Outline Nietzsche's Philosophy of Will to Power. Assuming It Is True, What Ethical Conclusions Follow for Managers?

The will to power is a prominent concept in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. It describes what Nietzsche may have believed to be the main driving force in human: achievement, ambition, the striving to reach the highest possible position in life.

Nietzsche was heavily influenced by Darwin's 'Evolution' which shows that in every species, some creatures are winners and some are losers in the struggle. The same principle applies to human. Nietzsche didn't believe that people were born in 'equal'. Alternatively, some are naturally more gifted, stronger and more intelligent while others are less so. He divided humans into two categories: the 'superior' one and the 'inferior' one.

Then Nietzsche began his thinking by asking what it is that does move people? His answer was 'the will to power'.

The 'superior' people are those who acknowledge and exercise the will to power.

By will, they firstly desire for something. Secondly, the desire must be motivated by strategies and actions which have clear goals.

By power, they need to secure the control of their environment, resources and other people so that they can maximize their chance of securing a flourishing and long life.

By exercising the way to power, they are taking advantage of their natural gifts to achieve their full potential, which may include achieving dominance over others.

The 'inferior' people, on the other hand, try to deny the will to power. They try to deny their weakness by living in the lies applying silly ideas such as equality, humility and pity. They try to deny obvious facts of nature, and try to make a virtue of their weakness and cowardice.

Nietzsche concludes that a superior person does not hesitate to exercise power, both over self and others. The will to power is the only law and the only morality. His believe above have a profound influence in the case of business management.

Businesses, by and large are motivated by the desire to gain power over resources and people in order to survive and flourish; Management generally seeks to ensure that businesses flourish maximally. While managers are the people who play the art of management in order to achieve the goal of the maximization. Obviously, the extent to which managers have a will to power largely determines the extent of their success.

Aligning with Nietzsche's will to power, the practice of management can be interpreted into the following two definitions:

1. Management involves getting people to do what they would not otherwise do;

Business is about managing the people and resources. However, all the resources such as finances, raw materials and processes are controlled and administered by people. So people are the core units required by managers to be controlled with their special skills. By managing the people, you manage all aspects of the business.

Getting people to do what they would have done anyway is not exercising power. A manager who does no more than

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