Tao Te Ching on the Three Guiding Principles

Organizational principles

What are the principal traits of your company? What would your customers and employees say if you asked them? Are you sure you as a person are making an impression on your daily behavior? Often kind people with brains still end up committing de-motivating and hurtful things at work. We all do. Are you quick to repair the damage when lucidity returns? Perhaps doing the right thing is more challenging at work, where emotion and principle seem to conflict. But how do we avoid these situations? The secret is to begin with your inner voice. It knows.

Mercy, frugality and humility

From the Tao Te Ching (600 BC):

The inhabitants of the world all say that I am great [i.e., greatly tolerant], although I have the appearance of incompetence. This apparent incompetence is the result of my very greatness. In the case of one who is possessed of more than ordinary ability, he sets his mind constantly upon even the smallest matters.
Now there are three things which I regard as precious, which I grasp and prize. The first is compassion; the second is frugality; the third is not venturing to take precedence of others—modesty.
I prize compassion; therefore I am able to be fearless. I prize frugality; therefore I am able to be liberal. I prize modesty; therefore I am able to become a leader of men. But men of the present day abandon compassion, yet aim at valiance; they abandon frugality, yet aim at being liberal; they abandon modesty, yet aim at leadership. They might as well be dead.
Now when one is compassionate in battle, he will be victorious. When one is compassionate in defending, his defenses will be strong. When Heaven intends to deliver men, it employs compassion to protect them.
Chapter 67: Three Precious Things by Yellow Bridge

Universal principles

There are many translations of the Tao. Please enjoy them all. Our western religions also praise these virtues; mercy (some translations say love), frugality and humility. Perhaps it is the reason most western readers feel a sense of innate familiarity or almost deja-vu when they read eastern philosophy; they really aren’t far from their Judeo-Hellenic heritage. Many philosophers argue that there are universal principles, beginning with these three, that guide all mankind. The Quakers and Amish especially emphasize these three components of Jesus’ teachings. The Amish eschew pictures and technology in deference to them, thereby avoiding arrogance and egoism. Many would say it was these traits, more than any others, unfettered by feudal kings and lords, that built America.

Still others would say that modern culture and management practice has strayed far from these three precious ‘things’. Our prevailing role models are now garish, bold, extravagant and godless (i.e., without humility). Is it a coincidence that we view these three traits as God-like? Do we have to be religious to know and appreciate them? Or knowing them, are we attracted to the philosophies and religions that espouse them? Perhaps we can discuss causality another day.

Nevertheless, so shall our deeds be measured. Imagine then, the conflict of this sage advice:

How to Destroy a New Strategy or Idea…

Decide a change is needed
Make plans behind closed doors
Draw up charts
Call a meeting
I have come up with a grand new organizational plan
See where each of you fit in my plan
Now get to work making it happen
Tell those who resist that they are not “team players”
Take all the credit for any success
by Leading Today, June 2006

Hubris and the pains of leadership well shouldered

We do many silly and hurtful things in our organizations because we don’t begin them from our center of being. Do not most of us think of ourselves as reasonable, frugal, kind and compassionate? How then, do we come up with the tactics above? Especially when helpful methods of change management are so abundantly available, and we may happily draw on the experience of our team mates.

Ethics are most often about acting on the beliefs we have, not developing a more nuanced compass, or blindly stepping up to the ‘fearless role of leadership.’ I heartily recommend all of the references below. But beware. Change management, like new system installations (the most common form of change), has a terrible track record. The first and foremost trap to avoid is ensuring that change must come from the top who then models it. No significant change can endure without senior management’s backing. The second trap is outlined in my article above; change must go beyond participatory and become essentially self-controlled.