I am re-reading my notes from “The Prince.” The ones that resonated with me are below.

• Teams choose to follow those who will make their life better. Look out for individual contributors who appear to offer your team some relief, they may be leveraging any harms you create to backstab you.

• If you acquire teams that operate differently from yours, draw bright line. It's always easier to assimilate groups and teams that operate similarly. To hold on to the new and different groups, you must metaphorically kill their old culture/SOP.

• Take care of the people who can do you the most damage. The people who are able to hurt you or your customers the most need your attention. Protect and take care of the people who can and do provide you with the most benefits.

• It's not a virtuous win if you had to hurt others to win. Though, there may be occasions when a leader must harm in order to win; that win is never a victory. In fact, you may have led that team to their demise. Beware the scars you leave.

I really think Machiavelli gets a bad rap. When I read his words, I see cautionary tails versus a playbook. Perhaps, in an esoteric meta way, that’s the point.