Power and organisation
Liu Bang
Using people
Liu Bang (Han · 256–195 BC) — Using people.
What actually happened?
Two years into the dynasty, in 200 BC, he took three hundred and twenty thousand men north against the Xiongnu in person. He went in fast and got ahead of his own army, and Modu Chanyu closed around him at Baideng with four hundred thousand cavalry. Seven days and seven nights surrounded, with nothing coming in. He got out in the end by bribing Modu's wife. Nothing about it was unlucky. He had taken the methods that beat Xiang Yu and applied them unaltered to an opponent who was not Xiang Yu.
Use a man and trust him
He handed Han Xin an army of a million knowing perfectly well that Han Xin was the better commander of the two. Trust has a price. Withholding it has a higher one, and the bill arrives later and larger.
The specialist you hired either gets to make the call in his own area or he is an expensive way of confirming decisions you had already made.
Scatter it and people gather
Money, authority, titles, credit: he gave them away and kept little. Xiang Yu, it was said, would hold a seal of office in his hand until the corners were worn round rather than pass it to anyone.
A leader who cannot let go of the announcement, the customer relationship and the final signature will keep the people who need none of them.
Take the advice in the room
In the captured capital his instinct was to enjoy the palace. Zhang Liang told him that a man who wants the empire does not loot it first. He stopped that day, withdrew his troops, and issued the covenant of three clauses instead.
The measure of an open leader is not that advice is welcome. It is the interval between hearing it and changing the plan.
Rules short enough to repeat
A killer dies; wounding and robbery answer for themselves. Three lines replaced the whole Qin code, and the population went over to him almost at once. He understood that confidence in the rules is worth more than goods.
The policy nobody can recite is not in force, whatever the handbook says. Three lines on a wall outrank fifty pages in a drawer.
How do I use it today?
The next time you hire, write down two answers before the offer goes out: what is this person better at than me, and which decisions will I take from him rather than give to him? The sharper those two sentences are, the higher the ceiling of the team.
Deep read
Read alongside
Further
Lines to keep
These three are exceptional men, and I could use them.
Scatter wealth and people gather. Hoard it and they scatter.