“There is nothing more difficult to undertake, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.”Niccolò Machiavelli · Principele · 1532 · Capitolul VI
Introducing a new order is the most difficult, uncertain, and dangerous initiative.
Machiavelli discusses political and social innovations. Those who benefit from the old order resist fiercely, while those who might gain from the new system are skeptical and hesitate to support change until they see concrete results. For example, a reformer introducing a new law faces hostility from the privileged and distrust from the masses.
Machiavelli says innovators lose because they underestimate the system's inertia. It's not just active opposition, but the collective laziness of learning something new. For example, when a company introduces new software, employees passively sabotage it, preferring old methods. So success depends not just on the idea, but on how easy you make it to adopt. The next step is to see how you can turn this resistance into support.
Why it matters Anyone leading a team, a company, or a community can anticipate resistance and distrust and build strategies to overcome them.