Tao Te Ching and Wuwei Management

Chapter 23 "Living in a good place": Only by "being subordinate" can you be recognized by your "heart"
Water is colorless, tasteless, shadowless, invisible, speechless, silent, without desire and contention.Water is the source of all things, nourishing all things, but never competing with all things.There is a kind of selfless dedication and a mind that does not ask for anything in return; use the lowest posture to walk between nature and all things, do not choose a high place, and have the courage to go up and down; Be quiet and casual, add a unique scenery in dangerous places, and keep a clean line in dirty places; fight without fighting, water diverges when meeting things, and can gather rivers and seas without fighting with things. Tolerance is great; Flow can wash away filth and pedantry, and remove bitterness, chaos, and noise... The highest level of management should be in line with the virtue of water.

1 "Living in a good place": Only when you are "down" can you get the approval of your "heart"
When water is in a good place, it can become vast; when people are in a low position, it can become great.

Good place. —— "Tao Te Ching" Chapter 8
Water is born from the ground and falls from the sky; water is everywhere, the slow stream, the rushing river and the vast sea are the world of water; water looks simple and unpretentious on the surface, but in fact it is extremely deep inside.A real wise man always lives like water, is as sincere as water, and flows silently through mountains, grasslands, wilderness, fields like water... Water can "dwell in a good place", and the place where it stays is what everyone wants The loathsome lowlands.The sage studies water, and his dwellings are often in places where mountains and dews are not visible.

Leaders should also "live in a good place", that is, in an indisputable place.Leaders are chaste and self-sufficient, keep virtue as the foundation, and be neighbors with virtue. They should be like water at all times, everywhere, and in everything. Maintain a neutral state of mind and body.In this way, naturally there will be no worries.

"So if you want to be superior to the people, you must speak to the people below; if you want to be the first to the people, you must be behind." If you want to be a superior person, you must be polite; Things must be given to others in order to bring real benefits to oneself. "Those who make good use of people are inferior. It is for the indisputable virtue, it is the power of using people, and it is said to match the ancient times." Han Feizi's legal thought is undoubtedly the position of "superior", which eventually led to the demise of the Qin Dynasty and the own victim.Therefore, our leaders must be good at being subordinates, and win the recognition and support of employees by "dealing with subordinates". "Offering" can also stimulate the creativity and potential of employees, so that employees can really work for the company, thus driving the company into a normal win-win cycle.Leaders must obey the needs of the entire team, and must not put personal interests and hobbies above collective interests.The value of leadership lies in service, and only when the leader truly sacrifices his own interests for the sake of the team can his authority be truly established.

"Don't want to be like jade, and Luo Luo is like a stone." This sentence of Lao Tzu tells us: as a manager, it is easy to attract attention when he is in a leadership position. A deeper and deeper hierarchal gap forms between subordinates.The result of this is the loss of cohesion, that is, mutual alienation and even confrontation between leaders and subordinates.At the same time, when this level gap exists in the enterprise for too long, it will cause subordinates' psychological imbalance and psychological barriers, which will not benefit the physical and mental health of subordinates, but will also affect their work quality.

So, how to solve this problem?Lao Tzu told us that the best answer is "Don't want to be like jade" but "Luo Luo is like a stone".The so-called "don't want to be like jade and Luoluo like stone" means that the leaders of enterprises should not be as bright and bright as beautiful jade to attract people's attention, but as dull and colorful as stones, ordinary and nothing special.

There is a company in the northwestern region of the United States. Every midsummer, a celebration called "Thanksgiving Week" is held to celebrate the company's achievements in surviving fierce competition.One of the liveliest and most attractive places during Appreciation Week was a fun game: Employees played ball-to-target at an old-fashioned "soak" machine Hit the target, and a beautiful girl is thrown into the water.And during Appreciation Week, when an employee throws a ball and hits the target, it's not the girl who throws it into the water, but the company's department manager.These managers take turns sitting in the "soaking water" game machine, waiting to be thrown into the water by the employees.

This game seems to lose the "dignity" of the manager.However, it is this kind of "humbleness" of the managers that brings the psychological balance of the employees, the gap between the superior and the subordinate disappears, and the hearts of the people can be united amidst the joy.Cultural customs are different. Of course, we don't necessarily have to use this kind of "thank you week" to obtain the psychological balance of employees, but we must be "like a stone".

"The reason why Jianghai can be the king of a hundred valleys is because he is good at bringing them down, so he can be the king of a hundred valleys. Therefore, if he wants to be superior to the people, he must speak to the people, and if he wants to be the first to the people, he must be behind him."The reason why the sea can accommodate all rivers and become the king of all valleys is because it is in the lowest position.Therefore, if you want to become the "Valley King", you should first learn to "handle the subordinates".Only in this way can we get real recognition and support from employees.Just imagine, how can a leader who is condescending, domineering, and disrespectful of his subordinates win the trust and support of his subordinates all day long?Numerous examples at all times and in all over the world can prove its correctness.Liu Bei condescended to pay three visits to the thatched cottage, and finally became a "three-legged confrontation" situation; Qianlong made several visits in disguise and sympathized with the people's sentiments, and only then did the "Qianlong prosperous age" appear; Opportunities for awards... For an enterprise, "being subordinate" has very practical significance for correctly handling the internal and external relations of the enterprise.

"Those who make good use of others do their best."Only when leaders are good at dealing with subordinates can they win the recognition and support of employees.Generally speaking, the organizational structure of an enterprise is in the shape of a pyramid. The upper end of the tower is the winner, who is the policy maker, and they enjoy rights; the lower end of the tower is the ordinary people who are managed, and they are the target of the policy.The upper end has a great degree of control over the lower end.However, this kind of pyramidal control cannot last long, and it is prone to problems, and it will collapse from time to time.The reason is that the policy makers at the top of the tower often no longer understand the internal situation of the enterprise because they are too comfortable or superior, so that their subjectivity is quickly divorced from reality, making frequent decision-making mistakes, and eventually leading to the abyss of bankruptcy .How can this consequence be avoided?There is only one way is to learn to "handle down".Only when leaders are good at dealing with subordinates, value the ideas of employees, and improve the way of communication between employees and managers, can the enterprise have sustainable vitality.The corporate organizational structure produced under this new thinking is not a pyramid shape, but a flat one that emphasizes the family atmosphere.For example, Microsoft's non-hierarchical personality management, General Electric's "emotional management" and so on.

The important reason why Li Ka-shing was able to succeed is also to know the clever method of "dealing with subordinates".As we all know, most of Li Ka-shing's subordinates are outstanding senior executives. How did Li Ka-shing "subdue the dragon and subdue the tiger" to make them obey him?Li Ka-shing gave a clear answer to this: "The relationship between them and me is very good. On the one hand, I have worked and been paid, and I know what their hopes are. Therefore, all my administrative staff, including Non-administrative personnel, in the past ten to 20 years, the change is the smallest among all large Hong Kong companies, for example, the turnover rate of senior executives is less than [-]%. Why? First, you give him good treatment; second , You give him a good future, let him have a sense of responsibility, your company's performance is [-]% linked to him."

Li Ka-shing's successful example proves that he is a good "King of Valley" who is good at dealing with his subordinates.Under the new thinking of "dealing with subordinates", many new methods have emerged, such as: service-oriented leadership style, value-based leadership method, people-oriented management principle, negotiation style that distinguishes between problems and people, and so on.All of these have brought continuous power and vitality to the development of the enterprise.

(End of this chapter)