Live 6-week cohort
Virtù & Fortuna — the Machiavelli course for people who actually lead
Six live seminars on reading power the way Machiavelli did: what you control, what you don't, and how to act before the moment closes. Small cohorts, real cases, arguments encouraged.
24 seats per cohort. Next cohort starts the first Monday of the month.

What you'll take away
- Six 90-minute live seminars, recorded if you have to miss one
- A modern case study each week — boardrooms, campaigns, startups
- Cohort of 24, so everyone speaks and nobody hides
- Weekly written brief: one decision from your own work, examined
- Private discussion room that stays open after the course ends
- The Complete Collection included with your seat
The six weeks
- 01
Virtù: the part you control
What Machiavelli meant by capability, and why character talk is usually a distraction from it.
- 02
Fortuna: the part you don't
Planning for a world that ambushes you — dams, dikes and the limits of forecasting.
- 03
Necessità and timing
Why the same decision is brilliant in March and fatal in June, and how to see the window.
- 04
Allies, rivals and mercenaries
Interests over promises: reading who will actually show up when it costs them.
- 05
Cruelty well used
The hardest chapter, handled seriously: hard decisions, taken once, taken openly.
- 06
Republics and succession
From the Discourses: building something that survives you rather than a court that collapses.
“I came for the history and left with a decision framework I used in my first week back.”
“Twenty-four people arguing about Borgia at 8pm on a Tuesday. Best course I've taken.”
“The weekly brief is the real work. Having my own decisions picked apart was uncomfortable and worth it.”
Questions
- When are the sessions?
- Thursdays, 18:00 UK / 13:00 ET, 90 minutes. Recordings are posted within a day and stay available for a year.
- Do I need to have read Machiavelli?
- No. Your seat includes the Complete Collection and the reading is 30–40 pages a week, all supplied.
- Is this a history course or a leadership course?
- Both, deliberately. We read the text closely, then test it against a modern case every week.
- What if the cohort is full?
- You'll be offered the next cohort's date before public enrolment opens, at the same rate.
Six weeks. Twenty-four seats. One very old argument about power.
Reserve your place in the next cohort and get the Complete Collection the moment you enrol.
24 seats per cohort. Next cohort starts the first Monday of the month.