I do not agree with this statement, and this applies to all aspects of life, from relationships to business. I consider the importance of being loved in relationships as a given. The alternative would only be acceptable in the old sense of the word 'fear', which is 'to respect someone', but fear in the contemporary sense is directly connected to distrust, and applies both to relationships and leadership. As Srinivasan Pillay argues, 'Love becomes fear when we question the flow state' and we lose this sense of unity and solidarity that comes from caring. I am going to focus on leadership at work as an example. Even if to be feared means to be seen as powerful and worthy of respect because of this power, I still believe that a person gets a lot more out of being loved, because being loved actually strengthens your power and people's respect towards you. According to Vanessa Edwards from the Business Insider magazine, leaders who like to be feared are 'goal-oriented and value orderliness and obedience', which has proven to be an effective way of running a business, but being loved as a leader and an employee in general has more long-term advantages. Being loved by your team means being trusted and cared, which leads to long-term respect and better motivation / performance. People feel more eager to give and contribute if they feel the inspired love and encouragement. Edwards refers to researchers 'who discovered that when people feel respected by their leaders and are comfortable with them, they perform better on teams'. Fear can be an inhibiting factor, especially when it inspires uncertainty, distance, and competitiveness. Trust and likeability are extremely important, not only because they define us as moral human beings functioning in a social context, but also because they can actually have more positive impact in the future. In the workplace, for example, there is evidence that people process 'warmth' more directly than 'competence', which is usually associated with fear and strength. The two terms are used by a Business Harvard Review article, which lays down the research on love and fear in relation to business. According to the article, Princeton social psychologist Alex Todorov and his team have concluded that 'when making those judgements [meeting people for the first time], people consistently pick up on warmth faster than on competence'. The level of warmth determines long-term impressions and can make all the difference in the world for people's function at work. Even though both articles explore both ends, I still believe that being loved has more benefits. So, when faced with this Machiavellian statement, I would say that it is infinitely better to be loved than feared. Love brings trust, comfort, and more empowerment than we think, because it speaks to our inherent need for support, respect, and belief in the self. Works Cited Pillay, Srinivasan, 'Relationships: When Love Turns To Fear' (2011) <https://www.huffpost.com/entry/relationships-when-love-t_b_392254?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANHhEFj1YFMruYqL86k0WEmFE7YL8TvDt8t6Ng1IPsfhWfM_uBBPtXUxqbSMneunfl6GVs2tgcRrMAJUard6hE_5nKxKCYpLl0Ax2fILK22Ok-CnexwRzcMH8aZjG4u2jcOlE1484VmMv0UXm0G1Pk-AzP-oXEZSxzAYWFh8SjE9> [accessed 21 January 2021]. Van Edwards, Vanessa, 'It's better to be loved than feared — but only if you know what you're doing' (2017) <https://www.businessinsider.com/its-better-to-be-loved-than-feared-if-you-know-what-youre-doing-2017-10?r=US&IR=T> [accessed 21 January 2021]. 'Is it better to be feared or loved: What the research shows' (2013)<https://www.smartcompany.com.au/people-human-resources/leadership/lead-through-warmth-not-strength-harvard-business-review-study/#:~:text=Is%20it%20better%20to%20be%20loved%20or%20feared%3F,to%20be%20feared%20than%20loved.%E2%80%9D> [accessed 21 January 2021].

**You are safer and more likely to stay in a position of power if you are loved.** - To be feared, usually means that someone will revolt against you. If people fear you, eventually there will be an uprising of people who refuse to fear you any more. This uprising, as shown by history, will result in your fall. Power is easy to lose when you are feared. - To be loved, people are willing to make sacrifices for you, or fight for your name, and want you to stay in power. The power of the mob is huge, and if you have that power behind you, you are powerful. - Being loved is safer, less people will want to oust you. - Everyone loves to be loved. The feeling you get when you know someone dislikes you can be unpleasant, I personally would never choose that for myself. - It is could be easy to go from being loved to being feared. It would be difficult to go from being feared to being loved. So, if someone finds that being loved doesn’t work, then they can turn to being feared instead!

**Machiavelli’s work was a radical attempt at divorcing politics from ethics.** In the 16th century, the Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli wrote a treatise known as [“The Prince”](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28862.The_Prince) as a royal’s practical guide to governance. Unlike political theorists before him, Machiavelli based his advice on an observance of [how he viewed the world _to be_](https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/what-can-you-learn-machiavelli), rather than an idealist perspective of how the world _should be_. Consequently, his work influenced the development of the [realist school of thought](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/realism-intl-relations/) in international relations which views power politics as the ultimate driving force in foreign affairs, as opposed to the general pursuit of liberalist ideals. In context, the quote goes as follows: • _“But since it is difficult for a ruler to be both feared and loved, it is much safer to be feared than loved, if one of the two must be lacking... For men are less concerned with hurting someone who makes himself loved than one who makes himself feared, because love is held by a link of obligation which, since men are wretched creatures, is broken every time their own interests are at stake; but fear is held by a dread of punishment which will never leave you.”_

I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.