Traditional culture and business management

Brother, you can’t just ask for a paper like this. I’ll give you some information, or you can use it directly, as long as you’re not afraid of being accused of plagiarism.

Start with the Book of Changes

The "Book of Changes" has the simplest concept. What is interesting is that this concept coincides with some management concepts currently flowing into the country from the United States. . The word "Yi" in the Book of Changes has three meanings. The first meaning is change, which means that things in the world are always in constant change. The second meaning is "not easy", which means that many things seem to be constantly changing, but in fact nothing has changed. This is the so-called "everything changes but remains true to its origins". From a scientific point of view, many things are immutable, and scientific research is to find out these immutable laws. The third meaning is the most interesting, "simple". This means that what the "Book of Changes" discusses is neither changing nor immutable things, but finding some rules between change and immutability. When we truly understand the relationship between them, we can I have a clearer understanding of my own environment and the world as a whole.

The "Book of Changes" began in the early Zhou Dynasty and has a history of almost three thousand years. Next, let’s take a look at the new theories in the United States, which is recognized by everyone today as being the absolute leader in business management. Of course, the American business community discusses business management from a very practical standpoint, while China's "Book of Changes" three thousand years ago discussed issues from a philosophical perspective. The starting points of the two are completely different. What is interesting is that the works of some management masters now pay more and more attention to the traditional Chinese concepts of "rectifying one's mind, cultivating one's character, managing one's family, governing the country, and bringing peace to the world." In addition, the relationship between "change" and "immutability" is becoming more and more important. I think it's worth discussing.

I mentioned just now that the structure of the "Book of Changes" mainly consists of sixty-four hexagrams, each of which has a hexagram. Each hexagram has six lines. Numbers one to six represent the entire process of an event from beginning to end. Each line also has a corresponding line to explain each hexagram at different times and locations. corresponding different meanings. I mentioned earlier that the word "Yi" means "not easy" on the one hand, and "changeable" on the other hand. Therefore, the meaning of each hexagram and each line is very wide, and it is often said that it is difficult to change easily. It's not very clear, so it leaves a lot of room for the reader's imagination. Therefore, some Feng Shui masters or divination practitioners have a wide range of interpretation space.

Anyone who has read the "Book of Changes" will find that this book is full of a sense of worry. On the one hand, it encourages everyone to work hard, and on the other hand, it warns people not to be proud when they are proud, otherwise good things may happen. become something bad. Among the sixty-four hexagrams and the three hundred and eighty-four lines in the "Book of Changes", there are sixty-three hexagrams that are good and bad, good and bad. There are only sixty-four lines in one hexagram. The words are very good, either auspicious or beneficial. This hexagram is the "Qian" hexagram. This is also the topic I want to talk about this time. The value of "modesty" is a very mainstream idea in traditional Chinese culture (I will talk about this idea and examples in history later). This can be seen from its source, the "Book of Changes" . Among all the hexagrams, only the hexagrams and lines of the "Qian" hexagram are auspicious. Other hexagrams such as the "No" hexagram, the "Tai" hexagram, and even the "Qian" hexagram have words such as "No Ji Tailai", "Tai Chi No Yao lines such as "Come" and "The dragon has regrets".

I will first talk about the importance that Chinese traditional culture attaches to the value of "modesty" after the "Book of Changes", then give some practical examples, and finally talk about the relationship between this value and the current mainstream thinking of corporate management. same place. Not long after the "Book of Changes" was published, Zhou Gong said to his son, "There is a way that is big enough to protect the world, medium enough to protect the country, and small enough to protect oneself. This is called modesty." This means that if the principle of "modesty" is If you understand it well and do it well, there will be great benefits whether you advance or retreat. Confucianism attaches great importance to "modesty", and I will give some simple examples.

