Chinese books on Leadership
by Chew

论语 has been passed down since the Han Dynasty, which is about 20 centuries ago. There has been some misunderstanding by many that it is a writing that is passed down by 孔子，Confucius. However, the fact is that it is a compilation of his teachings by his disciples through their engagements and experience with their master.

This is further elaborated in the book; 三国演义，which has loads of stories listing down the positive and negative impact of leadership. For example, lousy leaders like 董卓 (Dong Zhuo) ，刘禅 (Liu Chan) ，丁原 (Ding Yuan) are some of them who have not only failed to lead but also failed to live long enough. Both董卓 and 丁原were basically killed by their god son and it happened to be the same person, 呂布 (Lu Bu) and there is also a strategist, 诸葛亮, Zhu Ge Liang, mentioned in his conversation with 刘备, Liu Bei who one of the three rulers, that although 曹操, Cao Cao, hasthe advantage 天时, which means the advantage of the situation. 孙权 has the benefit of 地力, which is one positioned in a location that gives you the benefit during attack and defense. However, 刘备 who possesses 人和, the trust and being popular to the people, is in a much better position. 诸葛亮 rank the 3 elements saying that天时不如地力，而地力不如人和。So人和 is being ranked first, followed by 地力 and last but not least 天时. He ranks the benefit and trust of people in the topmost priority while having an upper hand in the situation last. This explains that his belief of a great leader is one who has support from the people.

It is the people who form the country; it is the people who form the world. There is a saying in Chinese, 天下是天下人的天下。It simply means that the world belongs to the people of the world. Most of the time this is to elaborate that a single ruler does not own the world but deliver what the people of the world wants. Leaders are servants. The Chinese beliefs further expand this point by saying,君者，需先天下之优而优，后天下之乐而 乐。A leader should be able to foresee and worry the future before the world starts worrying. On the other hand, they will enjoy the fruit of success after the world has tasted it. In reality, how many leaders are able to accomplish this, by putting the people’s benefit before oneself? 曹操 is one of such leader who does not act with such beliefs.

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