How we change what others think, feel, believe and do

Honoring the Worthy

Disciplines > Warfare > The Six Secret Teachings > 1.9 Honoring the Worthy

Teaching set  | Observed lessons | Discussion | See also

Teaching set

Civil Secret Teachings 1.9 (9)

Observed lessons

• Promote or otherwise recognize people who are worthy.
• Worthiness includes sincerity, trustworthiness, fairness.
• Demote or contain those who are unworthy.
• Unworthiness is seen in the six thieves: extravagance, lawlessness, disloyalty, contempt and stealing.
• Also beware the seven harms, where those who appear to deserve reward actually do not. These include those who:
  • Have courage, but not strategic ability.
  • Have high reputation but who lack substance.
  • Speak well but seek only personal gain.
  • Appear as modest sages but live outside society.
  • Are daring and bold in their quest for promotion.
  • Live a material and ornate existence.
  • Manipulate and confuse to get what they want.
• When the thieves or harms are seen, act without delay.

Discussion

The most important process in any business is selection, both in recruiting from the outside and promotion from within. Many people are highly motivated by promotion and all such advancements will be scrutinized and discussed by employees.

One of the most common problems in business is where those who underperform, who are self-focused, or who are toxic in their dealings with others, get away with their actions. Managers often fear confrontation and so selfishness and corruption can seep into the culture. Those who get away with actions that damage the organization are watched by others, and soon it becomes endemic.

See also

Values

Sawyer, R.D. (1993). The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, Basic Books