The Analects of Confucius is the most important work of Confucianism. It is a collection of Confucius's quotations at that time compiled by Confucius's disciples. The first few sentences of "The Analects" can be said to be well-known in China, but what is interesting is that Confucius said three sentences, but most Chinese only speak the first two sentences. These three sentences are like this: "Isn't it just right to learn and practice from time to time? Isn't it a pleasure to have friends from afar? Isn't it a gentleman if a person doesn't know something but is stunned?" I don't know why everyone is talking about the third sentence. Rarely mentioned, but I think this sentence is also very important. This is Confucius's very high evaluation of the value of "modesty". It means that as a gentleman with the highest standard of conduct in Confucianism, you should do things to the best of your ability. , rather than being unhappy just because you are unknown. There is a rather impetuous social phenomenon nowadays, that is, people who do not have much real knowledge or ability want to have their names publicized all day long. The Analects of Confucius also said: "A gentleman has nothing to fight for, so he will shoot! He bows and gives way to rise and drink, and his struggle is also a gentleman." It means: "A gentleman has nothing to fight with others. If there is anything, If so, it's an archery competition. During the competition, they bow to each other before entering the arena. After shooting, they bow to each other and then retreat, and then go to the hall to drink. "This is what Confucius said here." "A gentleman has nothing to fight for." Even if he wants to fight, he should fight politely. This reflects an important feature of Confucius and Confucianism, which emphasizes humility and courtesy and despises rude and unfair competition. Let me tell you another famous story.

Confucius once went to see Laozi and had a long conversation. Confucius felt that Laozi's knowledge and thoughts were much deeper than his own. After coming out of Laozi's place, Confucius said to his students: "I see Laozi now, and he is like a dragon!" Confucius described Laozi as a dragon that sees its head but not its tail, expressing his admiration for Laozi's moral knowledge. A very humble expression. There is a saying in "The Analects of Confucius" that "among three people, there must be one who is my teacher." This is also a widely known saying, and it is also a great development of the "modesty" principle.

It needs to be pointed out that "modesty" as explained in Confucianism, especially in the Analects, does not mean simply giving in, but it means fighting for what should be fought and not fighting for what should not be fought. ; When encountering issues of principle, you still have to stick to the bottom line, so "modesty" does not mean blindly being a good person and being submissive. What did Confucius say about this? There is a story in "The Analects of Confucius" about Ji Sun, a senior official in the state of Lu, who "dances in the court with eight hundred people." As a senior official, Ji Sun used the etiquette of a monarch, which shows that he has great disrespect for his king. It was also disrespectful to the existing system at that time. That’s why Confucius said, “Eight people dancing in the court are tolerable, but who can’t be tolerated?” The examples I gave are all given from the standpoint of Confucianism. I hope to tell everyone that the essence of "modesty" is basically a complete value concept from the "Book of Changes" to Confucianism.

Taoist views on "modesty"

The source of Taoist basic concepts is Laozi's "Tao Te Ching". It is a pity that Taoism later published some inexplicable articles that no one could understand, and the color of myths and superstitions became more and more intense, which caused people to have misconceptions about Taoism. Especially during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, many people liked to talk but not do anything, and they borrowed some Taoist concepts, which caused adverse consequences. In fact, if you look through the Tao Te Ching, you will find that many of what Lao Tzu said are valuable. He said: "I have three treasures, which I must hold on to. The first is kindness, the second is frugality, and the third is not daring to be the first in the world." "Compassion" means kindness, "frugality" means frugality, and then be humble and don't be quarrelsome with others. Others fight over things. If we can do these three things, that would be a good thing. Laozi also said, "The best thing is like water. Water is good for all things and does not compete with it. It is what everyone hates, so it is less than the Tao." This means that it is best for people to do things like water. Water is beneficial to all things, but they always live in the At the bottom, there is no dispute over anything. It means that if you are as humble as water and willing to help others, there will be no disputes or disputes. The most interesting thing he said is "Because he does not fight, no one in the world can fight for it", which fully displays the meaning of the word "qian". Therefore, whether it is Confucianism, Taoism, or some ancient Chinese works that elaborate on basic concepts such as the Four Books and Five Classics, if you want to explore a very basic concept in these thoughts, then this concept is the value of "modesty". The value of "modesty" is actually a very useful value. I would also like to emphasize that the value of "modesty" is not blindly accommodating. From the earliest "Qian" hexagram in the "Book of Changes", we can see that the first few lines are all about modesty, and the later lines are all about accommodation. It's a matter of fighting, that is to say, if you just accommodate yourself, you can't really solve the problem. Since we have done a lot of humility in advance and done everything we can, it is reasonable; when we have to use force or violence to solve the problem, the possibility of winning is very high. Of course, most situations do not require us to do this. This is the basic concept of "modesty". You may think that what I am talking about is not a new idea, but although it seems like there is nothing new, in fact it is not easy to actually do it. Lao Tzu saw this two thousand and five hundred years ago. He said some very interesting words: "My words are easy to understand and easy to do, but no one in the world can understand or do them." This means what I said Everyone understands it and it is not difficult to do it, but there are not many people who can truly understand the original meaning of "modesty" and truly exert the basic spirit of "modesty", and thus benefit themselves greatly. "Humility" and character stories in traditional culture

