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Rating: 
Summary: The Lawyer as Business Prince
Review: Charles Handy resurrected this book not, as he intended to show something about business management directly, but actually--and perhaps insensibly to Handy--to explain some of the practices and habits which help lawyers for businesses work with other lawyers for business adversaries. For what could be more princely than a lawyer? Lawyers are begotten (not created) by their clients, just as princes issue from kings. And lawyers, like diplomats, have limited authority. Also like princes. So diplomat-to-prince as explained by De Callieres fits passably into lawyer-to-lawyer contests of wit and threatening.I bought this book as a kind of cathartic release when in the middle of dealing with a difficult opposing lawyer (whose clients are true blue business and even political princelings), and commenced reading, looking for appropriate thoughts and phrases to describe the complete jerk/idiot/moron masquerading as an attorney at law with whom I was dealing. Or was it his client? How could I work on becoming more of the type of lawyer able "to produce peace by the authority of their intervention?" (page 11). It would take a willingness on my part to "sometimes consent to meet smaller men on their own ground." (p.21). Because bigger people, like judges (even bailiffs) will be watching, and "one negotiation successfully carried through by the honesty and high intelligence of a diplomatist will give him a great advantage in other enterprises on which he embarks in the future." (p.22). Yet de Callieres might quarrel with my easy equivalence between lawyers and diplomats. Because he disagrees: "...in general the training of a lawyer breeds habits and dispositions of mind which are not favorable to the practice of diplomacy." (p. 40). This is because (and here we give the obligatory pass-the-intern wink at the President) "the occupation of the lawyer, which is to split hairs about nothing, is not a good preparation for the treatment of grave public affairs in the region of diplomacy." (Id.) The author would prefer more men-of-the-world than mere lawyers, to engage foreign princes in the business of war and peace, as well as buying and selling. I just disagree with him on this point. On the more business-ish topics of "the value of good cheer" (p.89), being a good listener (p.91), the importance of first impressions (p. 93), and the importance of good staff people, this book has good points of general applicability. I keep coming back to the lawsuit as the best application for this advice on how to deal with contested issues between states; but unlike international law, in a lawsuit we have a judge with authority and with the power to render finality to a dispute. So I add a less open-ended interpretation to what the author arguably intended. One good piece of advice for dealing with the finalizing force of a judge is found in the author's advice about giving reports to your king. Do not "set the King's teeth on edge" with overly biting, contentious presentations. Like Kings, judges are not dispensers of decisions into which we put briefs and witnesses like so many little tokens before pushing the buttons or pulling the lever (maybe we could use a bowling analogy if I could get it to work less clumsily) to extract the automatic ruling. The inhumanity and callousness of this approach is rightly discouraged by de Callieres. How then do we explain the success of obnoxious appellate attorneys who pull success from tiny little technicalities flung in the face of trial courts? However we explain it, it seems clear that legal work at that appellate level is no longer quite so diplomatic as the negotiated resolution of problems more akin to most commercial legal work. But all out war is not the topic of this book. Now, if I'm coming down to the smallish level of my current adversary, listening tactfully to him spout all-out destruction for my client, has this book helped me? This will remain an open question, but it has been an interesting diversion. The cover art is also quite cool, and helps make my bookshelves more imposing. First impressions, you see.
Rating: 
Summary: How to be wiser than your fellows
Review: Shouldn't peoples get smarter as decades and centuries pass? This book, written roughly 300 years ago by the "envoy extraordinary" of French King Louis XIV, might make you doubt our progress. While I don't agree with all that Callieres wrote (specifically, his more 'intriguing' prescriptions), there is a wisdom and thoughtfulness in his writings that is unmatched by any modern text. With the explosion in wealth, and scientific and technical knowledge, it is hard to find evidence--in writing or in life--that we have become more wise. "How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!" - Proverbs 16:16
Rating:
Summary: How to be wiser than your fellows
Review: Shouldn't peoples get smarter as decades and centuries pass? This book, written roughly 300 years ago by the "envoy extraordinary" of French King Louis XIV, might make you doubt our progress. While I don't agree with all that Callieres wrote (specifically, his more 'intriguing' prescriptions), there is a wisdom and thoughtfulness in his writings that is unmatched by any modern text. With the explosion in wealth, and scientific and technical knowledge, it is hard to find evidence--in writing or in life--that we have become more wise. "How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!" - Proverbs 16:16
Rating:
Summary: The Lawyer as Business Prince
