Dec. 11, 2025 — You might think you have to be cunning and manipulative to make it in business or some social circles.
After all, popular culture for decades has canonized characters who gained extreme power through self-interested maneuvering. Shakespeare’s canon is full of them. Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko brought Michael Douglas an Oscar. Succession’s Logan Roy stoked competition among his children to find out which of them were “serious people.”
We revere them in shows and movies because they’re colorful and bring the drama. But we also know what these people are like in real life. Machiavellian personalities, named for Renaissance diplomat Niccolo Machiavelli, are cynical, exploitative, and two-faced as they relentlessly pursue their goals.
You might watch with boiling blood as these folks ascend your company’s org chart or gain power in political and social circles even when everyone knows what they are.
“We see a lot of Machiavellian individuals in the executive population,” says Oleg Petrenko, PhD, associate professor of management and international business at the University of Oklahoma. In a recent study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, he and his colleagues found that CEOs who show Machiavellianism make more money than other top executives.
You might wonder: How did this (insert your preferred term here) get so successful?
Fortunately, scholars who study psychology and business have the same question. Research on Machiavellianism, which first peaked in the 1970s and 1980s, picked up again about two decades ago. Researchers like Jason Dahling, PhD, professor of industrial/organizational psychology at the College of New Jersey, had an inkling it was important.
“I stumbled across this trait, and I thought, OK, this is interesting,” he says. At first, Dahling was drawn in by the seemingly questionable behavior of people who surge to the top. But as he and others have found, Machiavellians exhibit specific traits and aren’t all they seem to be.
The Myth of the Cynical Genius
A core feature of Machiavellianism is cynicism, the belief that people are driven by self-interest and can’t be trusted. This mistrust sows feelings of vulnerability that enable immoral behavior, such as breaking rules and spreading rumors — or worse — to get ahead.
“They don't feel any kind of need to follow conventional norms of morality or ethics because they believe doing something that predictable will allow others to take advantage of them,” says Dahling.
To many observers, this cynical worldview — and the behavior that goes along with it — is highly appealing, something you want to follow. Why? It comes across as intelligence and even charisma.
This phenomenon is known as the “cynical genius illusion,” says Dahling, because being cynical doesn’t necessarily mean you’re smart. Research on about 200,000 people from 30 countries suggests that cynical people do worse on cognitive ability and academic competency tests than their more trusting peers. That they, in fact, know they aren’t as smart as they portray themselves and their Machiavellian turn represents a compensating mechanism.
Researchers have theories about why we conflate skepticism with smarts. Cynicism can seem like proof that you’ve seen things, that you’re wise. From an evolutionary perspective, people who look out for themselves might be seen as maximizing their survival odds. And culture — from Greek philosophers to the most influential TV shows of the past few decades — often depicts Machiavellians as intelligent and cunning. Think Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones or Walter White from Breaking Bad.
Machiavellians are smart, however, at playing games to get ahead, which is helpful when you’re negotiating or persuading colleagues to work in your favor. Tom Sawyer never had to whitewash that fence, did he?
“That ability to influence the stakeholders, that ability to basically win at those interactions, that a lot of times they see them as kind of games, is really helpful to them, and it's really a strength,” says Petrenko.
And while they don’t trust other people, Machiavellians will take advantage of your trust to impress or manipulate you.
Your Trust Is Their Advantage
“People, generally speaking, have a default setting of trust, and that actually is functional for society,” says Daniel Jones, PhD, associate professor in management at the University of Nevada, Reno. “We call it the truth default theory, and basically the argument is that we have a default setting as decent, empathetic, integrity-based people to trust.”
A Machiavellian takes advantage of that default trust to get a few steps ahead. “They don't trust as a default, but they cultivate trust in others, so they'll mimic trust,” says Jones. “They'll get people to open up to them, but they will not reciprocate very often, or they'll reciprocate only in a way that will get more information from people.”
Social media can also help Machiavellians curate “impression management,” which is showing one artificially flattering side of yourself so you can trick people later. “With the advent of online image and the fact that we all have an online and then a very personal persona, we’ve given tools to Machiavellians to further manipulate,” says Jones.
As Machiavellians posture in pursuit of status and power, they often appear confident, charismatic, and strong, at least at first, or in short-term, transactional relationships, says Dahling. But some people catch on. “As people spend more time around you, that charismatic facade cracks pretty quickly,” says Dahling.
When you’re duplicitous, you can advance fast, especially if you bounce between companies or social groups every six to 18 months and don't have to live with the consequences of how you treat others. “As you climb that ladder, there's going to be more and more people desperately hoping you fall off of it, because you're not building any goodwill,” says Dahling.
The Machiavellians who rise highest are the ones who cultivate political skill and a positive reputation. They won’t get far if their callousness and antagonism comes across, says Gerhard Blickle, PhD, head of work, organizational, and industrial psychology at the University of Bonn in Germany. Developing the ability to appear genuine and honest is the key to winning people over.
“A perfect Machiavellian displays apparent sincerity,” says Blickle, “and others believe her or him.”
What Happens to Self-Centered Leaders?
Although Machiavellians give off vibes of cleverness and strength, they’re often horrible bosses. While some justify ruthless behavior as toughness that gets results, Machiavellianism makes leaders less effective on both objective and subjective performance measures, research suggests.