There are many stories in history that regard "humility" as a high value. I will list a few famous ones below.

The story of Lin Xiangru and Lian Po. Lin Xiangru and Lian Po were both ministers of the Zhao State during the Warring States Period. Lin Xiangru was a civil servant and Lian Po was a military general. "Historical Records: Biography of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru" records: During the Warring States Period, the State of Zhao obtained the Heshi Bi from the State of Chu, and King Qin Zhao wanted to exchange fifteen cities for the bi. Lin Xiangru took the initiative to ask Ying to take the jade to change cities. Xiangru went to the State of Qin to offer the bibi. Seeing that the King of Qin was not sincere and refused to hand over the city, he tried to get the biscuit back and sent someone to send it back to the State of Zhao. This is the famous story of the perfect jade returning to Zhao. Because of Lin Xiangru's great achievements, King Zhao made him a high official.

King Zhao of Qin never forgot this matter, so he invited King Zhao to meet in Mianchi. King Qin said to King Zhao, "I heard that King Zhao is very good at playing the harp and harp. To add to the fun, how about asking the king to play the harp?" King Zhao knew that King Qin was humiliating him, but because he was afraid of King Qin, he had no choice but to obey. The King of Qin immediately summoned the censor and ordered him to write on the bamboo slips: "On a certain year, month and day, the King of Qin and the King of Zhao met for a drink in Mianchi, and ordered the King of Zhao to play the harp." When King Qin was feeling proud, Lin Xiangru stepped forward and said calmly: "I have heard that your Majesty is very good at Qin's music. To add to the excitement of wine, how about asking your Majesty to strike the fou?" King Qin was immediately furious and his expression suddenly changed. Lin Xiangru calmly picked up the pottery vessel used to hold the wine and presented it to King Qin Zhao. How could King Qin Zhao be willing to attack? Lin Xiangru said again: "King Qizou, please don't think you are very powerful.

Today, if you strike the foul, I will give up. If you don't hit the fou, within five steps, Xiangru will splatter the king with blood from his neck! "When Lin Xiangru said this, his eyebrows were set, his beard and hair straightened, and he pressed forward several steps in succession. The King of Qin had already experienced Lin Xiangru's power, and was afraid that he would fight to the death, so he had no choice but to hit the fou. Before the sound of the fou hit the ground, Lin Xiangru He asked the accompanying Censor of Zhao to also write on the bamboo slips: "On a certain day, the King of Zhao and the King of Qin had a drink in Mianchi, and ordered the King of Qin to strike the fou. "The king of Qin blushed with shame.

After returning to the Kingdom of Zhao, the king of Zhao was very happy and worshiped Lin Xiangru as his prime minister, ranking first among the ministers and above Lianpo.