Review: This book was originally written as a letter to the Duc d'Orleans who was the regent for Louis XV while he was a boy. De Callieres had been an envoy extraordinary for Louis XIV who had recently died. The Duc d'Orleans is famous in history for being putty in the hands of John Law, leading to the debasement of the French currency and the collapse of the Mississippi Bubble (see Millionaire for details). In the letter, the hidden agenda was to convince the Duc to let career diplomats from good families do the ambassadorial tasks, emphasizing peace over hostilities. Louis XIV had virtually bankrupted France with his many long and expensive wars that provided little benefit. Without a more sensible foreign policy, France was in serious trouble. Based on his past behavior patterns, the Duc was likely to send his card-playing buddies from the military ranks to take on these chores, and diplomatic disaster was likely to follow. The first two-thirds of the book is a Renaissance-like description of the ideal man (there was not much role for women in his mind, other than as people to use as sources of indirect influence on princes). The description is obviously overstated to make a point: There's no one this good, but you'd better look for the best person you can. The final third is full of day-to-day advice about what a diplomat must do (sort of Diplomacy 101 for those who have not done it before). This includes details how to be introduced at court, the role of your own spies, and so forth. The final third seems remarkably modern. Perhaps it is even used in some diplomatic training today. The only puzzling thing about the book is the introduction by Charles Handy. In the introduction, Handy argues that you can take the word 'negotiating' in the text and substitute the word 'management.' In so doing, he tries to transform this into a treatise on management. I don't think so. Sure, there are areas where management issues come up, such as in the selection of diplomatic personnel, but that's not the focus of this book either directly or indirectly. If he had argued that this book was the How to Win Friends and Influence People of the 18th century, I would have agreed with that. I'd skip the introduction. It will only confuse matters for you, and throw you off the track of what the book is really about -- being a loyal agent for someone with whom you are not in daily contact but whose most important matters are in your hands. The modern-day equivalent would be handling an labor negotiation for a company in an inaccessible foreign location. The Prince is like the 800 pound gorilla. He can sit wherever he wants, so the task of negotiating with him is a delicate one. If you've ever had a boss like that, you'll find it humorous to compare your former boss to the descriptions in this book. If the publisher does want to turn this into a management book, I suggest a different approach. Combine the text of this book with text and examples of a modern management sort to provide the current context for the reader. As it is now, Peter Drucker would be able to fill in the blanks for himself but few other readers would be able to do so without more guidance. You have to connect the dots to draw the picture for the reader! Donald Mitchell (donmitch@2000percentsolution.com)
Rating:
Summary: Timeless Advice About Being an Effective Agent
Review: This book was originally written as a letter to the Duc d'Orleans who was the regent for Louis XV while he was a boy. De Callieres had been an envoy extraordinary for Louis XIV who had recently died. The Duc d'Orleans is famous in history for being putty in the hands of John Law, leading to the debasement of the French currency and the collapse of the Mississippi Bubble (see Millionaire for details). In the letter, the hidden agenda was to convince the Duc to let career diplomats from good families do the ambassadorial tasks, emphasizing peace over hostilities. Louis XIV had virtually bankrupted France with his many long and expensive wars that provided little benefit. Without a more sensible foreign policy, France was in serious trouble. Based on his past behavior patterns, the Duc was likely to send his card-playing buddies from the military ranks to take on these chores, and diplomatic disaster was likely to follow. The first two-thirds of the book is a Renaissance-like description of the ideal man (there was not much role for women in his mind, other than as people to use as sources of indirect influence on princes). The description is obviously overstated to make a point: There's no one this good, but you'd better look for the best person you can. The final third is full of day-to-day advice about what a diplomat must do (sort of Diplomacy 101 for those who have not done it before). This includes details how to be introduced at court, the role of your own spies, and so forth. The final third seems remarkably modern. Perhaps it is even used in some diplomatic training today. The only puzzling thing about the book is the introduction by Charles Handy. In the introduction, Handy argues that you can take the word 'negotiating' in the text and substitute the word 'management.' In so doing, he tries to transform this into a treatise on management. I don't think so. Sure, there are areas where management issues come up, such as in the selection of diplomatic personnel, but that's not the focus of this book either directly or indirectly. If he had argued that this book was the How to Win Friends and Influence People of the 18th century, I would have agreed with that. I'd skip the introduction. It will only confuse matters for you, and throw you off the track of what the book is really about -- being a loyal agent for someone with whom you are not in daily contact but whose most important matters are in your hands. The modern-day equivalent would be handling an labor negotiation for a company in an inaccessible foreign location. The Prince is like the 800 pound gorilla. He can sit wherever he wants, so the task of negotiating with him is a delicate one. If you've ever had a boss like that, you'll find it humorous to compare your former boss to the descriptions in this book. If the publisher does want to turn this into a management book, I suggest a different approach. Combine the text of this book with text and examples of a modern management sort to provide the current context for the reader. As it is now, Peter Drucker would be able to fill in the blanks for himself but few other readers would be able to do so without more guidance. You have to connect the dots to draw the picture for the reader! Donald Mitchell (donmitch@2000percentsolution.com)
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