Machiavelli: What Makes A Good Leader Or Successful Leader?

A good leadership is essential to the survival and success of kingdoms and empires. In the empires to be mentioned further on, there are violent leaders, benign and liberal leaders, and a combination of both. The latter is one who will come to be a leader whose work, will elevate the status of the kingdom and the people in it. A successful leader must be kind and tolerant, but at the same time, must not be afraid of being feared. On the way to become a prince, it is better to be loved, and viewed as benign. But after being established prince, it is better to be feared than loved, because fear is what keeps social order.

A Successful leader, according to Niccolo Machiavelli, is not one who is friendly, honest, and kind. It is someone, however

occasionally dark and underhand he might be, knows how to defend, and bring honor to the state. Being nice may be a moral virtue, but what citizens need the most from their leaders is effectiveness, which may call for cruel acts. Once the citizens understand this basic requirement, they stand to be less disappointed and clear about what they need from their rulers. According to Niccolo Machiavelli in The Prince, it is almost impossible to be a successful leader and a moral person in the Christian point of view. A good leader should know how to keep the empire safe, but he should also keep the interest of the citizens.
Leaders ought to be considered clement and not cruel, but they should not misunderstand and misuse the attribute of clemency. A tolerant ruler is one that citizens can trust, but he also needs to be ruthless. In Machiavelli’s The Prince, being an honest, clement, and overall tolerant, is shown as a weakness that would be used against him by outside threats, as well as potential threats from inside the empire (unhappy and disobedient citizens). The Aztec empire could be an example of a ruler who was both tolerant, but cruel and feared when needed. The Aztec empire was a tolerant empire, its leader Motecuhzoma, was tolerant to open religious thoughts, but he was also strict and cruel. Before the Spaniards got to Mexico, Motecuhzoma, asked for wizards in search of getting to know the fortune of his empire, but when some refused to tell him his fortunes, he locked them in prisons. When some of these prisoners mysteriously disappeared, Motecuhzoma had warriors go look for their families, he had them kill the prisoners’ families and burn their property. According to Machiavelli, a leader should not only know how to fight of threats, but more importantly, he must know about the management of those around him, and how people see him. People should not think he is soft and easy to disobey, nor should they find him so cruel that he would terrorize his society. The leader must seem extremely strict, but reasonable. “I say that every prince ought to desire to be considered clement and not cruel. Nevertheless he ought to take care not to misuse this clemency” (Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince).
Although it would be better for a leader to be loved, and obeyed, a leader should always aim to inspire fear, for fear is what ultimately keeps order amongst the people.in empires like the later Han in China, and the Aztec in Mexico, citizens enjoy a thriving society and liberty of religion.

Although signs of feudalism are seen in both, the citizens were granted protection in exchange for their produce. The political and economic systems of these societies, create trust towards the ruler and respect amongst the people. But however tolerant these societies were, the citizens had knowledge that actions that were to compromise the activities of the empire and therefor its leader, would lead to suffering and punishments. Successful leaders ought to be seen as understanding and a figure the people could trust, but a leader should never lose interest in inspiring fear and

respect.
Meanwhile in Europe, the Renaissance was being experienced. During this period, the revival of the arts, politics, literature, and economics, brought with it social disorder, and socioeconomic instability. Further to the east, towards Asia, and down south towards Africa and India, the opposite was being experienced. Empires were becoming more isolated, but also more politically and economically stable. The social systems of empires like the Ming Dynasty, Korea, and Islamic and Hindu states, were becoming more rewarding for its people. These empires were undergoing a social order based on meritocracy, but economic status still partially determined one’s social status. This meant that more citizens could have a chance of becoming a worker for the state, or to a higher extent, becoming a leader. According to Machiavelli, the princes who could become leaders should, at first, inspire trust and love. On the way to becoming leaders they ought to have a reputation of being kind, tolerant, understanding, and clement. This would ensure the prince, communal happiness towards his establishment. If a reputation of being benign is achieved, prince can establish himself as a leader much easier.
After being established leader, the prince ought to be merciless.

This means that however tolerant, kind, and clement people might think he is, he ought to inspire fear. Machiavelli suggested that a leader would be wise to make use of what he called Virtu (virtue). This concept for leaders involves, wisdom, strategy, strength, bravery, and if necessary, ruthlessness. Machiavelli uses the phrase “criminal virtue” to describe the ability that was necessary for leaders to be cruel in the interest of the state, yet good in the eyes of the people as a leader. Violence should be strictly necessary for the security of the state, but these violent acts should not be repeated too often, because a reputation of brutality builds up. As seen with the Mongol invasions, the repeated use of violence built them the reputation of barbaric and brutal – nevertheless, after these invasions, came periods of unification and prosperity-. “Cesare Borgia was considered cruel; notwithstanding, his cruelty reconciled the Romagna, unified it, and restored it to peace and loyalty. And if this be rightly considered, he will be seen to have been much more merciful than the Florentine people, who, to avoid a reputation for cruelty, permitted Pistoia to be destroyed. Therefore a prince, so long as he keeps his subjects united and loyal, ought not to mind the reproach of cruelty” (Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince). Christian leaders suggested that princes should be merciful, peaceful, generous, and tolerant.

They thought that being a good leader was the same as being a good Christian. But Machiavelli suggests the incompatibility between ethics and good leadership. Cesare Borgia is an example of a leader who knew how to be ruthless but not to the point of being considered brutal. Violent acts against law breakers reminded the people who was their leader. After being established leader, it was better for the prince to be feared than loved. After the reputation of being ruthless and merciless was built, most leaders ought to move on to actions that benefit the empire, like cut taxes, promote commerce, and develop the infrastructure of the city, in short, move on to keep the citizens content.

Because social order is imperative to keep a state afloat, actions needed to be taken to ensure the safety and development of the state. For this many leaders like Motecuhzoma of the Aztecs, Cesare Borgia of Italy, and Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, relied on inspiring certain amount of fear on the people to ensure order. This according to Machiavelli and seen in the Aztec accounts of the Spanish conquest, is what a wise and successful leader ought to do. Before being established as leader, he should be thought of as kind and clement. After taking his position as leader he should both be trusted, but must inspire fear. A successful leader must be kind and tolerant, but at the same time, must not be afraid of being feared.