Defining Moments

Virtu, Virtue, and Success 109

Alliances were forged only to be broken, the countryside was con-

stantly scarred by pillage, rapine, and battle, and in this maelstrom

the old bonds of society were broken and new ones forged.’’

7

Sakiz’s world, and that of many other senior executives, closely

parallels Machiavelli’s. The counterpart of ‘‘feud and vendetta’’ is the

ceaseless internal politics of most companies, especially in an era

when no job is secure and senior executives are rewarded with

spectacularly high incomes. The counterpart of the external dangers

and shifting alliances that Machiavelli studied are hostile takeovers

and the typically unstable strategic alliances that companies forge

with competitors, as well as with suppliers and customers ...