greatest wisdom book

Chapter 80 Gathering Momentum Part 2
To be the root of it: a strong charisma

Generals are wisdom, faith, benevolence, courage, and strictness.

In the eyes of most people, charisma is the most elusive mysterious factor, a mysterious and almost magical career propellant.It is a charming temperament and charisma that make you an outstanding leader.In fact, courage is just a form of expression of strong strength.As a leader, one should have extraordinary talents and outstanding abilities, only in this way can everyone be recognized and convinced.

In "Sun Tzu's Art of War", Sun Wu put forward five requirements for the leader as a general: "Generals, wisdom, trust, benevolence, courage, and strictness." That is, wit, integrity, benevolence, bravery, and strictness.These requirements put forward by Sun Tzu apply not only to generals in war, but also to leaders in real life. "Zhi" means witty, wise, and wise.Not only does the leader need to be flexible in thinking, but he also needs to have a certain professional ability, which is what we call "professional quality" today. Wisdom is an indispensable quality for generals.

Zhuge Liang is famous for his wisdom in history. He often used ingenuity to outwit others, making Liu Bei's reckless army grow stronger and stronger, and became an army that competed with Wei and Wu in the Three Kingdoms.After the defeat of Jieting, Sima Yi's 20 troops surrounded the isolated city with only 200 people left behind.When the soldiers approached the city, Zhuge Liang still sat alone on the top of the city, burning incense and playing the piano, making Sima Yi think that there was a fraud, so he retreated.When the enemy was strong and we were weak, Zhuge Liang cleverly designed a plan to lead Cao Jun into Xinye, leaving a city gate as an exit, and attacked Cao Jun with fire.There are also seven captures of Meng Huo, three qi of Zhou Yu, straw boat borrowing arrows, etc., making Zhuge Liang synonymous with wisdom.

Wisdom is the best proof of strength.A person with real talent and learning is more able to solve practical problems, and it is easier to win the respect of others. It can even be said that a person with "wisdom" can accomplish everything.

"Trust" means to be honest and trustworthy.Integrity is not only a necessary quality for leaders, but also a necessary quality for all people to stand in the world.An honest person is consistent with what he says and what he says, and does not make promises easily. Once a decision is made, he can gain the trust of others.

In order to convince the people of his sincerity for the reform, Shang Yang set up a pole at the gate of the city, and promised that as long as someone moved the pole to another city gate, he would be rewarded with a lot of money.At first people were skeptical, but then a reckless man saw that no one would do anything, so he picked up the pole and walked straight to the agreed city gate. After arriving, he really got Shang Yang's bonus.Shang Yang spent so much time and effort precisely to win the trust of the masses so that his reforms could be implemented.Keeping promises and keeping promises are not only the basis for a team to survive, but also the foundation of leadership.

"Benevolence" means benevolence and benevolence, which is one of the essences of traditional Chinese culture, and has different requirements and standards for different people.For ancient leaders, due to the deep concept of status and hierarchy, if a general can show compassion to his subordinates, it will be regarded as great benevolence and great love.Today, we respect the equal relationship between people, and we need to be more considerate and generous to others.Only in this way can we get along well with others, and on this basis, we can cooperate and coordinate.

"Courage" means courage and bravery. For a leader, he must have the courage to take responsibility, dare to innovate, and dare to take risks.

What a soldier needs to care about is how to defend his position, while a general has to worry about the safety of a line of defense and the overall situation of the war.The more people know, the easier it is for people to develop fear, which requires leaders to show more courage and boldness than others, and boldly promote their own ideas.Just like Wang Anshi, who promoted the reform, said: "People's words are not enough to be sympathetic, the changes of the sky are not enough to be feared, and the ancestors are not enough to follow the law."

"Strictness" means strict self-discipline, strict discipline with others, and strict rewards and punishments.If the wisdom, faith, benevolence, and courage mentioned above are all requirements for the leader's personal cultivation, then strictness is the requirement for the leader to handle team relations.In addition to being strict with self-discipline, making yourself an excellent leader and leading by example, you must also take team affairs seriously and establish a strict image among members.We often say "Strict teachers lead to high-quality apprentices". It is precisely because of strict training and requirements that we can work together.

Many well-known armies in history, such as the "Yang Family General" and "Yue Family Army", were strictly disciplined troops and never allowed to do anything wrong to the people, and thus won the hearts of the people.The "Three Major Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention" established by the Chinese People's Liberation Army since its founding are all manifestations of strict discipline.At the same time, the "strictness" of the leadership must be properly measured, and the right of members to make suggestions cannot be restricted, otherwise it will become autocratic and dictatorial.

Whether as the commander-in-chief of an army or the leader of a group, the five qualities of "wisdom, trust, benevolence, courage, and strictness" mentioned in "Sun Tzu's Art of War" are very important.Only with these qualities at the same time can we be called an excellent leader and lead the team to an invincible position.

(End of this chapter)