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 others are ordinary, yet few people take the time to carefully examine them. Professor Xi Youmin is not bound by conventions. While his thoughts in management research roam freely in the ocean of theory, his vision never departs from 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 slap leaves a palm print," deriving profound insights from daily life. This book is a record of the author's years of reflection. Its essence is fragmented, with each piece standing on its own, arranged by the author into a framework. Although its structure is clear, its coherence and logical flow cannot be compared to general expository books. It starts from reality and moves toward 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 don't need to let them understand the meaning of the instructions," which aligns with the idea of "It is easier to act than to understand." Indeed, sometimes explaining is both tedious 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 those who want to know the root causes, and this book fills that need.