Ward Komers

Arguably, the two most influential books on power and leadership are The Prince written by Niccolò Machiavelli and Leadership written by James M. Burns. As a measure of their impact, google search returns 4.32 million results for The Prince and 19.7 million results for Leadership. However, these two treatises could not be more different on their approach to leadership.

In The Prince, Machiavelli essentially advises leaders that “the end justifies the means” and they should take every possible advantage for themselves. In Machiavelli’s view, ethics, morals, and conscience do not exist unless they can be used to manipulate others to one’s own benefit. For example, Machiavelli suggests that a leader “never lacks good reasons to break his promise.” In an excellent blog post by Dale Hartley MBA, Ph.D. on www.psychologytoday.com, he writes that “[a]ccording to Machiavelli, honesty—and all other virtues—are expendable if deceit, treachery, and force would be more expedient.” Fortunately, while Machiavellian leadership has been practiced for hundreds of years, it is not the only approach to leadership.

Through his research on presidential power, Burns uncovers the potency of (what’s now known as) transformational leadership. In stark contrast to Machiavelli, Burns finds that a transformational leader “recognizes and exploits an existing need or demand of a potential follower.” However, Burns does not make this suggestion as a way to manipulate followers. On the contrary, Burns suggests that transformational leaders look for “potential motives in followers” so that a leader can satisfy those needs and “engage the full person.” What’s the end result of transformational leadership? According to Burns, “a relationship of mutual stimulation and elevation that converts followers into leaders and may convert leaders into moral agents.”

So, have you followed a Machiavellian or transformational leader in your career? Please share in the comments.