too! Below, I will talk about two people, Machievelli and Charlamagne. By the end I will tell you who in my opinion, would be the best ruler to live under at that time. Machiavelli desperately wanted to return to politics. One of his goals in writing The Prince was to win the favor of Lorenzo de’ Medici, then-governor of Florence and the person to whom the book is dedicated; Machiavelli hoped to land an advisory position within the Florentine government. Machiavelli’s book also distinguishes itself on the subject of free will. Medieval and Renaissance thinkers often looked to religion or ancient authors for explanations of plagues, famines, invasions, and other calamities; they considered the actual prevention of such disasters to be beyond the scope of human power. In The Prince, when Machiavelli argues that people have the ability to shield themselves against misfortune, he expresses an extraordinary confidence in the power of human self-determination and affirms his belief in free will as opposed to …show more content…
Taking Cesare Borgia as a "model," Machiavelli formed his beliefs on rulers into a book called "The Prince." Key to the book is the idea that infighting between family members as well as a lack of central leadership will lead to the instability of a nation. Machiavelli asserted that good rulers must learn "not to be good" but to set aside ethical standards of justice and compassion in order to maintain stability. Unlike medieval and other early-Renaissance writers who advocated that rulers – specifically kings – were sent by God to carry out his moral law, Machiavelli argued that successful rulers are the ones who do whatever they need to in order to preserve order. Machiavelli did in fact have goals. He wanted to prove his value and prove his worthiness. He was a humanist. I think that he was trying to tell us that all good rulers are virtuous. (Pg.61) he also explains that being virtuous, is a better way to obtain territory. The best thing for a ruler to do, is to take the proper path Because all vice leads to ruin. When there is only one leader, they exist. No one else can!! (Pg. 85)
Niccolò Machiavelli was a man who lived during the fourteen and fifteen hundreds in Florence, Italy, and spent part of his life imprisoned after the Medici princes returned to power. He believed that he should express his feelings on how a prince should be through writing and became the author of “The Qualities of a Prince.” In his essay, he discusses many points on how a prince should act based on military matters, reputation, giving back to the people, punishment, and keeping promises. When writing his essay, he follows his points with examples to back up his beliefs. In summary, Machiavelli’s “The Qualities of a Prince,” provides us with what actions and behaviors that a prince should have in order to maintain power and respect.
Maurizio Viroli, author of “How to Choose a Leader,” used Machiavelli’s principles to explain how modern leaders should be chosen. It can be assumed that Viroli would not embrace Machiavelli’s principles as a guide if he believed Strauss’s argument that Machiavelli was a teacher of evil. Viroli points out that Machiavelli’s life dream was to share the information contained within the pages of The Prince. He argued that Machiavelli would only give the best of council in his endeavor to teach others the knowledge it took him his entire life to obtain . If this were not the case, Viroli argues that Machiavelli’s contributions would have long since been disregarded. Machiavelli provides
The basis of Machiavelli’s theory and ideas came from his most famous quote, “It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.” He has a very strict policy as to how a prince should act. Rather than being caring, he believes in strong punishment. He has a “Sit in the corner and think!” type attitude towards the people. His ideas were extreme, but they have been proved to work. They are effective and learning from Machiavelli is something any ruler should do. In his book he explains all the things a ruler shouldn’t do and balances it with all the things that should be done.
Machiavelli’s views were drastically different from other humanists at his time. He strongly promoted a secular society and felt morality was not necessary but stood in the way of a successfully governed state. He stated that people generally tended to work for their own best interests and gave little thought to the well being of the state. He distrusted citizens saying, “In time of adversity, when a state is in need of its citizens, there are few to be found.” In his writings in The Prince, he constantly questioned the citizens’ loyalty and warned for the leaders to be wary in trusting citizens. His radical and distrusting thoughts on human nature were derived out of concern for Italy’s then unstable government. Machiavelli also had a s...
Machiavelli is undisputedly one of the most influential political philosophers of all time. In The Prince, his most well-known work, he relates clearly and precisely how a decisive, intelligent man can gain and maintain power in a region. This work is revolutionary because it flies in the face of the Christian morality which let the Roman Catholic Church hold onto Europe for centuries. Machiavelli's work not only ignores the medieval world's ethics: The Prince suggests actions which oppose the four most basic of Christianity's Ten Commandments.
Machiavelli says that the only ways to set about the task of conquering and maintaining a state are through military power and presence, an appearance of virtuousness, and a cunning and crafty mind. Through these characteristics, that have been illustrated by rulers like Alexander the Great, Caesar, and Marcus Aurelius, great nations and empires were formed, and according to Machiavelli it is through these ideas that new nations, empires and great leaders will emerge.
