The Annals of Lu Buwei
Stop reading the impression; change his position
Eight observations and six tests, and the cheap ones come last
The Annals of Lu Buwei, 'Judging Men', in the almanac of the third month of spring
I keep misreading people and see the tells only afterwards. This chapter says an impression is not evidence.
What actually happened?
'Judging Men' offers no art of reading faces. It offers a list of positions. When a man is prosperous, watch whom he treats with ceremony; when honoured, whom he puts forward; when rich, whom he keeps; when listened to, what he does; at rest, what he enjoys; among intimates, what he says. All six wait until he has something to give. The cheap two come last: when he is poor, watch what he refuses; when he is low, watch what he will not do.
It asks about the position, not the character
Not one clause in the list rates the man as good or bad. Each asks where he is standing right now and which face that position pulls out of him. Change the position and you change what is worth watching.
His first six months after a promotion tell you more than his whole CV.
The two cheapest tests are the last two
The first six wait for him to have something to give, to recommend, to keep, which is expensive to arrange. These two only watch what he turns down when money is tight and what he will not do from a low seat. They cost nothing and are hard to fake for long.
Before the deal starts, see whether he will report a number that hurts him.
Six tests: feeling is the developer
Delight tests what he holds to, pleasure what he leans towards, anger his restraint, fear his singularity, grief his humanity, hardship his resolve. Everyone is decent while calm. It does not ask you to provoke anyone, only not to miss the moments that arrive on their own.
The week the project died, you saw the truest version of him.
Before the eight outside, ask the few inside
The chapter adds six kin and four confidants: father, mother, brothers, wife, children, then friends, old acquaintances, neighbours and dependants. Nearest and furthest are used together, for a plain reason. The outer layer is the part that can be performed for you.
What three years of colleagues say beats three hours of interview.
It assumes from the start that you will be wrong
The premise is not that the method makes you infallible but that one look does not count. Eight positions and six feelings are fourteen samples that do not depend on each other. No single one is enough; what you want is agreement among them.
You have only seen him with the wind behind him, so hold the verdict.
How do I use it today?
Where you are: someone burned you once, and now you hold something back from everybody, which is both tiring and costly.
Ask first: how many different kinds of occasion does my read of him come from - if they are all one kind, that is one sample, not five.
Where it goes wrong: read as a script for catching people out, aimed at the two clauses about poverty and low station. It describes watching, not staging. Manufacture a hardship to test someone and what you learn is about you.
Lines to keep
What he wants is easy to fake; what he refuses is not.
A face seen only in good weather is one sample.
One correct read is luck; fourteen samples is a judgement.
Same situation, other people are asking
It happened once and now I don't trust anyone.I keep giving him one more chance.I have the proof of who wavered. Do I go through it?I was taken in and I can't see how I missed it.I trusted the wrong person · all 6 questions →If this one named what you are going through,
send it to someone who needs it, or keep it somewhere you will find it again.