Vision Determines Success - Vision is the Prerequisite for Success

Author: Ke Wei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features:
1. Among the most difficult things in life, nothing is more challenging than understanding people. This is a famous quote by the Song Dynasty poet Lu Jiuyuan, who revealed the fundamental philosophy of knowing and recognizing people, explaining that there is nothing more difficult in the world than understanding and identifying others. The rarity of talent is matched only by the difficulty of recognizing it. This is a shared treasure accumulated through generations' hardships. Those who possess insight into others' thoughts and actions are always able to discern the challenges of recognizing talent: the way of knowing people is beyond the reach of sages; the difficulty of knowing people lies most in distinguishing truth from falsehood; the difficulty of knowing people lies in separating the good from the bad; it is easy to gather an army, but hard to find a capable leader; although knowing people may seem easy, who can afford to underestimate the worth of talented individuals? Those who can know and recognize people will have no remaining troubles in the world. Among the most difficult things in life, nothing is more challenging than understanding people. One reason is that "the reason why things are hard to know is because they hide their true nature, stand private as public, cloak evil as virtue, and deceive people's minds." This means that the difficulty of knowing people stems from those who skillfully conceal their tracks, hide their selfishness under the guise of public interest, and disguise evil as righteousness to people's minds. The reason why such people's villainy is hard to discern is because they are protected by a facade of integrity, loyalty, and kindness. Among the most difficult things in life, nothing is more challenging than understanding people. Another reason is that "the human heart is hard to fathom." The human heart is more treacherous than mountains and rivers, harder to understand than the heavens. This means that the human heart is more dangerous than steep mountains and deep rivers, and harder to grasp than the sky. Among the most difficult things in life, nothing is more challenging than understanding people. A third reason is that "the difficulty of knowing people does not lie in their virtue or lack thereof, but in their integrity or lack thereof." The challenge of knowing people does not lie in distinguishing the virtuous from the unworthy, but in distinguishing the sincere from the insincere. People can be divided into the bad and the good, heroes into the true and the false, and gentlemen into the genuine and the counterfeit. People can also be divided into the hypocritical and the honest. Some appear honest but harbor murderous intent; some appear foolish but are actually wise ("great wisdom hides in simplicity"); some appear clever but are actually foolish ("self-proclaimed cleverness is actually foolishness"); some are two-faced, appearing one way in public and another behind closed doors. Among the most difficult things in life, nothing is more challenging than understanding people. A fourth reason is that "between the talented and the untalented, it is often deceptive." That is, between the virtuous and the unworthy, it is often deceptive and hard to distinguish. It can be said that appointing the virtuous is not difficult, but recognizing the virtuous is difficult; using the capable is not difficult, but discovering the capable is difficult. Precisely because appointing the virtuous is not particularly difficult, but recognizing the virtuous is truly difficult; using the capable is not difficult, but discovering the capable is truly difficult. Therefore, for all these reasons, it is no wonder that people often say, "In the world, knowing people is the hardest." Today's leaders, understanding the difficulty of knowing and recognizing people, will not hastily judge others, will not arbitrarily decide on personnel matters, and will more scientifically identify and utilize talent. Not only is knowing and recognizing people the hardest, but it is also the most important. What is the most important thing in the world? Some say collective matters are important; others say national matters are important; some say marriage is a lifetime matter for people; others say solving people's food problems is important. These views are not without reason. But from a more fundamental perspective, "Among the most important things in life, nothing is more important than knowing people." That is to say, relative to different perspectives,