Think Like Power Realists

Machiavelli's actual argument is that leaders who refuse to understand how power operates will be destroyed by those who do — and that this is a tragedy, not a recommendation.

Machiavelli wrote from exile, recording how princes actually secured their states. Stripped of the caricature, his work is a manual for surviving in a world where others already play by realist rules — a warning that ignorance of power is not innocence but vulnerability.

The decision was made before the meeting started — and recognizing which function a meeting serves is the first step toward operating effectively within one.

Meetings exist to ratify, to socialize, or to create the appearance of consultation. The person who walks in assuming the meeting is where the decision happens is playing a different game from the person who shaped the outcome beforehand through informal influence, information control, and strategic timing.