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I Don't Shit Where I Eat: Tony Soprano and the Art of Diplomacy
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CONCLUSION
The Art of Diplomacy; or, What Would Tony Do?
Through four seasons (and indeed, in the fifth season), The Sopranos offers us a
text in appropriate and inappropriate diplomacy against an ever-changing crime environment that parallels the changes taking place in the arena of international politics. While I cannot cover it in this brief paper, the fifth season is played out against what Jeffrey Blainey many years ago called “death watch,” and others have more recently noted as domestic instability brought on by revolution, civil war, or the problems of emerging democracies. (Works by Stephen Walt, Jack Snyder and Edward D. Mansfield come to mind.)
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The eventual death of Carmine (by natural causes) and the release of
prisoners from jail who return to New Jersey bring about turf wars, struggles for power, and violence that is not unlike the fabled stories of struggles for power among the sons of various Sultans in the Ottoman Empire. (I will cover this in another paper.)
An appropriate conclusion for this paper is to use The Sopranos text to critique
some famous decisions in the history of diplomacy. I am well aware I embark on a precipitous course because this brings us into dangerous analogic turf. Two quick defenses are in order. We all use analogies and, as long as they are treated with care and caution, they can be instructive in expanding what I would call “diplomatic wisdom.” Second, it is clear from references he makes that Tony has read both Machiavelli and Lao Tzu and makes decisions using both theory and history. Even some of his lieutenants, like Paulie for example, make reference to these writers and thus, it seems clear that producer David Chase and some of his writers are comfortable in viewing Tony’s choices with an eye to the wisdom of the past. It is not accidental that we have two books now that turn Tony Soprano’s decisions into a text for management in business.
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Leadership
and management in business are surely a stone’s throw from national leadership and diplomacy.
The title of this paper offers a primary principle which is as valid in business as in
the affairs of states. “I don’t shit where I eat” is a red flag to those who would avoid scandal and weakening one’s ability to negotiate by mixing the private and public. It requires very little knowledge and imagination to draw up a list of (for example) American presidents who would have changed the course of history by simply meditating on the Bay of Naples encounter between Tony and Annalisa. Tony has learned this philosophy not only through his knowledge of history and political theory, but also, we can assume, by endlessly watching The Godfather, where the differences between the two Corleone sons, Michael and Sonny, are well illustrated. Sonny will die in a hail of bullets at a toll booth because he is a hot head who cannot separate business from family honor, and his brother, Michael, survives because he can make that separation. Tony Soprano walks a fine line between the Corleone brothers but it is clear that his model is Michael. It might be counterfactual, but by simply inserting “I don’t shit where I eat” into the
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See Walt, Snyder and Mansfield.
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See Anthony Schneider, Tony Soprano on Management: Leadership Lessons Inspired by America’s
Favorite Mobster
,
New York: Berkeley Group, 2004; and Deborah Himsel, Leadership Sopranos Style:
How to Become A More Effective Boss
, Chicago: Deerborn Trade Publishing, 2004.
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| | Authors: Gilbert, Arthur. |
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CONCLUSION
The Art of Diplomacy; or, What Would Tony Do?
Through four seasons (and indeed, in the fifth season), The Sopranos offers us a
text in appropriate and inappropriate diplomacy against an ever-changing crime
environment that parallels the changes taking place in the arena of international politics.
While I cannot cover it in this brief paper, the fifth season is played out against what
Jeffrey Blainey many years ago called “death watch,” and others have more recently
noted as domestic instability brought on by revolution, civil war, or the problems of
emerging democracies. (Works by Stephen Walt, Jack Snyder and Edward D. Mansfield
come to mind.)
The eventual death of Carmine (by natural causes) and the release of
prisoners from jail who return to New Jersey bring about turf wars, struggles for power,
and violence that is not unlike the fabled stories of struggles for power among the sons of
various Sultans in the Ottoman Empire. (I will cover this in another paper.)
An appropriate conclusion for this paper is to use The Sopranos text to critique
some famous decisions in the history of diplomacy. I am well aware I embark on a
precipitous course because this brings us into dangerous analogic turf. Two quick
defenses are in order. We all use analogies and, as long as they are treated with care and
caution, they can be instructive in expanding what I would call “diplomatic wisdom.”
Second, it is clear from references he makes that Tony has read both Machiavelli and Lao
Tzu and makes decisions using both theory and history. Even some of his lieutenants,
like Paulie for example, make reference to these writers and thus, it seems clear that
producer David Chase and some of his writers are comfortable in viewing Tony’s choices
with an eye to the wisdom of the past. It is not accidental that we have two books now
that turn Tony Soprano’s decisions into a text for management in business.
and management in business are surely a stone’s throw from national leadership and
diplomacy.
The title of this paper offers a primary principle which is as valid in business as in
the affairs of states. “I don’t shit where I eat” is a red flag to those who would avoid
scandal and weakening one’s ability to negotiate by mixing the private and public. It
requires very little knowledge and imagination to draw up a list of (for example)
American presidents who would have changed the course of history by simply meditating
on the Bay of Naples encounter between Tony and Annalisa. Tony has learned this
philosophy not only through his knowledge of history and political theory, but also, we
can assume, by endlessly watching The Godfather, where the differences between the two
Corleone sons, Michael and Sonny, are well illustrated. Sonny will die in a hail of bullets
at a toll booth because he is a hot head who cannot separate business from family honor,
and his brother, Michael, survives because he can make that separation. Tony Soprano
walks a fine line between the Corleone brothers but it is clear that his model is Michael.
It might be counterfactual, but by simply inserting “I don’t shit where I eat” into the
16
See Walt, Snyder and Mansfield.
17
See Anthony Schneider, Tony Soprano on Management: Leadership Lessons Inspired by America’s
Favorite Mobster
,
New York: Berkeley Group, 2004; and Deborah Himsel, Leadership Sopranos Style:
How to Become A More Effective Boss
, Chicago: Deerborn Trade Publishing, 2004.
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