Leadership

The skill that is taught is not the skill.
Leadership that is taught is not skilful leadership.

Leadership doesn't take sides. It welcomes every opinion.
The more you use it, the more it produces.
The more you talk of it, the less you understand.
It is like a jug: empty yet inexhaustible.

We shape clay into a jug, and yet it is the emptiness that holds what we want.
We erect walls to form a house, and yet it is the inner space that makes it liveable.
A person leads with direction, and yet it is non-direction that makes it leadership.

Fill a bowl to the brim, and it will spill.
Sharpen a knife excessively, and it will blunt.
Care about people's approval, and you will be their prisoner.
Do only what is necessary, then step back.

Success is as dangerous as failure.
Power is as limiting as weakness.
Whether you climb up or down the ladder, your position is shaky.
When you stand with two feet on the ground, you will always keep your balance.

He who stands on tiptoe doesn't stand firm.
He who rushes ahead doesn't go far.
He who defines himself can't know who he really is.
He who wields power cannot empower himself.
He who clings to his achievements will create nothing that endures.

If you want to lead: do your job, then let go.
If you want to become admired, allow yourself to be despised.
If you want to become useful, allow yourself to be useless.
If you want to grow, allow yourself to shrink.
If you want to gain everything, give everything up.

The leader sets an example for others.
Because they don't display themselves, people can see their own value.
Because they have nothing to prove, people can trust their words.
Because they don't know who they are, people recognize themselves in him.
Because they have no goal in mind, they succeed in everything they do.

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is wisdom.
Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is freedom.
When you know that you have done enough, your work begins.
When you stop trying to lead, your leadership endures.

When the master leads, the people are hardly aware that they exist.
Next best is a leader who is loved.
Next, one who is feared.
The worst is a leader who is despised.

If you don't trust the people, you make them untrustworthy.
The leader doesn't talk; they act.
When their work is done, the people say, "Amazing! We did it, all by ourselves."

Throw away governance, and people will be unburdened.
Throw away morality, and people will do the right thing.
Throw away planning, and not a deadline will be missed.

When processes fail, ownership emerges.
When there are no rules, order is born.
When a group disbands, solidarity is formed.
When leadership is forgotten, leaders appear.

If you want to remove something, you must first allow it to grow.
If you want to grow something, you must first allow it to fester.
The soft overcomes the stubborn; system emerges from chaos.
Let your workings remain a mystery. Just show people the results.

Success or failure, which is more destructive?
Money or happiness, which is more valuable?
Recognition or integrity, which is more important?

What is a good man but a bad man's teacher?
What is a bad man but a good leader's job?
The leader is available to all people and doesn't reject anyone.
He is ready to use every situation without waste.

True intellect seems simple.
True wisdom seems foolish.
Right action is inaction.
Right effort is effortless.
The leader allows things to happen.
They step out of the way and shape events as they come.

In the pursuit of leadership, every day, something is added.
In the practice of leadership, every day, something is removed.
Less and less do you need to force things, until finally, you arrive at non-action.
When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.

That which has no substance enters where there is no space.
Teaching without words, performing without actions, that is the Leaders's Way.

Let go of law, and people become honest.
Let go of direction, and people become driven.
Let go of all desire for fairness, and people become fair.
Let go of all desire for the common good, and good becomes common.

If you lead with tolerance, the people are comfortable and honest.
If you lead with repression, the people are depressed and crafty.
Try to make people happy, and you lay the groundwork for misery.
Try to make people moral, and you lay the groundwork for vice.

The leader is content to serve as an example and not to impose their will.
They are pointed but don't pierce. Straightforward but supple.
Let go of fixed plans and concepts, and the world will govern itself.

What is rooted is easy to nourish.
What is recent is easy to correct.
What is brittle is easy to break.
What is small is easy to scatter.

Prevent trouble before it arises.
Put things in order before they exist.
Rushing into action, you fail.
Trying to grasp things, you break them.

Forcing a project to completion, you ruin what was almost ripe.
Therefore, the leader takes action by letting things take their course.
They remain as calm at the end as at the beginning.
They have nothing and therefore have nothing to lose.

What they learn is to unlearn.
What they do is non-action.
They simply remind people of their own greatness.
They care for nothing but leadership; therefore they can take care of everything.

When a leader makes a mistake, they realize it.
Having realized it, they admit it.
Having admitted it, they correct it.
Leaders consider those who point out their faults as their most benevolent teachers.
Leaders think of his detractors as the shadow that they themselves cast.

Act without doing, work without effort.
Think of the small as large and the few as many.
Confront the difficult while it is still easy.
Accomplish the great task by a series of small acts.

The leader never reaches for the great; thus, they achieve greatness.
When they run into a difficulty, they stop and give themselves to it.
Leaders don't cling to their own comfort; thus, problems are no problem for them.

All streams flow to the sea because it is the lowest point.
If you want to govern the people, you must place yourself below them.
If you want to lead the people, you must learn how to follow them.

The leader is above the people, and no one feels oppressed.
They take control, and no one feels manipulated.

The people are grateful to the leader because they compete with no one.
Because they compete with no one, no one can compete with them.