Overview
The Ruthless Leader
What could a fifth-century b.c. Chinese general's treatise onmilitary strategy and a fifteenth-century Florentinesatirist/philosopher's essay on how to be an effective potentatehave in common with advice from a former Treasurer and DeputyChairman of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party? More to thepoint, what could these texts contain that would be of value to abusinessperson trying to get ahead in today's volatile, globalizedbusiness world? Quite a bit, as it turns out.
The Prince, The Servant, and The Art of War are unrivaled sourcesfor anyone who seeks to understand the elaborate, often brutal,rituals of strategic conduct in any day and age. Each was writtenby an undeniably perceptive observer of humanity, and each offersunvarnished truths about human nature, especially as it expressesitself in an organization-whether it be political, military, orcorporate. In each classic, the author builds on his experiences todevelop timeless principles for exploiting human foibles in orderto promote one's own self-interest, while at the same time doingwhat is best for the organizational bottom line.
In the introduction to The Ruthless Leader, Alistair McAlpineweaves a thematic thread that connects the important themes commonto all the texts in this trilogy. He mines them for their mostpowerful insights, compares them to one another historically andtopically, and places them in a contemporary context that makes iteasy for today's readers to understand how they apply to theday-to-day working of a modern business organization.
Call them ruthless or simply pragmatic, but these classics comprisean indispensable survival guide for anyone who wants to swim withthe sharks without being eaten alive.
Alistair McAlpine was Treasurer and Deputy Chairman of theConservative Party for fifteen years under Margaret Thatcher.Active in the worlds of commerce and the arts, he is a commentatorin both fields. He was a regular columnist for the Spectator andExpress on Sunday, and a frequent contributor to a number ofnational newspapers. He is the author of several books, includingThe New Machiavelli (Wiley) and The Servant. Lord McAlpine was, formany years, the director of his family's construction firm, SirRobert McAlpine & Sons, Ltd.
Timeless Truths of Strategy...
Machiavelli's The Prince:
". . . if a prince who has not great judgment of his own consultswith more than one, their counsels will never agree, nor he haveever the cunning to unite them. Every man will advise according tohis own interest or caprice, and he not have the parts either tocorrect or discover it: and other counselors are not to be found,for men will always prove bad, unless by necessity they arecompelled to be good. So then it is clear-That good counsels, fromwhomsoever they come, proceed rather from the wisdom of the princethan the prince's from the goodness of his counsels."
Alistair McAlpine's The Servant:
"It is important to understand that an accepted fact is morepowerful than the truth. . . . The Servant is not a seeker aftertruth, but one who will take the view that best suits the Prince.The Servant will then promote that view until it becomes anestablished fact. As the argument moves away from the truth to theperceived truth, so the Servant has the evidence of his newly made'facts' to base his argument on. Even though it may be far from thetruth, the fact, once established, will be generally agreed byall."
Sun Tzu's The Art of War:
". . . to fight and conquer all your battles is not supremeexcellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy'sresistance without fighting."
The Ruthless Leader
What could a fifth-century b.c. Chinese general's treatise onmilitary strategy and a fifteenth-century Florentinesatirist/philosopher's essay on how to be an effective potentatehave in common with advice from a former Treasurer and DeputyChairman of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party? More to thepoint, what could these texts contain that would be of value to abusinessperson trying to get ahead in today's volatile, globalizedbusiness world? Quite a bit, as it turns out.
The Prince, The Servant, and The Art of War are unrivaled sourcesfor anyone who seeks to understand the elaborate, often brutal,rituals of strategic conduct in any day and age. Each was writtenby an undeniably perceptive observer of humanity, and each offersunvarnished truths about human nature, especially as it expressesitself in an organization-whether it be political, military, orcorporate. In each classic, the author builds on his experiences todevelop timeless principles for exploiting human foibles in orderto promote one's own self-interest, while at the same time doingwhat is best for the organizational bottom line.
In the introduction to The Ruthless Leader, Alistair McAlpineweaves a thematic thread that connects the important themes commonto all the texts in this trilogy. He mines them for their mostpowerful insights, compares them to one another historically andtopically, and places them in a contemporary context that makes iteasy for today's readers to understand how they apply to theday-to-day working of a modern business organization.
Call them ruthless or simply pragmatic, but these classics comprisean indispensable survival guide for anyone who wants to swim withthe sharks without being eaten alive.
Alistair McAlpine was Treasurer and Deputy Chairman of theConservative Party for fifteen years under Margaret Thatcher.Active in the worlds of commerce and the arts, he is a commentatorin both fields. He was a regular columnist for the Spectator andExpress on Sunday, and a frequent contributor to a number ofnational newspapers. He is the author of several books, includingThe New Machiavelli (Wiley) and The Servant. Lord McAlpine was, formany years, the director of his family's construction firm, SirRobert McAlpine & Sons, Ltd.
Timeless Truths of Strategy...
Machiavelli's The Prince:
". . . if a prince who has not great judgment of his own consultswith more than one, their counsels will never agree, nor he haveever the cunning to unite them. Every man will advise according tohis own interest or caprice, and he not have the parts either tocorrect or discover it: and other counselors are not to be found,for men will always prove bad, unless by necessity they arecompelled to be good. So then it is clear-That good counsels, fromwhomsoever they come, proceed rather from the wisdom of the princethan the prince's from the goodness of his counsels."
Alistair McAlpine's The Servant:
"It is important to understand that an accepted fact is morepowerful than the truth. . . . The Servant is not a seeker aftertruth, but one who will take the view that best suits the Prince.The Servant will then promote that view until it becomes anestablished fact. As the argument moves away from the truth to theperceived truth, so the Servant has the evidence of his newly made'facts' to base his argument on. Even though it may be far from thetruth, the fact, once established, will be generally agreed byall."
Sun Tzu's The Art of War:
". . . to fight and conquer all your battles is not supremeexcellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy'sresistance without fighting."
The Ruthless Leader
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