Welcome, Ven a gozar!

I like management. I enjoy the different ways we choose to make their world work for ourselves. To be the most successful manager is more of an art form than a method, as a method can only take you so far. The very successful managers follow a blueprint method they studied, and then put into practice. The most brilliant managers however take a certain management style, and made it their own with minor tweaks and changes.

There has always been a type of manager that most people do not like, and yet they are successful. They can be identified easily because you never know what they are about to do in the next second. I remember the first person with this type of management I actually worked with was in the military. He was my Squadron Commander, and by all accounts he was quite successful. There was quite a grade difference between him, and those at my level. He was quite friendly, and affable, but talking with him was like walking on proverbial eggshells.

You had to be very careful with him, because the slightest improper remark that you never even noticed until he reminded you who owned your world, had you on the immediate defensive for a harmless comment. You found yourself trying to defend something said that needed no defense, because he decided it was somehow inappropriate. For a few very tense moments, your immediate future was very much undetermined.

I was watching the history channel this last weekend. They do a series named Gangland, and that is where the mystery was solved for me. One of the men on the show mentioned that he was told to study the classics, especially Niccolo Machiavelli. I never heard much about Machiavelli except a mention in some odd book here and there. This week I decided as I was book challenged I would brush up on Niccolo Machiavelli.

It seems he is a whole new aspect in the management arena. All by himself he determined an optimum method of management that had the most direct results in the shortest and least painful amount of time and effort. It is an adoption of Niccolo Machiavelli that these odd but interesting people use to control their empires, no matter how large or small.

What makes these people unique is they are successful because they are focused on their own success, without any concern over those around them, above them, or below them. As an example, Niccolo Machiavelli watched Ceseare Borgia carve out his own little empire. Borgia had used some mercenaries which was common at the time to quell unrest in a province recently taken under his control.

The officer in charge of the mercenaries did his job so well that unrest over the loss of the kingdom was quelled in record time. An unexpected outcome however was there was new unrest over the brutality and violence of the mercenaries over the previous few months. Borgia realized he was about to lose his newly won territory, and had to act quickly and decisively.

Ceseare Borgia called the mercenary commander to his headquarters out of the province for a meeting. Four days later the officer’s body, now in two pieces, was found in the province’s town square where it was left for weeks for all to see. Machiavelli realized Ceseare Borgia was a person who would do whatever had to be done in order for his goals to be achieved. He watched others at least as ruthless as Ceseare Borgia, and developed an appreciation for their abilities to get their way. No one or nothing was important enough, or loved enough to be a hindrance to their individual desire.

It has been was written about Niccolo Machiavelli, he would commit murder and sleep soundly if it improved his long turn objective. Not many of us are willing to go to those extremes for our wants to be met. Having the world, or your part of it fear, despise, and hate you, is not something most people aspire to. But when you come in contact with these people who do not act quite right, look a little closer, and ask them how they sleep at night. You might be in for quite an experience if you pay close attention to them.