THE MAFIA MANAGER (by V.)

SUMMARY
THE MAFIA MANAGER (A guide to the corporate Machiavelli) is a 1991 nonfiction book that significantly references Machiavelli's works on the art of managing stuff. A book mainly intended to not only offer insight into the dark, dark world of, as the author would call it;  ThisThingOfOurs (Mafia) -- but also provide 'knowledge of a particular sort' to persons looking to get to the top of the otherwise more legit world (ThisThingOfYours). And staying there.

THE PLOT
The book opens with a quote from the infamous Al Capone: "You can get a lot more done with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word alone".

The Mafia Manager consists three very distinct parts:
1.  MANAGING YOURSELF: which has a couple of subplots that discuss various topics like; decision making, time management, problems, handling business, concept of friendship (and enemies) and politicking.

2.  MANAGING OTHERS
The second part of the book discusses at length, under well structured subheadings, appropriate disposition, temperament and general advice on dexterity in the art of managing others.

3. THE REST OF IT
The final part of the book discusses more general stuff like negotiating, lying, secrecy, the rich, the equilibrium between business and family et all.

MY VERDICT
Once upon a time, I decided to clean the cobwebs around the house. So I took my broom and started to. Then I heard a silent hum somewhere in the room. Upon inspection, I saw that a fly had been caught in the convoluted web of a spider. It was fascinating. The spider was wrapping the fly with more cobwebs in very slow motion, and I imagined that must've been the Culicidae-ic equivalent of a man slowly burning to death.

I felt bad for the little fly, but I understood that the spider must also eat to survive. Am I no longer a good person for watching a little, vulnerable fly die a slow, painful death? Would I have been a bad person had I used a broom stick to save the fly from death's clutch? In the pursuit of happy-ness, you'll have to ask yourself these questions that are intrinsically embedded in the grey areas of moral ambiguity.

THE MAFIA MANAGER discusses manipulation, respect, authority, ruthlessness, discipline, loyalty, patience, women, restraint, men, enemies, friends, adaptability, obsequiousness, communication, faux-honesty and a great many other topics. There are axioms one is bound to learn by rote at the tail-end of each part, but the most remarkable thing is the quality of writing and quantity of memorable epithets that pervade the book. Check this:
"The most important thing in (y)our business is a reputation for honesty. If you can genuinely and sincerely fake honesty, you'll be a success"

And that's not even close to being the 'worst' bit of advice.

MY RATING
106 pages that'll inundate you with 'knowledge of a particular sort' AND further erase the already blurred lines of virtuosity -- what's not to read?

A bloody awesome read.

--->>>Captaincue (let the spider kill the fly, let the spider eat its kill & then kill the spider 24hours later)