The terms used in the book are 500 years old and are more than outdated (Read abusive) today. Let’s understand a few of them:
Prince: In the entrepreneurial world, a prince is basically the founder of the startup. In cases where there is more than one founder, then all are the princes. For the sake of argument only, the one who occupies the top position like CEO or the MD can be fairly assumed to be the prince. The rest without any discrimination can be assumed to be the brother of a prince. Their fate is tied to the welfare of the kingdom.
Kingdom: It is basically the business organization they have built. Such an organization can be inherited as a family business or build from scratch with their ability or fortune as the book specifies. It is the maintenance of the business that they all strive for.
The book refers to kingdoms as either republic or principalities.
Principalities: They are basically the business that one operates.
Republic: They are basically the governmental form of structure that we live in. Interpretations for them will be tried not to include as done in the book itself.
Servants: The term sounds derogatory but then, everyone in the world is a servant. Government officials are referred to and rightly so as civil servants. For the sake of understanding of the book only, the treatment given in the name of servants can be fairly assumed to be the same as that of employees with all the respect.
Citizens: They are the customers and consumers of your product or service and their happiness is the paramount thing to any entrepreneur. It is their happiness that makes a founder a prince. Incorporate, the same can also be referred to as the shareholders.
In this series, we will be taking points from the book and exploring it in modern times and what an entrepreneur can learn from it. Share your take on the articles by commenting below.