Short Takes: Books: What Would Machiavelli Do? By Stanley Bing

Should you lack adequate funds or GMAT scores to attend Harvard Business School, Bing offers alternative strategies for conquering any industry–provided you are willing to forsake sentiment, human decency and, if need be, close family members. His slim, sardonic primer on workplace ruthlessness applies the teachings of the man he calls “the first truly modern amoral thinker” to the modern business world, where malevolence and blinding self-love are demonstrated assets. With sly humor, Bing answers the book’s title question in brief chapters with such headings as “He would do what he feels like doing, you idiot.” Would-be tyrants, take note.

–By Michele Orecklin