Yan Ying
The Price of Shoes
To be heard by someone above you, hand him a figure he can check himself
Zuo Commentary, Duke Zhao, year 3
Your boss's decision is hurting people, but 'that's wrong' will only bounce off. How did Yan Ying get a duke to ease his punishments with a remark about shoes?
What actually happened?
Duke Jing of Qi found Yan Ying's house cramped and noisy, right beside the market, and offered him a better one on higher ground. Yan Ying declined. The duke laughed and asked: living there, you must know what is dear and what is cheap? Those were the years of the duke's heaviest punishments, and the market sold special shoes for people whose feet had been cut off. Yan Ying did not say the punishments were too harsh. He said the shoes for the maimed were dear, and ordinary shoes were cheap. The duke understood, and eased his punishments.
Do not accuse; report a figure
He did not say 'you punish too much,' and he did not lecture on mercy. He told the duke what was selling in the market. Criticism makes a person defend himself; a price does not, because he can go and check it, and the conclusion is his own.
Do not say 'you are squeezing sales too hard.' Say 'of the seven who left this quarter, five were in sales.'
Choose the figure that points at the wound
A market has hundreds of prices. He picked the shoes: they were dear because many wanted them, and many wanted them because many had lost their feet. Which number you pick decides whether the listener hears an argument or an insult.
Not 'we cannot finish this,' but 'last time we had this schedule, we worked six weekends.'
The door has to be opened first
The remark was possible because the duke opened it with an idle question, not an interrogation and not 'does anyone have concerns?' If you want the truth from below, open the door on something small, not on the big subject.
Do not ask 'any comments on this plan?' Ask 'which problem did you hit last time that is related to this?'
How do I use it today?
Where you are: you can see that a decision above you is wrong, saying 'that's wrong' to his face would just collide, and keeping quiet eats at you.
Ask first: is there one concrete fact or number that he can check himself and that finishes my sentence for me? Does it point at the real wound?
Where it goes wrong: 'not saying it outright' becomes 'not saying it'. Yan Ying's figure pointed straight at the punishments and the duke got it at once. If your number takes three turns to reach the problem, he will not hear it.
Lines to keep
You live by the market. What is dear, and what is cheap?
Since I profit from it, how could I not know?
Shoes for the maimed are dear; ordinary shoes are cheap.
Same situation, other people are asking
How much of my hand do I show in this meeting?What he tells me and what he wants are not the same.I want to tell my boss he's wrong, and I can't afford a head-on clash.I have one conversation to get right · all 3 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.