Virtu, Virtue, and Success 119
At other times, a person must do something wrong, such as engaging
in deception, in order to meet an important ethical obligation. Suc-
cess and virtu sometimes demand what virtue discourages. This is
why the veteran leader in Dirty Hands asked, ‘‘Do you think you can
govern innocently?’’
In fact, the problem runs even deeper. Virtue and virtu are not
simply alternative toolkits that managers can take off the shelf and
use depending on the circumstances. Aristotle and Machiavelli would
agree that they should be, and typically are, character traits, not
tactics. A young person—Steve Lewis, for example—chooses a pro-
fession. To succeed, as we have seen, he must concentrate his
energies, hone particular skills, intensify