President Obama echo a leadership of both Niccolo Machiavelli "The Qualities of the Prince" and Martin Luther King Jr. "Letter from Birmingham Jail". Machiavelli point of view to become a successful prince was that you must lead your people. He talks about how a prince should appear to his people for authority. There are different types of principles such as war and is it better to be loved or feared.
Many of the most cruel, vicious, and horrible leaders in the world we know today, have inherited their power through fear. Yet, a grand amount of them have something in common. They may rule with an iron fist, but essentially, they were successful. Many productive ideas and developments have come through collaborative efforts, but as history shows, many of the productive leaders in history ruled through authoritative leadership. Although both forms of leadership bring many significant changes, authoritative feared leadership can be above all, including collaborative leadership, when executed correctly and efficiently.
“Although one should not reason about Moses, as he was a mere executor of things that had been ordered for him by God, nonetheless he should be admired if only for that grace which made him so deserving of speaking with God” (22). In the context of The Prince, this statement proves to be duplicitous because Machiavelli claims that he will not reason about Moses, but then uses the following pages to do precisely that. Furthermore, Machiavelli draws extensively from the actions of Moses and the Old Testament God, although Machiavelli is often regarded as an antagonist of the Church. Machiavelli’s handbook for princes consists of concrete advice for rulers that directly reflect the more abstracted stories in Exodus. For instance, Machiavelli’s description of human nature in The Prince mirrors Moses’ experiences as the leader of the Israelites in Exodus.
Some find it difficult to diffuse authority… [which] causes some to feel threatened and insecure” (Sferra). More simply, an authoritative leader is one that has supreme power over the people. McMurphy’s transformational
In The Prince they talked about how a king doesn’t want to be hatred by his people but have them respect him so he can’t be to nice. So a king in this book they should be stingy, cruel, breaking promises, and having a great staff of people. Stingy would be better than being nice to your people shows them that you are the king and they need to respect you and your decision. Cruel is better than being nice also if someone takes sometime from you there has to be something done about it! Morality and ethics are not a big deal to break in The Prince breaking promises so it will benefits the king is okay to do!
Finally, this can be related to circumstances today because the way the leader rules effects his followers. For example, dictators like Muammar Gaddafi who only think about them and mistreat their followers, demonstrates that being a good leader brings several positive
Wherever human beings are accumulated together in large numbers, they need leadership. Even a school needs a principle to mentor and escalate the school’s rank. Armies need generals to lead them to a courageous victory. Civilians need governments, captains of industry and intellectual leaders of thought as well. However, There are characteristics common to most great leaders that can be picked out.
What makes a strong leader, toughness and fear or kindness and compassion? Sometimes too much kindness and humility in a leader or politician can lead to their own betrayal, and also can lead to people trespassing through their rules. But, it can also happen when a leader represents fear and toughness. This is seen in the play, Macbeth, which was written by Shakespeare, because Duncan, who was the king and a very kind and trustworthy leader, ended up being killed by Macbeth, the main character. But, Macbeth, who became a very strong and fearful leader, ended up also being killed.
“...it is safer for a political leader to be feared. Human beings will promise much out of ‘love’ so long as they are not asked actually to do it; but when pressed to do what they have promised, they refuse and revolt... In other words, people will not fulfill their promises to you if you do not have means of forcing them to do so,” (Catherine Zuckert, 2014). It can be inferred that being a leader that is feared is going to be much more effective that being a leader that is only loved. Because people prey upon weakness, and love is a weakness.
Renaissance means rebirth. The Renaissance was a time of renewal as well as of chaos in Europe since it was still recovering. More and more ideas of the ideal prince emerged, as there are many different city-states. One of the most noteworthy political philosophers of the sixteenth century was Niccólo Machiavelli whose book, The Prince, a political handbook for rulers, has brought him recognition. It can be seen that his ideas on politics and overall inspiration for the book mainly came from his views of the political problems that were taking place.
He cannot be too generous, because that increases people 's expectations of him and it is impossible to keep buying the people 's love as the price gets too high. Yet, the prince should not be hated due to his violent nature, because that rises up. The prince should act in ways that keep him in power and maintain his own power. He should be able to read the character and motives of others in order to use them for his own ends.
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. There are many different types of leadership and they all react differently to power. A leadership style like authoritarian usually has the leader forcing others to do certain things, for example most corporate bosses tell you to do your task or you 'll be fired. Giving power to an authoritative leader usually goes wrong, they think they can get away with things and that no one can question them. This leadership style usually leads to giving very few people power, which leads to corruption.
Probably one of the most infamous and controversial ideologies of the 16th century, the prince by Machiavelli has been a reference for many great leaders and academicians since it was published. The book provides historically tested and proven principles of leadership. The prince has been described as a manual for those who want to win and retain power. While some may argue that leadership is an inherent trait in human, leaders are made, not born. Making a great leader out of a person is not just a matter of identifying the leadership traits, skill and talents of the individual, but harnessing the traits, develop them and eventually mastering how to be leader.
This is a work that still influences us today and is still relevant in today’s complex society. Some of the most prominent leaders of the 20th century have been influenced by Machiavellian ideas. U.S Presidents like Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton and U.K Prime Minister Anthony Blair are called Machiavellian leaders today. According to Machiavelli a prince must focus all his serious time and energy to war and how to wage it (Machiavelli, 31).
Leaders have followers who in turn become leaders when others are
