Aristotle, 10 Keys to Rethink Management – Pierre d’Elbée

Management: The Right Balance

Pierre d’Elbée began by exploring the etymology of the word management: from the Latin manus (the hand), which in the 17th century meant ‘to hold a horse by the hand and lead it to the riding school.’ This image is revealing: one must hold enough to guide, but not too much so as not to paralyze. It’s a question of the right balance, a central concept for Aristotle.

Excellence in Aristotle, what he calls aretê, is always a question of measure, a mean. The courageous person is neither reckless nor fearful; they are in between. Similarly, a good manager must find this right balance: neither in excess (burnout) nor in negligence, but in a measured commitment to go far in the long term.

Prudence: Situational Awareness

Facing the question of ethics and effectiveness, Aristotle provides an answer with his concept of prudence (phronêsis). The prudent person is not one who is fearful, but one who has situational awareness: they understand both the details and the bigger picture to make the right decision.

For Aristotle, prudence is an intellectual virtue, but not only that. A skilled person who is not ethical is not completely effective. Ethics is the crowning achievement of skill. In sales, the culmination of the sales act is to develop a long-term human relationship of mutual trust with the buyer.

Ethics and Effectiveness: The Example of the 1848 Riots

Pierre illustrated this link between ethics and effectiveness with the story of a captain in Paris in 1848, who received orders to fire on the crowd. Instead of blindly obeying or disobeying, he found an elegant solution: he explained to the crowd that he had received orders to fire on the rabble, but that he saw honest people before him, and asked them to leave. The square emptied without a single shot being fired.

This is what the Greeks call kalos kagathos: an act that is both good and beautiful. It is this greatness that motivates, because projects are all the more engaging when they are not only good, but also ‘have character’ and speak to us deeply.

Friendship: Three Levels of Relationship

Aristotle distinguishes three kinds of friendship: useful friendship, pleasant friendship, and virtuous friendship.

Useful friendship corresponds to complementarity at work: you do your job well, I do mine well, and together we produce a result. This is the first level of relationship, degree 1 of friendship.

The second level is that of pleasure: after successfully completing a project together, we celebrate, we laugh, we share a pleasant moment. This conviviality is essential for the proper functioning of a team.

The third level is that of virtuous friendship: through crises experienced together, we discuss our values and what truly matters. This disinterested relationship is possible even in a commercial relationship, provided there is a relationship of truth, a good product, and sincere commitment.

Variable Pay: Two Different Anthropologies

Pierre addressed the question of variable pay from two opposing anthropological perspectives. In the first, man is a wolf to man: the individual comes first, the best wins, and variable pay encourages individual performance. In the second, the other is a fellow human being: the collective, solidarity, and mutual aid are emphasized.

The problem lies in the schizophrenia of many companies: at the level of marketing discourse, human values and solidarity are promoted, but during the annual review, only individual contribution is evaluated. A choice must be made: either we truly commit to solidarity and see it through, or we embrace an individualistic model.

Meaning: Sensation, Significance, and Direction

To conclude, Pierre d’Elbée elaborated on the three dimensions of meaning.

The first is meaning as sensation: I sense it or I don’t. Salespeople often operate on intuition, with their gut and their heart. If I sincerely believe in my product, my interlocutor will believe in it too.

The second is meaning as significance: does it mean something? There must be coherence, a clear understanding, something that makes intellectual sense.

The third is meaning as direction. Aristotle speaks of the final cause, the ‘why’ we do things together. It is the common good, what gives unity to the whole. When we can say ‘yes, this resonates with me, I believe in it 100%’, then a powerful collective energy is created.

In a nutshell

Here are the major lessons to remember from this Masterclass with Pierre d’Elbée:

• Finding the right balance: management is a question of balance, between excess and negligence

• Prudence as situational awareness: understanding the details and the bigger picture to make sound decisions

• Ethics crowns skill: long-term trust is the true culmination of sales

• Developing friendship at three levels: useful, pleasant, and virtuous, to create lasting cooperation

• Giving meaning: sensation, significance, and direction to generate a common energy

As Paul Valéry’s quote inscribed on the frontispiece of the Palais de Chaillot says: “It depends on the passer-by whether I am a tomb or a treasure, whether I speak or remain silent. Friend, do not enter without desire.” We have this extraordinary power to transform the reality in which we live.

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