Why is Cao Cao good at employing people?

The first is: know people well and be suitable for their talents. It is Yu Xun and Guo Jia's comments on Cao Cao's way of employing people. Talent is unified with knowing people to make good use of them or knowing people to be good at their duties. What does it mean to know people and be good at their duties? Including three contents: first, know who is the talent; Second, know what kind of talents these people are, or what kind of talents they are; Third, know where to put these people. This is called knowing people and being good at their duties. Knowing people and being good is the first, followed by being good, and being good depends on talent. For example, what are the characteristics of Cui Yan and Mao Jie that we have repeatedly mentioned? Honest and upright, Cao Cao asked them to preside over the work of the organization department and the cadre department and select officials. Sure enough, the two of them selected and recommended people with both ability and political integrity. Let's take Zao Zuo and Ren Jun as examples. What are their characteristics? After hard work, Cao Cao let them go to the wasteland. As a result, Cao Cao's land reclamation system was carried out and implemented, and Cao Cao gained rich grain, grass and economic foundation. This is the first characteristic of Cao Cao's employment, knowing people well and being suitable for their talents. This feature, even the people who hate Cao Cao the most, such as Hong Mai, who wrote Rong Zhai's Essays, admitted that Hong Mai also had such an evaluation of Cao Cao's employment: "One official is wise and effective, and the power is divided into one county, regardless of size, which is outstanding." In other words, no matter who he arranges to do what, he is very suitable and competent. This is the first characteristic.

The second feature: push sincerity to win trust, and choose people without doubt. This is the general principle of employing people. People who doubt people don't need it, and people who know how to use people don't doubt it. But Cao Cao is a little special here. What's so special? First, Cao Cao is in troubled times. What are the characteristics of troubled times? People's hearts are floating, interpersonal relationships are tense, and people lack trust and sincerity. In Cao Cao's words, this is called "the autumn of suspicion", and everyone does not trust it. This is the first characteristic. The second feature is the dual role of Cao Cao. In Zhou Yu's words, Cao Cao was called "Han Xiang, but he was actually a Han thief". Of course, it is still uncertain whether Cao Cao is a Chinese thief. At least we can say for sure that Cao Cao still wanted to maintain the Han Dynasty in the early stage, but later his personal ambition expanded and he became a traitor and wanted to replace him. But even in the early stage, Cao Cao had his own small abacus. He nominally recruited talents for the Han Dynasty, but in fact he hoped that these talents would be used by him. But in this way, he has another advantage, and he also has a shortcoming, that is, Cao Cao's "serving the emperor to make the princes" or "relying on the emperor to make the princes". He has both advantages and disadvantages. What are his strengths? He can use the name of the central government, the Han Dynasty and the current emperor to attract talents with the official position, title and salary of this government, which is more convenient than Liu Bei and Sun Quan. What are his shortcomings? It is because he can't figure out who he is recruiting, whether he is loyal to the emperor or loyal to him, and it is inevitable that he will have doubts. The third feature is the complexity of Cao Cao's camp. There were former officials of the Eastern Han Dynasty, newly recruited officials, people brought out by Cao Cao himself, and people who took refuge in Cao Cao, surrendered to Cao Cao and surrendered to other camps of Cao Cao. Then these people are also suspicious of each other, which means that for Cao Cao, trust and sincerity are particularly important at this time, in this environment and under this condition. As the leader at this time, Cao Cao must show his tolerance and sincerity.

We have said many times that Cao Cao is so tolerant of those who betray him. He was tolerant of Zhang Xiu, Zhong Wei, Chen Bi and those who attacked him maliciously, such as Chen Lin. Why is he so tolerant of these people? He just wants to show the world that I, Cao Cao, sincerely hope that the talents from all over the world will come here to serve our country. I am sincere. Even if you betray me, I don't care, I don't regret it, I don't care, I don't even punish you. As long as you come again, he just wants to express this sincerity. So what did he get from such trust and sincerity? In exchange for loyalty. Yu Jin, for example, is a general promoted by Cao Cao himself from the ranks. When Cao Cao first went south to Zhang Xiu, didn't Zhang Xiu surrender to Cao Cao and then rebel? When he rebelled, Cao Cao was a little out of the water. At this time, Cao Jun was in a mess, but the banned team was neat, sorting out their own teams all the way, drumming all the way, and retreating in an orderly manner. On the way back, I met several other soldiers, disheveled and flustered. Yu Jin asked them what was going on. They said that we were robbed by Qingzhou soldiers. What is Qingzhou soldier? Qingzhou soldiers are the yellow turban insurrectionary army that surrendered to Cao Cao. After the Yellow Scarf Army surrendered to Cao Cao, Cao Cao incorporated them into Qingzhou soldiers, and Cao Cao was particularly tolerant of them. When these people saw Cao Cao's defeat, they rose up to make an insurrection and robbed Cao Cao's other teams. At first glance, it's ok. Since they are all tso's teams, how can they do this! Then the motorcade came to punish Qingzhou soldiers and then retreated. At this time, Qingzhou soldiers got the whole Yujin and rushed to find Cao Cao to tell Yujin. By the time Yu Jin returned to the base camp, it was already exciting, but Yu Jin packed up his team first and camped, and did not go to see Cao Cao in time. Someone told Yu Jin at that time that Qingzhou soldiers sued you. Why not make it clear to Zuo Zongtang? What are you doing camping now? Yu Jin said that the enemy soldiers would come as soon as they said. How can we meet the enemy if we are not ready? Business should be put first, personal honor and disgrace should be put behind. Besides, how wise Zuo Zongtang is, how can he listen to slanderers? After settling down the troops and getting ready for battle, I went to see Cao Cao in the Forbidden City. Cao Cao praised him and said that you really have the demeanor of a good general in ancient times. That's great. What is this? Trust for loyalty.

