Machiavellian Standards

Machiavellian standards of a leader state that the person should be adaptable to changing situation and be loved and praised by all of their disciples. They also must have the following five qualities; mercy, faith, integrity, humanity and religion. The current mayor of Toronto is Rob Ford and he does not qualify as Machiavellian. Baldesar Castiglione who wrote about what makes the perfect Renaissance man defines him as a man of noble birth, he has to be pleasant to the eye, educated and a leader. Rob Ford would meet half of these criteria's, he is of noble birth and is a leader.

The newly elected Toronto Mayor, Rob Ford, failed to attend this past years gay pride parade which is a huge deal to the gay village community. Ford who claims to be a big supporter of community events did not attend a single day of the ten day event2. Some people were okay with this decision such as city councillor Michael Thompson who was quoted as saying,1 "I think the mayor is allowed to do what he wants to do." Liberal council member Kristyn Wong-Tam criticized Ford by saying, "Considering there are 10 days of events, the mayor could have shown up to at least one. That sent a message to these organizations that perhaps this community is not important to him." 3 That is not a display of integrity or humanity. After the fact the Toronto gay citizens was outraged by the neglect that Ford showed towards their community, there for not giving him their love or praise.

Castiglione wrote that the perfect man would be of noble birth, pleasant to the eye, educated and a leader. Rob Ford is a leader. He is the elected mayor of Toronto and before that he was the city councillor of Etobicoke North for 10 years4. Some people believe that he is a good leader and others would disagree but regardless he is a leader. Rob Ford is the son of the late Doug Ford who was a former member of provincial parliament, this makes Rob of noble birth. To most people Rob Ford is not pleasant to the eye. The ideal Castiglione man was tall, muscular, confident and very approachable. Rob Ford is not exactly that ideal man. He is obese and short, he's doesn't not look the kind of man that you would want to approach if you did not know him, he is however very confident while talking to crowds and shows he is a leader in doing so. Finally a perfect man must be educated in Latin, Greek, poetry, history and literature and not speak about things that he has no knowledge on. Rob Ford attended Carleton University for 1989-1990 and later attended York University for 1990-91 taking distance education courses. Ford dropped out of University in 1991, never completing his university education.5 Rob Ford has two of Castiglione's qualities of a perfect man, but, he does not have the most important one which is education.

By Machiavellian standard Rob Ford does not have the requirements that make a great leader.