Three Taboos for Leaders: The Winning Strategy for Leaders to Avoid Pitfalls and Achieve Success

Author: Fang Jun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features:
1. Gold has no pure hue, and a leader should not demand too much of others.
You are a leader, a head of a group, and you must have very strict requirements for yourself, with all kinds of principles. It is certainly commendable to have principles, but these principles should only be strictly followed by you yourself—never impose them on your subordinates to enforce equally. Even if these principles seem to you to be the virtues everyone should possess, as long as they are unrelated to the bigger picture, it is perfectly acceptable for your subordinates to lack in this regard. As the saying goes, "Gold has no pure hue, and white jade has minor flaws." People are all flawed, from ancient times to the present, and there has never been a perfect person. Every successful leader fully recognizes this and never holds them to 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 predecessor Liu Biao, joined 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. Normally, Zhuge Liang, who had been loyal to Liu Bei and his father all his life, should not have taken in an unloyal 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 subdue him. Therefore, he decided to take him in. In this way, the outstanding leader Zhuge Liang, while adhering to his own principles, accepted a person who did not share his worldview., Zhuge Liang was extremely wise. Wei Yan made numerous contributions, both big and small, to the Shu Han regime, and was not far behind the Five Tiger Generals—Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, and Huang Zhong. If Zhuge Liang had excluded the unloyal because he himself was loyal, the establishment and consolidation of the Shu Han regime might not have been as smooth.
In real life, leaders often encounter talents who do not meet their expectations. You are a person of integrity, but your subordinate is a "playboy"; you are serious and reserved, but your subordinate is a carefree, talkative person; you are honest and selfless, but your subordinate is always looking for small gains, always taking small, worthless items from the collective for themselves.