- 14 Mar, 2021
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- 2 Mins Read
Writer’s choice
Choose any 2 (two) questions to answer. Please provide a thorough assessment of the focal issue of the question. The minimum word count for each answer is 300 words. In your response, state the question you are responding first, followed by the answer essay.
Question 2. From chapter 14, read the following sentence and replace the word “arm/armed” with “competent”: “There is a big difference between being armed and being unarmed, and it is not reasonable that an armed person should willingly obey an unarmed person. An unarmed man will not be secure among armed servants, because by being unarmed he will be suspicious of them and they will despise him. So, it is not possible for them to work well together.”
And, in the same chapter, consider the following sentence:
“Therefore a prince who does not understand the art of war, over and above the other disadvantages already mentioned, cannot be respected by his soldiers, nor can he rely on them. He ought never, therefore, to have this subject of war out of his thoughts, and in peace he should devote himself more to its exercise than in times of war. He can do this in two ways, by action, and by study.”
Considering that the “art of war” can be abstracted as the “art of survival”, how do you make sense of the relationship between competence, action, study and strategy, either for a firm or individual?
Question 3. On chapter 23 we see notes about the importance of hearing the truth instead of lies that sound good to the ear. What quotes from the book you found to have interesting instructions to the prince with regards hearing and being heard as a leader? Please also provide one real example of a business that, in your opinion, did not do a good job in listening the truth and aligning itself with the real world and faced the consequences. What was the evidence/data they could have obtained and did nothing instead?
Question 4. On chapter 22 the first paragraph says: “The first opinion which one forms of a prince, and of his capability, is by observing the people he has around him.”
Explain if you agree or not about this chapter’s and other book’s suggestions on what the leader must do in order to retain competent partners. Yet, explain why it is important to not just focus on a single leader but also in his/her whole team, and why/how a business leader must be wise to identify and retain competent partners