Lian Po was an important figure in the Zhao State. After Lin Xiangru became prime minister, Lian Po was very dissatisfied and always wanted to find opportunities to humiliate him. However, Lin Xiangru kept avoiding Lian Po, so that everyone thought he could not find a chance to conflict with him. Lin Xiangru was afraid of incorruptibility, so his disciples said to Lin Xiangru: "We left our parents to serve you just because we admire your noble character. General Lian spreads evil words, but you are afraid of him and avoid him. A mediocre person would be ashamed of this situation, let alone a general! We really have no talent, please allow us to say goodbye and leave!" Lin Xiangru insisted on staying and said, "Do you think General Lian is more powerful than King Qin? The retainer replied: "General Lian is not as powerful as King Qin." Lin Xiangru said: "With the majesty of the King of Qin, I, Lin Xiangru, dare to scold him in the Qin court and insult his ministers." Although Xiangru has low talents, is he afraid of General Lian? In fact, what I am thinking of is: The reason why the powerful Qin State does not dare to invade Zhao State easily is because there are two of us! If two tigers fight against each other now, neither of them will survive. The reason why I did this was to put the national emergency first and personal hatred last! "These words later reached Lian Po's ears. He was very ashamed and felt that his demeanor was far different from Lin Xiangru's. Later, Lian Po took off his clothes and carried thorn sticks on his bare back. He went to Lin Xiangru's house to apologize and said: "I am a crude and humble person, but I didn't know that the general tolerated me to such an extent! "The two finally reconciled and became life-and-death friends, and this is how the "neck-kissing friendship" came about.

The purpose of telling this story is to tell everyone the importance of "modesty". Lin Xiangru's behavior was very great. He was able to show humility to Lian Po after he had made great achievements and became the leader of the group of officials. Lian Po was also a very great person. When he knew that he had done something wrong, he was able to face up to his mistakes. There are many people who know this story, but there are probably very few people who can do it. In fact, there are many examples in history where the vitality of the country was greatly damaged due to the disharmony between the generals and the ministers. , any method of fighting is not good, even if the person who wins temporarily is the loser in the end, the real way to solve the problem is "humility". The reason why the story of Lin Xiangru and Lian Po has been passed down through the ages is because this story tells us that only "humility" can be achieved. "Only in this way can we solve the problem and achieve a win-win situation. "Humility" is not a sign of cowardice, and Lin Xiangru is the best example in this regard.

There was a similar thing in the Three Kingdoms period, but it was not so dramatic. Zhou Yu in According to the official history, he was a very talented and open-minded man. When he was appointed as the governor by Sun Quan, he caused dissatisfaction with another person. This man was Cheng Pu, a veteran of the three dynasties who had made many military exploits for the state of Wu. , he was very dissatisfied as the deputy governor, and always looked for opportunities to have trouble with Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu tried his best to tolerate it for the sake of the country's interests. After enduring it, Cheng Pu finally realized that although he was older and more qualified, Zhou Yu was more talented. He was indeed higher than himself, and he was more suitable to be the governor. So Cheng Pu went to Zhou Yu in person to apologize, and the two became good friends.

I will give another negative example of "qian". Values ??have been valued by the Chinese people since ancient times, so many people use false and hypocritical modesty as a cover to defraud people who should not get things. The story of Wang Mang's usurpation of power in the late Western Han Dynasty is a very typical example. /p>

Wang Mang was a relative of the emperor, and he had long wanted to usurp the throne. He did a lot of things to gain fame, and everyone thought he was very humble and respectful. In fact, Wang Mang did a lot of things secretly. Human affairs. He first tried his best to put good things on his head to increase his reputation and gradually usurp state power. When the time was right, he immediately poisoned the last emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Hanping, and usurped the throne. Facts have proved that Wang Mang was not only immodest, but also very arrogant, and even harbored evil intentions. When his true colors were gradually revealed, more and more people opposed him, and finally overthrew his dynasty. p>The opposite of "modesty" is "arrogance", which is pride. Many people in history could have achieved great results, but because they were too conceited, they overestimated their achievements and did not handle setbacks or problems properly, resulting in consequences. It's a pity. I mentioned in the lecture room that the great scholar Jia Yi of the Han Dynasty not only believed in his talent, but also had a small-mindedness. In fact, the so-called small-mindedness meant that he was too proud to look at things humbly, and in the end he became depressed and ill. , died young.

