Machiavellian Business Lessons from Billionaire Aliko Dangote
By Mfonobong Nsehe
Ever since my first encounter several years ago with Robert Greene’s international bestseller, The 48 Laws of Power and Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince, I’ve become an ardent student of power, obsessed with studying and predicting the behavioral patterns of people in power-both in the political and corporate realms.
I’m particularly awestruck by Machiavellian business leaders – CEOs and corporate executives who are incredibly intelligent and intuitive, motivated and manipulative, diplomatic yet devious, congenial yet cunning.
In African business circles, very few businessmen embody more Machiavellian traits than Africa’s richest man, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote (worth $13.8 billion in the Forbes 2011 World Billionaire’s list). To the general public, he is the unassuming, refined and civil businessman. In business circles he is viewed as cynical, eccentric, tactical, and manipulative.
Having studied him from a distance over time, I’ve learned so many Machiavellian lessons from him. Here are my favorite five. Quotes fromThe Prince and The 48 Laws of Power are highlighted in Italics.
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