Cao taught students in accordance with their aptitude, and built the best bridge to communicate with talents through mutual trust, thus giving full play to Cao Cao's talent ability. Therefore, Cao Cao often works together with the general Qi Xin on the verge of failure to tide over the difficulties, especially in a treacherous troubled times, which shows Cao Cao's sincerity and tolerance. But tolerance only shows Cao Cao's human feelings. Can an army with human feelings be invincible and invincible? What kind of employment method does Cao Cao rely on to establish his authority?

The third characteristic of Cao Cao's employment is: the order is forbidden, and the rewards and punishments are clear. Cao Cao is very strict in running the army. He issued various orders many times, demanding strict military discipline. Because Cao Cao knows very well that a team without discipline cannot defeat the enemy. And Cao Wei set an example. There is a famous story that the audience may be familiar with. That is, Cao Cao once ordered not to trample on farmland when marching. He wants to protect farmers. If anyone's horse steps on a wheat field, it's a crime of decapitation. So all Cao Cao's cavalry dismounted and walked carefully, holding the horse in one hand and using weapons in the other, covering the wheat with something. Cao Cao didn't dismount himself, so the horse got a fright. A guy jumped into the wheat field, and Cao Cao's horse stepped on it. Cao Cao dismounted at once, called the military judge and said, What shall we do? The military judge said, beheaded. Cao Cao said you should be put to death. Well, how is that possible? Anyway, there is this tradition in ancient times. A commander-in-chief can't punish doctors, can't cure Shu Ren, can't apply laws to venerable ones, and can't be beheaded. Cao Cao said there was nothing he could do, so he cut his hair. He drew his sword, cut off a hair and threw it on the ground, indicating that he had been punished. This story is recorded in a book that is very unfriendly to Cao Cao. The name of this book is "Biography of Cao Cao", which shows the hypocrisy and treachery of Cao Cao. He said you killed your head when you stepped on the wheat field, but you lost a hair. Actually, it's not. Cao Cao was also punished, which is called punishment. The punishment is to shave off his hair, because the ancients thought that the parents who suffered from this skin could not stop, and the punishment was an insult, so he was still punished, which still showed Cao Cao's strict law enforcement.

Then Cao Cao's punishment was heavy and his reward was unambiguous. Cao Cao's reward to his subordinates has a characteristic, that is, unlike some handsome men, he does not rely on temporary benefits. We know that there will be many so-called handsome guys when warlords scuffle. After a battle, the battle was won. Come, come, come, you, divide it. This is for you, this is for you, this is for you. Help yourself. It seems generous, but it doesn't mean anything. To reward a person, Cao Cao must have two things. First, this man must have made a great contribution. Second, Cao Cao's reward must be in place, that is, Cao Cao's reward must exceed your desired share, and he will increase the price. He is considerate when he rewards you, perhaps more considerate than you can imagine. Cao Cao is a very considerate person. If he doesn't do it, he will do it well. Human feelings must be full. As a commander-in-chief, Cao Cao has a prominent feature, that is, he never competes with his subordinates for wind, face and credit, and all the credit goes to his subordinates; Second, his reward will never go through the motions, and it will definitely benefit you. Cao Cao is a very, very real person, and it is this real style that makes everyone feel that following Cao Cao is indeed the right thing.

The fourth characteristic is: open-minded, see the sage Si Qi. Not to mention Cao Cao, he doesn't argue with his subordinates for credit, but his subordinates give him advice. If he doesn't adopt it, he will definitely review it and take all the mistakes on himself. Of course, many times Cao Cao can teach with an open mind, which is also a very important factor to attract talents, because as a person, he certainly hopes to get due rewards through his diligence and wisdom, which is one of his hopes, but he hopes that he can display his talents and his suggestions and plans can be adopted. When we read history books, we can see that there are many such records. Mao listens to them, goes with them and does good deeds. Of course, there are times when Mao doesn't listen. If he doesn't listen and makes a mistake, Cao Cao will definitely review it. Once when Cao Cao attacked Sun Quan, Cao Cao made a decision to move all the people in Huainan to the north. At that time, a man named Jiang Ji disagreed. Cao Cao said, "You see, Yuan Shao and I fought in Guandu last time and moved all the white horses to Yanjin." Jiang Ji said, "Cao Gong, the situation is different now from when you and Yuan Shao competed for a white horse. Moreover, people are homesick and homesick. Who wants to walk around? Do not move them. Cao Cao didn't listen. As soon as he heard that Cao Cao was going to move north, he went to Sun Quan. So later Jiang Ji went to see Cao Cao. As soon as Cao Cao heard that Jiang Ji was coming, he immediately went out to meet him. Then he smiled and took Jiang Ji's hand and said, Oh, Jiang Ji, look, I made this thing. I wanted them to avoid Sun Thief, but I drove them all to Sun Thief's place. Look what I did. Look back. Moreover, we should learn from him, that is, don't always frown when reviewing. Now some of our leaders have made mistakes and don't want to review because they seem to cry when reviewing, dissecting themselves deeply and having various feelings when reviewing. You can also review with a smile, and you won't lose face when reviewing. People who accept your comments still think you are sincere.

These are the four characteristics of Cao Cao's employment. According to these four characteristics, we can sum up eight sentences:

Sincere and emotional; Open your heart and treat others sincerely; Open and honest, convince people by reasoning; Match words with deeds, take people by letter;

An order prohibiting and ruling the people according to law; Put yourself in the other's shoes to be tolerant; Young people blame themselves and reward others for their merits; Reward people by rewarding their merits.