This study describes a comparative analysis of characteristics of directors of nonprofit day care centers and directors of proprietary day care centers to discover whether directors exhibited Machiavellian characteristics. Characteristics considered Machiavellian were tendencies toward manipulating other people and using other people to one's advantage. Basic demographic information was collected from 94 directors in 101 day care centers in the St. Louis area, and analyzed with scores on the Mach IV scale, which quantifies a person's general strategy for dealing with other people. Results showed that directors of proprietary day care centers tended to exhibit more Machiavellian characteristics in interaction with others, such as staff members, parents, and children than directors of nonprofit day care centers. Whether the director directs more than one center was also found to be predictive of the Mach IV score. It was suggested that proprietary day care center directors may have to manipulate others for economic survival. (BRT)