The Way of Management: Start Big, Focus on Details

Author: Xi Youmin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: In the vast world, some things are bizarre and extraordinary, while others are ordinary and unremarkable, yet few people take the time to carefully examine them. Professor Xi Youmin does not adhere to conventional norms; although his thoughts in management research roam the ocean of theory, his vision has never left reality. When reality falls into the hands of management scholars, the strange becomes (regular), and the ordinary gives birth to truth. His book "The Way of Management" is like what Zhu Xi of the Song Dynasty said: "A single strike leaves a mark, a single slap leaves a palm print," deriving profound insights from daily life. This book is a record of the author's years of thinking, essentially consisting of fragments, each standing on its own. Arranged by the author, it forms a framework, with a clear structure, but its coherence and logical flow cannot be compared to general discursive works. It starts from reality and moves towards ideals. The Analects say: "The people can be made to follow, but not to understand." Zhao Longren interprets this as "You can make the people follow your instructions, but you don't need to let them understand the meaning of the instructions." This aligns with the idea of "It is difficult to understand but easy to do." Indeed, sometimes explaining things is exhausting and ineffective—just achieving results is enough. Therefore, when the mainland introduced modernized policies, it failed to explain the various situations that arose, leading to unsatisfactory implementation results. However, there are always some people who want to know the reasons, and this book (fills) this need.