“Machiavelli for Women Who Dare to Lead: When Empathy Ceases to Be a Virtue and Strategy Becomes Survival
An international masterclass led by Rijarda Aristóteles, broadcast from Lisbon, challenges the comfortable discourse of female leadership. It also exposes the real rules of power for women who lead—or aspire to lead.
While the dominant discourse insists on associating female leadership with empathy, acceptance, and conciliation, the masterclass “Machiavelli for Women Who Dare to Lead” did the opposite. In other words, it stripped away the emotional veneer and exposed power as it is—contest, strategy, and survival.
Broadcast directly from the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, to women in Brazil and Europe, the international meeting, led by Rijarda Aristóteles, presented a raw and contemporary reading of Niccolò Machiavelli’s thought, applied to the real dynamics faced by women in positions of command.
Alliances are not bonds of affection. They are contracts of interest.
One of the central themes of the masterclass was the deconstruction of the idea of ??loyalty based on affection. The thesis defended was straightforward: friendships betray; interests sustain them. Envy and fear break emotional bonds, but rarely break alliances when there are clear gains involved.
“People don’t betray out of self-interest. They betray out of fear or envy. The alliance is maintained when the other person needs you to win.”
The message was incisive: effective leaders are not inspired by those who offer affection, but by those who understand and wield power.
The power that prevents war.
Another breaking point was the statement that ran throughout the masterclass:
“The goal is not to win the war. It’s to make the other person give up out of fear of you.”
This phrase summarizes a leadership that precedes conflict. A power that asserts itself before the dispute, sustained by positioning, reputation, and strategic reading of the environment—not by constant confrontation or collective approval.
Silence, absence, and mystery: the antidote to overexposure.
In a time when visibility has become currency, the masterclass argued the opposite: those who explain themselves too much lose power. Strategic silence, calculated absence, and control of one’s presence were presented as central instruments of authority.
Power is not announced.
It is not justified.
It is perceived—or feared.
To lead is not the same as being loved.
“Machiavelli for Women Who Dare to Lead” proposed a definitive break with the idea that women need to be accepted in order to lead. In other words, the masterclass reinforced that leadership requires composure, clarity of interests, and a willingness to occupy spaces without asking permission—even when it costs them sympathy.
In the end, the message was unequivocal: leadership is not a moral exercise. It is a political construct.
Regarding leadership
Rijarda Aristóteles is a strategist and mentor of leaders, recognized for her direct, philosophical, and provocative approach to power, positioning, and decision-making in highly complex environments.
For more information: https://www.rijardaaristoteles.com/
Source:Press release/Press office
Images: Courtesy/Personal Collection
Read: https://namidia.com.br/maquiavel-para-mulheres-que-ousam-comandar/
