Facing Evil, Learning Guile

Our students should be acquainted with such writers as Thucydides and Machiavelli, who understood that simple goodness in leaders may be harmful to their followers in a wicked world. Leaders have obligations to their followers along with their other ethical obligations; these may conflict in what I call the leadership dilemma. The leading citizens of Melos according to Thucydides relied on simple justice, rather than guile, and thereby led their people to disaster. Machiavelli urged that a prince use guile: You must be wicked in a wicked world, he said (in effect), but you must appear to be good—that is, you must wear what I call moral cosmetics. This is a dangerous tactic, for the use of guile undermines trust, which is essential to leaders. Facing evil in one’s own organization is a special challenge, as organizations have immune systems that resist change.