The Machiavelli’s Style of Leadership
Niccolo Machiavelli was an Italian political strategist who was born in the year 1469 and died 1527.He is noted for his key political sayings “The end justices the means” and Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer”.
Machiavelli put into practice these sayings through his mean leadership ways. Some people believed in his ways of leadership. They believed that that was the only way leadership can be effective. One of the leaders who practice this kind of leadership is Kim Jong Il of North Korea. In this paper, I intend to highlight how leaders practice Machiavelli’s style of leadership into practice, with special emphasis on Kim Jong il of North Korea.
Principles of Machiavelli leadership Machiavelli believed in several principles that he encouraged leaders and business men to put into practice (Ruffo 56). He believed in anticipating the worst and staying prepared for it. Risks in life are always there and the smartest guys are those who prepare for them ahead and take action. Kim Jon Il put that principle in practice by ensuring that he was well capable of eading the people of North Korea after his father’s death. He learnt all the basic rules of governing a nation while his father was still arrive.
When his father passed away, he took power immediately. Machiavelli encouraged leaders to have allies that benefit from their successes. One should keep people with the same interests on their victories and losses. Kim Jom Il did that when he gave key government position to his classmates at the military Mangyngdae Revolutionary Institute. These were people with the same ideologies like him and so would understand his way of leadership easily.Machiavelli argued that whichever way you choose to rule people, there are no guarantees that all will follow your ways.
In order for a ruler to succeed in his position he should know what to do what no good human being would do. Kim Jong IL put that into practice as it seen when he abducted a South Korean movie director to his country. He wish was to advance the movie industry in North Korea. He kept the movie director and his wife for eight years. This also goes to show that Kim Jong Il would do anything to get what he wanted (Hyun 278). To him the “end justified the means”.
Kim Jong Il is known to manage every single detail in his government. He created a way of doing that put into summary all events all over North Korea in a single daily report. This was done to ensure that all county and municipal parties give him an account of all events in their region. Machiavelli believed in the kind of leadership that one has to be feared to be an effective leader. This means that his subjects should not be friendly to him. Kim Jom Il is known to have been a dictator in his leadership.
He does not take kindly criticism from other people. He seeks advice from no one. His word is final. Conclusion.Machiavelli style of leadership is criticized by many people.
It is viewed as a way to deeming people and refusing to give them their right. According to (Joyce 26), this kind of leadership is dictatorial. The kind of leaders that practice it are feared and not respected. It is not a good style of leadership and many countries have rejected it. To remove such a leader from power is usually a hard task. Many people can lose their lives as their try to liberate themselves from this kind of leadership.