Yang Xiu during the Three Kingdoms period was talented, but also very conceited. He is still very good friends with Cao Cao's son Cao Zhi. Because of his excessive pride, he aroused the jealousy of others, and the worst thing was the jealousy of Cao Cao. Cao Cao thought he was very knowledgeable, but every time he met Yang Xiu, he always saw Yang Xiu showing off his talents, which made Cao Cao feel that he was inferior to Yang Xiu.

Cao Cao was not a broad-minded person, so he could not tolerate Yang Xiu, so he later found an excuse to kill Yang Xiu. Traditional Chinese Thought and American Management Trends

I just talked a lot about traditional Chinese culture, especially the principle of "modesty" as the focus of the discussion. Let's take a look at the mainstream ideas in today's business management, especially in foreign countries, and how they are related to traditional Chinese ideas. Take the United States as an example.

In recent decades, the United States has undergone great changes in its business management thinking. If the end of World War II is taken as the starting point, the process of American business management can be divided into several stages. I have said before that at the end of World War II, the United States was the only country in the world with unique advantages: there was no war on its soil; and U.S. industry developed rapidly due to World War II. This means that for a long time, no other country can compete with the United States. During this period, it can be said that American management had no ideas and was completely arrogant. They believe that as long as something made by the United States is better than that made by other countries, everyone will rush to get it. The reason is simple: other countries are busy recovering from the war and do not have the conditions and capabilities to do these things. In the 1960s and 1970s of the last century, Europe and Japan recovered one after another and began to develop at a very fast speed. In the 1980s and 1990s of the last century, more countries developed. Not only did their production capabilities become stronger and stronger, but they also began to enter the mainstream of business management. Since the last decade of the last century, China has also entered the mainstream of economic development and business management at a very fast speed.

As the external environment continues to change, the mainstream thinking of American management has changed accordingly. Previously, the United States was self-reliant and had serious racial concepts. They believe that people of other races are less capable than white people. Other countries are inherently worse than the United States, and people in those countries are even worse than white people. The United States is particularly discriminatory against black people. By the 1980s, Japan's economy and management entered a period of rapid development, posing a threat to the United States. The United States had an arrogant attitude at first, believing that Japan's development was temporary and that the war had been lost. How could it possibly compete with the Americans in technology and management? But later facts proved that Japan gradually showed a tendency to surpass the United States in terms of products and technology, putting the United States facing a great threat. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, American companies invariably used the value of "modestness" and seriously thought about things such as "We may not do as well as companies in other countries in some places", "Our management system, our attitude towards people" Are there many imperfections in management methods that need improvement?" Reflection enabled them to correct their mistakes and make great progress. On the contrary, in the 1990s, Japan became complacent due to its success in the 1980s. "Be modest and gain, but be generous and suffer losses." Pride kept Japan in recession for a long time in the 1990s.

Now let’s analyze it and see which of the things American companies are doing should attract our sufficient attention. The mainstream thinking of American business management can be roughly summarized in two words, one is "teamwork" and the other is "respect for diversity" (Value Diversity).

First, let’s talk about team spirit. The so-called team spirit is to put the interests of the team above personal interests. This is easier said than done. Because human nature is to hope that no matter what they do, they can highlight their abilities, and few people want to be unsung heroes. Team spirit was lacking in corporate America in the past. Not only do they discriminate against people of color, they also discriminate against white women. The essence of this kind of discrimination is a manifestation of arrogance. They always feel that they are better than others, and the reason for being strong is not that their abilities are really higher than others, but because they blindly believe that white men are inherently better than others. This causes capable people to be unable to play a role due to discrimination, while incompetent people occupy more important positions. It is conceivable that the productivity and competitiveness of the entire enterprise will be greatly negatively affected by this. Influenced by the value of "modesty", corporate managers abandoned racial discrimination and placed capable people in appropriate positions. The corporate management environment began to change, and "team spirit" and "respect for diversity" were gradually realized.

