Zhuge Liang
The tears, and then the demotion
He put himself on the same list
Records of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Shu: the biographies of Zhuge Liang and Wang Ping
Executing the man he had promoted is not the hard part of this story. What he did immediately afterwards is.
What actually happened?
On the first northern campaign he passed over Wei Yan and Wu Yi, whom everyone had recommended, and gave the vanguard to Ma Su. At Jieting Ma Su went against the deployment, left the water and camped on the hill; Zhang He cut the water off and destroyed him. Back in Hanzhong, Zhuge Liang executed him to answer to the army. Then he sent up a memorial asking to be demoted three ranks, with the charge spelt out: I was not clear-sighted about men, and muddled in handling affairs. He went from chancellor to general of the right.
Punish only the executor and the fault leaks downward
The error happened in execution, but the choosing and the authorising happened above it. Handling the executor alone announces that the deciding layer carries no consequences, so the same failure returns by the same route, because the cause was never touched.
The project fails, the project manager is disciplined, and the person who approved it is untouched. The next project comes apart at the identical seam.
Self-demotion has to name the charge
He did not say responsibility rests with me too. He wrote the specific count: not clear-sighted about men. That is a charge somebody can hold up against his later behaviour. Vague self-criticism binds nobody. A named one gets remembered and used.
We all share the blame says nothing. I approved the schedule without checking it gives people a sentence to quote back at you next time.
Weep, and carry out the law
He was as close to Ma Su as to a son and executed him anyway; then mourned him personally and raised his children. Feeling and rule each ran their own course at full strength. Using the feeling to suspend the rule, or the rule to prove you have no feeling, is half a job either.
Letting go a long-serving colleague you like: the severance, the thanks and the introductions are all real, and the decision does not move.
How do I use it today?
Where you are: a failure needs accounting for, and the person who got it wrong was the one executing.
Ask first: who chose him and who authorised it, and what happened to that person? If the answer is nothing, the case is still open.
Where it goes wrong: closing the file once the executor is dealt with; or stopping your own account at the contentless phrase that you share the blame.
Lines to keep
He executed Ma Su to answer to the army.
By the rule of the Spring and Autumn, the commander answers for it.
Same situation, other people are asking
We fell into the same hole again.New people, same mistakes.I have replaced the people and the same fight came back.We punished the person who did it and it happened again.The same mistakes keep happening · all 9 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.