Zhuge Liang
Near the worthy, far from the small
It is about who can reach you alone
The Memorial on Sending Out the Army
Eight characters usually read as a moral instruction. What he means is narrower and more mechanical: who is able to see you privately.
What actually happened?
The memorial states it as cause and effect. Keeping near to worthy officials and far from small men is why the Former Han rose; the reverse is why the Later Han fell. Then, instead of moral advice, he arranges channels. Palace and government office are one body; reward and punishment must not differ between them. On matters in the palace, consult Guo Youzhi, Fei Yi and Dong Yun. On matters in the camp, consult Xiang Chong. And a warning: do not belittle yourself, and so block the road along which honest advice arrives.
Near and far describe a channel, not a preference
A small man is not effective because he flatters well. He is effective because he holds a route to the decision maker that nobody else has. Cut the route and the same person has no influence at all. The thing to manage is the structure, not the character.
Someone goes around every review straight to the boss and it works once. After that everyone copies him. The fix is not the man, it is the route he used.
Belittling yourself blocks the road too
Do not belittle yourself and so block the road of honest advice is the half nobody quotes. A leader who keeps saying he does not understand and is not much good leaves people unable to judge what is worth reporting, so they report less. Excessive modesty and deafness produce the same silence.
I do not really follow the technical side, you decide sounds open for a month. After six, a serious risk goes unreported because nobody knows if saying it does anything.
Name the people and the subjects
He does not say listen to good advisers. He pairs names with subject matter, one line at a time: for this class of question, that man. Named to a person, the channel is real. Left as a principle, the channel is decorative.
Important decisions should involve more voices means nothing. Naming the three roles that must be heard, with none of them skippable, changes the structure.
How do I use it today?
Where you are: you suspect that what reaches you has been reshaped on the way.
Ask first: how many routes exist that reach you without passing through anyone, and who is currently using each of them?
Where it goes wrong: blaming the character of one person; or replacing a named channel with a principle about listening to more people.
Lines to keep
Near the worthy and far from the small men: that is why they rose.
Do not belittle yourself and block the road honest advice comes along.
Palace and office are one body. Reward and punishment must not differ.
Same situation, other people are asking
By the time it reaches me, three people have smoothed it.Nobody tells me the bad news · all 1 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.