Machiavelli 4 Everybody is a sharp, wildly entertaining, and surprisingly practical guide to modern leadership and career strategy — delivered in a voice so clever and irreverent that I flew through it in a single sitting. Carol C. Darr brings Machiavelli roaring into the 21st century with wit, precision, and a refreshing refusal to sugarcoat anything.

What makes this book stand out is how immediately useful it is. Behind the humour and boldness is genuinely solid advice on power, conflict, decision-making, reputation, and navigating difficult people — all grounded in real Machiavellian philosophy, not the pop-culture myth. It’s smart, incisive, and genuinely fun to read.

A perfect pick for anyone tired of vague, motivational leadership books and craving something honest, strategic, and a little bit outrageous in the best way.

Five stars — clever, relevant, and a pleasure to read!

Thank you, Köehler Books, for providing this book for a voluntary review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Machiavelli 4 Everybody is an entertaining and easy read that introduces the philosophy of Machiavelli in layman terms. Darr uses a conversational tone that reads like she’s in the room with you explaining the concepts. She provides clear, practical, and actionable rules of engagement for one to move ahead in the corporate world – how to accumulate power, how to deal with conflict, how to establish and maintain credibility, and how to make tough decisions. Darr provides numerous examples of these rules in action. Her dry sense of humor made the pages fly by in one sitting.

I recommend Machiavelli 4 Everybody to anyone in the corporate world, whether you work for a large corporation or an entrepreneur or a fresh college grad or a former CEO. There will nuggets you can takeaway that will educate and help you progress towards your career goals.

This is an engaging and surprisingly accessible introduction to one of history’s most debated thinkers. The author takes ideas that are often portrayed as dark or manipulative and reframes them in a way that feels practical, insightful, and refreshingly down-to-earth. Complex concepts are broken into clear, relatable lessons, making the book enjoyable even for readers with no background in political philosophy.

What stands out most is the upbeat, conversational tone. Instead of treating the material like an academic lecture, the author uses real-world examples and a warm sense of humor to show how timeless principles can help people think more strategically, understand human behavior, and navigate everyday challenges. The result is a reading experience that feels both educational and empowering.

Overall, it’s a thoughtful and highly readable exploration of ideas that are too often misunderstood. It leaves you with a new appreciation for strategic thinking—and a sense of confidence that you can apply these insights in your own life.

If you have a good reputation, you can get away with anything…maybe. Depends if you think Machiavelli was being satirical in his writings or serious. Strange that Machiavelli’s writings are meant to be advice when he warns against giving advice. Darr does a masterful job of impersonating Niccolo Machiavelli in this volume summarizing and collating his various writings. What is clear from this is that Machiavelli studied history of power and identified patterns of behavior, decisions and policies that worked and didn’t work in the long run. As the book admits, in Machiavelli’s voice, his writings may appear to be contradictory but in many ways they are sound from this premise: everyone lies, cheats, steals in order to get ahead because we’re selfish, jealous and greedy. So, did Machiavelli do the same in this writing because he too suffers from these vices? The last chapter may give you a few hints and perhaps maintain the mystery. The writings were created after he lost an influential position with a district ruler.

Be wise and seek wise advice is one of the dicta. But if you distrust everyone, why would you? As one executive told Marshall Goldsmith after being advised to seek the input of his staff, “I got here without listening to them. Why should I start now?” And while the writings purport to be honorable and seek agreement, all the advice seems to be framed from the objective of self-service. There is no room for altruism or morality. Yet, of the five ways to solve a conflict, agreement is preferred for family, neighbors, allies and other people close to you; a fight should be the last resort and reserved for enemies or distant connections. This seems to make sense in a practical way but, idiomatically, all government forms work if everyone is an angel, and none work if everyone is a devil. If Machiavelli’s world, who would you really trust—except to believe that everyone is out for themselves? Then the normal appear weird and the weird appear normal in this slanted perspective, one that Darr summarizes as the “author’s” perspective.

If you want to dispel some Machiavellian myths or understand what Machiavelli really wrote, Darr’s book is an enlightening and amusing read as the author has made sense of some disparate advice and rhetorical conundrums in the original writings.

I’m appreciative of the publisher for providing an advanced copy.