“It’s better to be feared than loved.”
That single quote from Niccolò Machiavelli has echoed for centuries—especially in conversations about leadership, power, and control.
On the surface, it sounds harsh. Cold. Even tyrannical. But was that what he meant?
Who Was Machiavelli and Why Should We Still Care?
Niccolò Machiavelli (1569 - 1527) was a 16th-century Italian diplomat, philosopher, and political strategist best known for The Prince—a guide for rulers navigating dangerous political waters.
Many scholars consider Machiavelli the first modern political thinker because he believed rulers should focus on practical results rather than ideals. He argued that leaders must do whatever is necessary to keep power and protect their kingdoms.
The Prince was so controversial the Catholic Church banned it for 100 years and the term ‘Machiavellian’ has come to mean a person who is deceitful, cunny and unscrupulous.
But we still need authority to lead our classrooms and young people, and this is where most of us get stuck.
Most people simply do not understand what authority is, and that is why they cannot make the impact they want on their young people.
This misunderstanding eventually puts their classrooms and careers in shambles, and they don’t know why.
So in this newsletter, I’m going to break down:
• What authority is
• The two types of authority that you need
• And why most people are wrong about Machiavelli and what that applies to you.
What is 'Authority?'
‘Authority’ has become the naughty nickname of ‘power’ and now receives the same distrust. In our complex times, societies worldwide have become more sensitive to people and institutions that abuse their position.
More than ever, people are more prepared to question and challenge the-powers-that-be and hold them to account — which of course is the right thing to do.
But before we kick ‘authority’ out of the house, change the door locks and talk to our lawyers, let’s take a closer look at what the word actually means. The Cambridge Dictionary Online has several definitions of the term1:
- The power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience.
Yikes. This is the ‘scary’ authority that we were talking about. But wait, there’s more.
- The power to influence others, especially because of one’s commanding manner or one’s recognised knowledge about something.
‘he has the natural authority of one who is used to being obeyed’
3.1 The confidence resulting from personal expertise. ‘he hit the ball with authority’
3.2 A person with extensive or specialised knowledge about a subject; an expert. ‘he was an authority on the stock market’
I love those definitions. ‘Authority’ is so much more than barking orders and making people kneel before you. Your authority includes your expertise, wisdom and your ability to pass on your knowledge to your students.
If someone collapsed in front of you in the street, and someone came forward and said they were a doctor and gave you commands on how to treat the patient, you would follow their commands because they knew what they were doing.
That the 'good' authority in action.
Authority comes in two flavours:
#1 Positional Authority
This is also known as ‘institutional authority.’ This is the authority that is bestowed on you by having a certain position, title or social standing.
Positional authority is very closely related to power, which is the ability to make people do what you want, whether they like it or not. In most societies, the more Positional Authority you have, the more money, connections and fame you receive.
This type of authority is external — other people can see it and, in some cases, must obey it. For example, The UK Prime Minister has more Positional Authority than the Mayor of London.
Authority doesn’t exist only in politics, but anywhere there is a group of people. Wherever you get a bunch of individuals acting together, there will always be a leader and others who must follow.
As a teacher in charge of students, you are naturally in a position of authority. You are responsible for their well-being and safety, and you are the ‘top dog’ in your class.
However, positional authority is not enough by itself to lead successfully in the long term.
With the internet, our tech-savvy students have been given a platform to voice their opinions more than any youths in human history and they expect to be listened to — whether we, the adults, like it or not.
If you only use positional authority to ‘get your way,’ the most you will ever get is compliance. The moment your positional authority waivers, they will rebel against you. But that’s not the end of the story.
#2 Personal Authority
Personal authority is an entirely different beast. Leadership expert Robert C. Maxwell called this ‘influence’ in his book “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.” Maxwell describes it as follows:
“Character - who you are
Relationships - who you know
Knowledge - what you know
Intuition - what you feel
Experience - where you have been
Past success — what you’ve done
Ability - what you can do2.”
Personal authority is the quieter, but just as confident sibling, to positional authority. This authority comes from who you are as a person, rather than the title that you hold.
Personal authority is internal - it may not be seen, but the people in the room can feel it.
The beautiful thing about personal authority is you don’t need anyone to give it to you - you can build it wherever you are. Plus, if you get really master it, your personal authority can outshine those who are higher up the totem pole than you are.
Greta Thunberg is a 22-year-old environmental and social activist who started her campaigns at 16. She doesn’t hold a political office, yet her passionate speeches and extraordinary ability to connect with the youth have swept her into the highest corridors of power, where she has addressed world leaders and celebrities alike. What did you do when you were 16?
Is It Better to Be Feared Than Loved?
To answer this, we need the full quote:
“Here a question arises: whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse. The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved… Love endures by a bond which men, being scoundrels, may break whenever it serves their advantage to do so; but fear is supported by the dread of pain, which is ever present.”
In the sixteenth century, when Niccolo Machiavelli wrote The Prince, Italy was not a unified country. Instead, it was a collection of city-states, each with its own court and ruler, each attempting to gain power over the others.
In Machiavelli’s world, any wrong move by a ruler or a court member spelt death.
Many of Machiavelli’s peers were flavour of the month one week but then brutally executed the next.
Thankfully, 21st-century schools don’t operate like that. (Well, most anyway.)
But even in his cloak-and-dagger world, the cynical pragmatist Machiavelli recognised that love or ‘warmth’ wasn’t completely useless. In fact, he saw it as an essential component of long-term, stable leadership.
Your authority alone is not enough. You need buy-in.
Your students don’t have to ‘fear’ you but they have to respect you.
But the only way that you can get that respect is by mastering both your positional and personal authority.
That is what makes you a real leader.
That’s all for today.
The next newsletter comes out Thursday 10th July.
See you then
Karl
REFERENCES
- Cambridge Dictionary. 2025. Definition of authority in English. [ONLINE] Available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/authority#google_vignette
- Maxwell, R., 2007. The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership. 2nd ed. Nashville, Tennesse, USA: Thomas Nelson. Page 21
