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1513 · 1532StrategyPublic domain

The Prince: power as it actually is

The point, in one line

Not a handbook of cynicism but a demand to look honestly: first see who actually holds power, only then decide what to do.

How it works

See who actually holds power first, and plan second; whoever abandons what is done for what ought to be done destroys himself sooner than he preserves himself.

How it should beImagined states that nobody ever saw.
How it isThe effectual truth: who can say no, and what they need.
  • The dean's office decidesOne particular administrator decides
  • The sponsor said yesThe promise lives while the person who gave it stays
  • The former president is off the boardHe still holds the keys and the contacts
In twenty minutes you redraw the club's map of power as it stands; without that you cannot write Rumelt's diagnosis.
The same thing, in your club
  1. The situation

    The biggest plan of the term stands on two assumptions: the dean's office will give the room, and the sponsor has already agreed.

  2. What the model says

    Both are about how you wish it were. The real map shows two people by name, and nobody has spoken to one of them in three months.

  3. What you do

    List them on one sheet with what they actually need, and get coffee with the two who matter most before the month ends.

What it claims

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Who created it

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) — a historical likeness
Portrait by Santi di Tito, later 16th century. Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.PD-art-old-100-expired — Santi di Tito (1536–1603)
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527)
1513 · 1532

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Why this is your problem

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Why gslk uses it

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Where it runs in the product

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Source

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Rights and licence
Public domain

The primary source is in the public domain: it may be read, quoted and reprinted freely.

What this connects to

These works are related to the one you just read — and not by accident:

Grounds these competency domains

Of the ten gslk competency domains, this work grounds:

The student version
The Prince: power as it actually is

The same work written for a member: what to do with it in the club.

Check it yourself

This text is freely available, so the links go straight to it rather than to a summary of it.

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