Laozi's Advice for Good Leadership

In my previous post, I wrote about bad leadership. As a practitioner and teacher of Tai Chi, I discovered the Tao Te Ching or The Book of the Way many years ago, which is said to be the most widely translated literature work after the bible. It is the classic text of Taoism. An excellent introduction to the Tao Te Ching is given in a book review published by the Guardian in 2013: The Tao Te Ching by Laotsi : ancient wisdom for modern times.

Consider what Laozi said about leadership.

"When the Master governs, the people

are hardly aware that he exists.

Next best is a leader who is loved.

Next, one who is feared.

The worst is one who is despised.

If you don't trust the people,

you make them untrustworthy.“

The Master doesn't talk, he acts.

When his work is done,

the people say, 'Amazing: we did it, all by ourselves!'"

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