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William Machiavelli 's The Prince

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Clash of the Egos
Today, society goes to great lengths to project the illusion that genuine leadership signifies only a steadfast commitment to upholding the moral and ethical high ground. Culturally, it’s expected that great leaders must be individuals personifying solely the grandest principles of that society, while excluding and condemning the less admired ones. While this conviction is prevalent throughout our society, this belief is most perpetuated each year in the upper echelons our government during presidential and congressional elections, when candidates are asked inane questions about family values rather than political experience and ambitions. On this basis, our society consequently tends to overlook what true leadership is by choosing our leaders only on the basis of moral merit rather than real political accomplishment. With regard to that, in his work, The Prince, Machiavelli offers a contrasting and humanizing view of leadership when he suggests that successful leaders must be half animal, with equal parts fox and lion. Machiavelli proposes this concept to insinuate that a proper ruler must exist as a courageous and charismatic individual on the surface, but cunning and self-preserving one beneath it. He illustrates this argument through his depiction of leaders possessing an animalistic alter ego, his understanding of a ruler’s behavior, his description of the various forms in which one can acquire power, and his preference over being thought of as

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