Tao Te Ching and Wuwei Management

Chapter 7 6 "Can do nothing", don't fall into the misunderstanding of "do nothing"

Doing nothing does not mean letting go, doing something and not doing it is the kingly way.

Patriotism governing the people, can do nothing? —— "Tao Te Ching" Chapter 10
Rulers should always ask themselves: Can loving the country and governing the people conform to nature and govern by doing nothing?Lao Tzu's "Wuwei" philosophy system contains many original management principles, strategies, methods and ideas.In today's era of increasingly fierce economic competition and profound changes in globalization, in-depth study of Lao Tzu's "inaction" thought and exploration of the management thought contained in it will help us absorb its essence, strengthen and improve our corporate management, and build Chinese characteristics The modern enterprise management system has very important reference significance.But the premise is to understand "inaction management" objectively and rationally, and not fall into the misunderstanding of "inaction".

The "governance by doing nothing" proposed by Laozi is not a management method of doing nothing and enjoying the benefits, but a management method of "going with the flow" and "doing nothing without doing nothing" to realize its "governance". The management purpose of "a big country is like cooking a small fish".Managers should take the initiative to look at inaction management instead of passively "waiting for the rabbit".

In history, there are not a few people who understand inaction as "sit and wait for its completion". A typical one is Song Huizong, the "Taoist Emperor" in the Northern Song Dynasty.

The Northern Song Dynasty was a dynasty where Taoism was popular. Song Huizong especially loved the way of inaction, but he misunderstood "inaction" and "because of its nature".In the "Yu Jie Tao Te Ching", Lao Tzu's "inaction" is interpreted as passively conforming to nature and completely giving up what he does.Song Huizong took it for granted that governing the world is like the change of seasons, and it can be done by itself without human action.Therefore, as long as he does "because of its nature", he is a good emperor, and he does not need to distinguish whether the "natural" (that is, the various behaviors of ministers) he "causes" is good or bad.

He completely abdicated his responsibilities as an emperor, and instead let himself go and do nothing.He does not establish anything, does not waste anything, and all kinds of adverse consequences caused by this, but he is not worried at all.He completely forgot what Lao Tzu said: "A sage has no permanent mind, but takes the mind of the people as his heart", and went directly to the other extreme.His completely irresponsible attitude towards the world's chaos, and his indiscrimination between good and evil, actually promoted the development of evil forces.As a result, treacherous ministers are in power, the people are in dire straits, and finally a country is ruined and its family is destroyed.

Some scholars have pointed out that there is a difference between "you" and "wu" in "Tao Te Ching" and the "you" and "wu" understood by modern people.Modern people's understanding of "you" and "wu" is that "you" means existence, and "wu" means non-existence, which has nothing to do with cognition (this is often not the case in real life); but "you" and "wu" in "Tao Te Ching" The meaning of "nothing" is related to cognition. In short, things that people recognize are existence, and things that people don't recognize are nothing.From the comparison, we can see the difference between "you" and "wu" in "Tao Te Ching" and the "you" and "wu" understood by modern people. [-]. The root of the misunderstanding of "nothing" is also the root of the misunderstanding of "wuwei".

Lao Tzu's "inaction" does not mean "inaction". As a political principle and behavior, "inaction" has the basic characteristics of "because of its nature" and "non-transcendence of nature".From a subjective point of view, it is not to have the willingness to take the initiative to make things happen, and its behavior is not out of one's own lust or self-interest, but to think out of the people's thinking, to benefit from the people's interests, and to go out of the people's troubles Of.It is "auxiliary to the nature of all things without daring to act".Although there is thought and action, it does not come from the subjective will of the sage, so it can be called inaction in fact.

In Lao Tzu's view, "inaction" is the basic principle of the sage's "governing the world" and "taking the world".Lao Tzu advocates "doing nothing", and its metaphysical basis is "Tao is always doing nothing, but there is nothing not to do".Inaction is aimed at doing something, and refers to the non-subjective and rash actions that follow the natural development trend of things and take corresponding measures. Scientific management with philosophical wisdom.Therefore, the result of "doing nothing" is exactly "doing nothing".This is the dialectical relationship between "doing nothing" and "doing nothing".The so-called "governance by doing nothing" is actually a superb management art that obtains the greatest management benefits with the smallest leadership behavior.This art of management still has important guiding significance for today's management.

To sum up, the "inaction" in the "Tao Te Ching" does not mean doing nothing, but to do it in a seemingly "inaction" way, and to complete it in a subtle way. This is the "Tao Te Ching". The true meaning of "doing nothing".For business managers, if they want to achieve the highest management level of "governing by doing nothing", they should be based on the following prerequisites:

(1) Establish a systematic, institutionalized, standardized, scientific and practical operating system.A scientific operating system is the basis for the efficient operation of an enterprise. It is very important for enterprise management to use a scientific and effective system to regulate the behavior of employees and to restrain and motivate everyone.

(2) A high-performance team composed of strong leadership leaders.High-performance leaders must be able to exert their influence, motivate and coach subordinates, and effectively delegate power.He must not only have a far-sighted strategic vision, formulate short-term and medium-term strategic goals, but also have a strong execution ability to implement the goals set by the organization in place, so as to achieve good results.

(3) Construct a good corporate culture and use a good cultural concept to guide the behavior of employees.An enterprise is not only an army, a school, but also a family. It can improve its professionalism and comprehensive quality and ability, and at the same time feel the warmth of a big family.The enterprise has more cohesion and team spirit, which can retain the hearts of employees, so that the enterprise and employees can develop and make progress together, and the foundation will last forever.

The way to do nothing is to respect the law, which means that leaders should not sit back and let everything happen.On the contrary, leaders should take the initiative to understand and explore the development and changes of things and the internal laws of leadership activities, and carry out leadership activities on the basis of respecting objective laws. "Inaction" means respecting the law, and it also means that when a leader makes a decision, he cannot just act arbitrarily according to his own will, but must respect the wishes of all members of the organization.

(End of this chapter)