Three Taboos for Leaders - Winning Strategies for Leaders to Avoid Pitfalls and Achieve Success

Author: Fang Jun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features:
1. Gold has no pure color; leaders should not demand too much of their subordinates.
You are a leader, a leader of a group, and you must have very strict requirements for yourself, with all kinds of principles. It is certainly praiseworthy to have principles, but these principles should only be strictly followed by yourself, never forcing your subordinates to do the same. Even if these principles are, in your opinion, the integrity everyone should have, as long as they are unrelated to the bigger picture, it is acceptable for your subordinates to lack in this regard. As the saying goes, "Gold has no pure color, white jade has slight flaws." People all have flaws, from ancient times to the present, there has never been a perfect person. Every successful leader fully recognizes this and never demands perfection.
In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there is a story that perfectly illustrates an excellent leader who does not impose his own principles on his subordinates. Shortly after the Battle of Red Cliffs, Wei Yan, a former general under Liu Bei's rival Liu Biao in Jing Province, came to join Liu Bei. Based on Wei Yan's past behavior and his own observations, Zhuge Liang concluded that Wei Yan was not loyal and would inevitably rebel in the future. Normally, Zhuge Liang, who had been loyal to Liu Bei and his father all his life, should not have taken in an unloyal figure like Wei Yan. However, the outcome was unexpected. Zhuge Liang also believed that Wei Yan was highly capable and could be useful to Liu Bei, and that he could tame Wei Yan. Therefore, he decided to take him in. In this way, the outstanding leader Zhuge Liang, while adhering to his own principles, took in a person who did not share his worldview.
History proved Zhuge Liang to be highly astute. Wei Yan made significant contributions to the Shu Han regime, no less impressive than the Five Tiger Generals—Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, and Huang Zhong. If Zhuge Liang had excluded Wei Yan simply because he was loyal and accepted an unloyal person, the establishment and consolidation of the Shu Han regime might not have been as smooth.
In real life, leaders often encounter talent that they are not entirely satisfied with. You are a person of integrity, but your subordinate is a "playboy"; you are serious and speak precisely, but your subordinate is a jokester and a smooth-talker; you are upright and selfless, but your subordinate loves to take small advantages, always appropriating some worthless small items from the collective for themselves.