The United States is a relatively special country in the world. To a large extent, its citizens immigrated from foreign countries, but the time of immigration is different. White immigrants were the earliest, and British immigrants were the first among them. Immigrants from Italy and Spain in southern Europe came later, and at that time they were still discriminated against by other white people. Black immigrants are immigrants who gradually formed from the original trade of African slaves. Asian immigration began in the twentieth century. Therefore, Americans cannot trace back a few generations to find that everyone is actually an immigrant. For the United States, the basic spirit of founding the country is to establish a diverse racial culture. However, when society is not open enough and discrimination is widespread, people living in this diverse society cannot give full play to their strengths. After the 1980s and 1990s, with the establishment of team spirit and the acceleration of globalization, the United States began to realize that it must respect diversity. Different people have different backgrounds and abilities. Once we understand this, the United States will become more competitive.

Let’s look at this from another angle. Management often goes astray because it values ??itself too much, that is, it is too proud and not modest.

Therefore, many contradictions and imbalances were caused. However, when people in the entire society, especially those in power and those with vested interests, understand that this concept needs to be changed and that capable people - no matter what their backgrounds are - can use their capabilities, we believe that, This is the development of the idea of ??"modesty" in Chinese culture. Interestingly, thousands of years ago, when our ancestors wrote the "Book of Changes", they took a very subjective position. Based on their own limited experience, they felt that "modesty" is a very important and very useful concept. If If you do it well, you will get a lot of benefits. This idea had no scientific basis at the time. But who would have thought that thousands of years later, in a globalized world, applying the principles taught by our ancestors to corporate management would actually enable companies to gain great benefits and achieve higher goals. Data proves that "modesty" can create greater centripetal force among corporate employees. If everyone in the company has a humble attitude and respects the abilities of others, the company will be more harmonious. In this case, the company's capabilities and competitiveness will definitely be greatly enhanced.

I can attest to this with my own personal experience. When I finished my PhD in the United States and started working at Bell Labs, it was the 1970s. At that time, the corporate culture encouraged everyone to be enterprising and aggressive, and to compete with others for everything. I remember that at that time, my boss and colleagues all told me that in an environment like the United States, to put it mildly, it was a society where people cannibalize people. If you don’t fight, no one will think you have done it. Well, there won’t be anything left for you in the end. At that time, almost everyone gave me similar advice. However, when I start doing things, because I am not a combative person, I still feel that I should not fight for things that should not be fought for or are not worth fighting for. Of course, not fighting does not mean that you will be bullied by others all day long, but that you must have a principle and a bottom line. Where this bottom line lies is up to you to decide, but it must have a lot to do with the environment at that time. When others do not touch this bottom line, I can be humble; but when others cross this bottom line, I must give them a clear warning. I have been working at Bell Labs for so long that I have never had a blush or quarrel with any of my colleagues. Of course, there will be conflicts and differences of opinion among colleagues. I have a simple idea about how to do things. I will tolerate things that are not worth fighting for. If the other party is a reasonable person, he will repay in a reasonable way; if the other party takes extravagant measures, I am afraid that such a person will not be able to stay in the company. how long. This is also true: some people fight for everything and look fierce, but they suffer a lot of setbacks soon after. This shows that his method will not work. Just imagine, when doing things, everyone is willing to cooperate with people who are easy to get along with and humble. When there is an opportunity for promotion, they also hope to see promotion of people who are easier to get along with and can solve problems in a friendly manner. Because such people make it easier and easier for us to do things. Few people want to get along with someone who is always quarreling and arguing with others.