One reason: The gameplay that got them to the top doesn’t always translate to the job of running things. “Sometimes those strengths that they have, they might overuse them, especially when they're stressed, when there is a lot of uncertainty, when they feel they're losing control,” says Petrenko.
“Machiavellian individuals perform better and enjoy more success in environments that are very loosely structured, meaning rules are ambiguous, that have a lot of autonomy, supervision is not very strict,” says Dahling. “We also see Machiavellians enjoy more success in environments where the concern is really just about the bottom-line results. The focus is on ends, not behavioral means that you use to get there.”
Gender norms might play a role, too. Both men and women can be power-hungry and self-interested, but women face more societal pressure to behave agreeably and communally. “Abundant research demonstrates that the same aggressive behavior tends to be sanctioned to a stronger extent when performed by women,” says Dahling.
Plus, being a bad person, it turns out, is bad for your health. “We tend to see that Machiavellian people report higher stress, and it's partly grounded in this belief that you can't trust people around you and you're always kind of needing to watch your back,” says Dahling. “That's not great for your mental health.”
Cynicism is also a predictor of obesity, coronary heart disease, dementia, and increased mortality, says Blickle. And it destroys social relationships. When you think everyone else is out to screw you over, you provide and receive less social support. You have more family and relationship conflicts, too.
“These are not happy, well-adjusted folks,” says Dahling.
How Do Machiavellians Get That Way?
Research suggests Machiavellianism is likely a mix of genetics and negative life experiences working together to bring out the worst in people.
“Niccolo Machiavelli himself came up in a very politically turbulent time with a lot of violence and a lot of revolution, and existing in these kinds of precarious situations where your trust has been betrayed, where you kind of learn to adopt some of these beliefs, is certainly going to reinforce and bake in these things,” says Dahling.
Today’s society? Machiavelli probably would have loved it.
“Are we creating sociocultural conditions that encourage the development of Machiavellianism?” says Jones. “Potentially, through mediated exposure to social media and social comparisons and competitive social nature, yes, we could be developing children who are more potentially cynical and callous depending on what they're being exposed to.”
Machiavellian children and adults alike act more deviant when they know they won’t face consequences for their behavior and the reward seems to outweigh the risk.
“If we don't put sanctions that really sting, that really make the crime not worth committing, we are going to get more and more corporate Machiavellian behavior,” says Jones, “and I think that filters back to children, children who have not been given consequences, no boundaries, they don't learn.”
Can Machiavellians Do Good?
Yes. Historians cite Franklin Delano Roosevelt, often considered one of the most successful U.S. presidents, as a Machiavellian who used political skill to help the Allies win World War II and re-energize the United States economy.
“The conclusion here is that Machiavellianism isn't universally toxic,” says Jones. “If their selfish goals align with prosocial goals, and the throats they slit or the corners they cut are inconsequential, you may benefit outcome-wise, utilitarian-wise, brass-tacks-wise, from having a Machiavellian leader. The problem is, if self-interest and public interest misalign or diverge, or if the corners they cut end up being consequential, you made a deal with the devil, as it were, and it will catch up with you culturally.”
Petrenko says he has Machiavellian tendencies and helps Machiavellian executives use the skills for good and mitigate harm. He started studying Machiavellianism because he was interested in how individuals can affect the world and the lives of others.
“I wanted to study either politicians or business leaders, decision makers, because those are the people that ultimately craft the society we live in, and a lot of times we don't really understand how their psychology impacts the way they make those decisions and the way they really affect the rest of us,” he says.
Business seemed more fascinating than politics. “I thought there would be less of a dark side,” he says. “But I'm finding that that might not be necessarily true.”
How to Deal With Machiavellians
Play chess — for a while. “I have been burned in my life by Machiavellian individuals and behavior,” says Jones. Now, he trains people on dealing with Machiavellians. “You have to treat them as though this is a cold, calculated chess match and not a personal interaction,” he says.
Say you’re stuck at work with a toxic Machiavellian, and you need the paycheck. Focus on why you’re there — survival — and stay in the game temporarily while you look for an escape plan. But don’t try to back the king into checkmate.
“You have to feed that bottom-line mentality with your behavior and not try to one-up them in the social game of deception. You're never going to get a Machiavellian to reveal their hand,” says Jones.
Set your price. Jones helps people calculate the tax an employer would need to pay them to make staying in a toxic situation worth it.
“I take into account costs, like once-a-week therapy, national averages for lost wages, effort, and mental health according to abusive and toxic supervision and workforce, and actually come up with a calculated number of how much you currently would be paid for that job and how much you should be paid extra in dealing with those types of abusive people,” he says.
What’s your number? Take into account all of the above and be honest about what the estimated “costs” are worth to you. It’s unhelpful to say, “I wouldn’t do this for a million dollars,” but it is helpful to take a hard look at salary bands in your industry and what you could realistically get. If they aren’t paying you enough to make the struggle worth it, look elsewhere.
Do something a Machiavellian won’t. Build authentic, cooperative relationships with your peers and supervisors, says Dahling. Set strong norms for positive behavior. When someone tries to cheat, tell others. Make their harmful behaviors visible.
“People high in Machiavellianism are very sensitive to cost and risk, so if you restructure the social environment in a way where they know they're not going to get away with this stuff, then they're going to dial back their behavior,” he says. “You don't have to meet them with the same kinds of reprehensible behaviors. You have other ways to manage them.”
Another way to think about it? “Make clear that it is his or her advantage to cooperate with you,” says Blickle.
