The General's Awesomeness

Discussion

The admonition 'execute the great and reward the small' reflects an important reversal of the modern world, where the rich get richer as they take the rewards and ordinary people work for little reward. The result is widespread demotivation and disaffection.

When senior people are punished, other senior people are reminded of who is in charge and will be less likely to try to build their own power too much. Ordinary people think 'If the leader can harm senior staff, then they would have no qualms in punishing me even more severely'. They many also think 'This will keep the senior staff in line and stop them being unkind to me.'

When ordinary people are punished, others may be grateful that they were not punished and perhaps be more compliant in future. They may also feel sorry for person punished and increase their dislike of authority and resort more to subtle resistance.

When senior people are rewarded, ordinary people become cynical and may resent this as they feel they did all the hard work. When ordinary people are rewarded, others may be envious, but they will also feel that the person selected represents all ordinary people. This is the principle behind the 'tomb of the unknown soldier'.

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