Machiavelli states, “From this the prince may secure himself sufficiently if he avoids being hated or despised and keeps the people satisfied with him; this is necessary to achieve, […]” (73). It is necessary for the prince not to be hated by his subjects, and keep them satisfied to keep one’s rule. Thus Machiavelli, does not care about the standings of right and wrong, he leaves this to the people and he tries to put on the façade of giving them what they would like, but also being able to run the
Machiavelli, lived in a time of corruption and political instability, in Florentine state. His work, is a reflection of his social and political context and his primary aim, to gain in favour with the medici’s, a highly influential family in rule. Due to the political turmoil, Machiavelli, in his work, writes on how to gain and remain in power. The sixteenth chapter of his work, clearly accentuates that, “a ruler in power and a man seeking power are two different things.” This suggests that during the time he lived in, it was quintessential to gain power and maintain it because of the political turmoil,
Niccoló Machiavelli claims in “The Qualities of the Prince” that a prince must have certain qualities that will allow him to seize and maintain his power as a ruler. Machiavelli asserts that these qualities will guarantee the ruler to be able to govern his subjects effectively. According to him, a prince must study the art of war, must understand generosity and to what extent he must be generous to be effective, must choose to either be loved or feared, and be able to keep his word to his citizens according to the situation. These qualities can still apply in today’s politics, and will be useful for a modern time politician as long as they are used carefully.
Machiavelli?s model for his ideal prince was Cesare Borgia, also known as Duke Valentino and son of Pope Alexander VI. He believed Cesare Borgia possessed all the qualities of a prince destined to rule and maintain power in his state. He believed that politics has a morality of its own. There is no regard of justness or unjustness, of cruelty or mercy, of approval or humiliation, which should interfere with the decision of defending the state and preserving its freedom. Therefore, the ruler/prince's single responsibilit...
“The Prince”, by Niccolo Machiavelli, is a series of letters written to the current ruler of Italy, Lorenzo de’ Medici. These letters are a “how-to” guide on what to do and what not to do. He uses examples to further express his views on the subject. The main purpose was to inform the reader how to effectively rule and be an acceptable Prince. Any ruler who wishes to keep absolute control of his principality must use not only wisdom and skill, but cunning and cruelness through fear rather than love. Machiavelli writes this book as his summary of all the deeds of great men.
Through his many years of experience with Italian politics Machiavelli wrote “The Prince”; a how-to guide for new rulers. We are given descriptions of what a leader should do to effectively lead his country. A leader should be the only authority determining every aspect of the state and put in effect a policy to serve his best interests. These interests are gaining, maintaining, and expanding his political power. Machiavelli’s idea is that a ruler should use a variety of strategies (virtues) to secure his power. Machiavelli lists five virtues that a ruler should appear to have; being compassionate, trustworthy, generous, honest and religious. A ruler should possess all the qualities considered good by other people.
Machiavelli understands the importance of a military force, and that a country has to be kept in order, even if that means lying to the people to get them to fight against a common foe. In Europe, the church was entangled in politics, and everything else, but Machiavelli suggests a secular state, which would allow the leader to do that which is necessary for the country and for his continued reign, though not necessarily moral.The ends do not justify the means, yet sometimes if the end is necessary for the continuation of a society, then the means do not have to be morally bound. A ruler cannot please everybody all the time, so therefore, he has to be cunning in order to maintain control. There are times when a ruler needs to lie to the populace, in order to reach a goal that is better in some way for the nation. By tying the church to the government, people expected the government to behave morally, but often times, an entirely moral ruler will be overthrown.
The time of the Renaissance is one filled with growth of intellect, beauty of nature, the dignity of mankind, and the rising of artists. It is characterized from the move of scholasticism, a devotion specifically for the theological and philosophical teachings of the Church to humanism, a devotion to the humanities of rhetoric, arithmetic, and other subjects. One example of this movement can be seen in Machiavelli’s The Prince in which describes Niccolo Machiavelli’s ideal ruler and how to obtain stability, which was lacking as during the time of his writing this, there was a power shift from the Mediterranean to Northern Europe. How Machiavelli describes his ideal prince and his leadership is one that in which he is
Although, Machiavelli argues that an ideal ruler must be cruel, feared and unjust in order to maintain power in his paper, "The Prince", this is not necessary true. An ideal ruler must be assertive, just and filled with integrity to maintain power, prestige, and the loyalty of those he governs.