The Art of Leadership — The Analects

Leadership starts with sweat, not slogans. Tsze-lu asks about government; Confucius says go before people with your example and work hard in their affairs, then adds: do not grow weary. Chung-kung, running the Chi house, learns to use officers well, pardon small faults, and promote people of talent; promote those you know, and trust others will not be ignored. When Wei invites Confucius to rule, Tsze-lu expects grand reform; the Master says rectify names first. Tsze-lu scoffs; Confucius unloads the chain: wrong names break language, broken language breaks affairs, then ritual, punishment, and public order all fail. Fan Ch'ih wants farming tips; Confucius says love ritual, righteousness, and faith and people will come carrying children on their backs. Reciting three hundred odes without knowing how to act is useless. Correct personal conduct makes orders unnecessary; wrong conduct makes them ignored. The middle weighs time, honesty, and speed. Seeing the crowd in Wei, Confucius says enrich them, then teach them. He claims twelve months for something considerable, three years for perfected government; a hundred years of good men could soften even violent crime. A minister who cannot rectify himself cannot rectify others. Duke Ding hears two proverbial sentences: knowing how hard it is to be a prince can prosper a state; loving power because no one opposes you can ruin one, especially when the words are bad. Duke of Sheh learns good government makes the near happy and draws the distant in. Tsze-hsia hears not to chase quick wins or tiny gains. When Sheh praises witnesses who turn in a father who stole a sheep, Confucius answers that in his country uprightness can mean father and son concealing each other's wrongs. Closing sorts ranks and tests popularity. Tsze-kung walks down tiers of officer quality and dismisses current officials as pecks and hampers. Confucius settles for the ardent and cautiously decided when the balanced middle is missing. Constancy matters; the superior man is affable not flattering, easy to serve and hard to please, dignified without pride. Better that the good in a neighborhood love you and the bad hate you than universal love or hate. Firm, enduring, simple, and modest sit near virtue. Tsze-lu gets the scholar's tone: earnest and urgent with friends, bland with brothers. Book XIII ends on a hard line: teach people seven years before using them in war; leading an untaught people to battle is throwing them away.