Text | Old Ji
Wen Hou said of Li Keyi: "Sir tasted the words: 'The family is poor and thinks of a good wife; the country is chaotic and thinks of a good wife.'" 'What about the second son, who is not in the midst of this? Right: "Inferiority does not seek respect, neglect does not seek affection." The subject was outside the gate and did not dare to take orders. ” Wen Hou Yue: "Sir, don't let me happen!" ” Ke Yue: "Junfu Cha is also the same." Depending on their relatives, rich people see what they do, da see what they do, poor see what they don't do, poor see what they don't take, the five are enough to determine, why wait! ” Wen Hou Yue: "Sir, I am determined." ” Li Ke out, see Zhai Huang. Zhai Huang said, "Who is to do it now when he hears of Mr. Junzhao and Bu Xiang?" Ke Yue: "Wei Cheng." ” Zhai Huang was indignant: "The West River guards Wu Qi, and the subject enters." Junnai was worried about Yi and submitted to Ximen Leopard. The king wants to cut down the mountain, and the subject enters the Happy Sheep. Zhongshan has been pulled out, no envoy to keep it, Mr. Chenjin. The son of the king has no fu, and the subject enters the Qu Marquis. With the eyes and ears, why should the subject fail Wei Cheng! ” Li Keyi: "Whoever speaks to the king of the Son, will he be more important than Zhou?" Jun asked Xiang Yu Ke, Ke Zhi was like this. Therefore, those who know the king will be with Wei Cheng, Wei Cheng eats Lu Qianzhong, Shi Jiu is outside, and Tithe is inside; it is YiDong Debu Zi Xia, Tian Zi Fang, and Duan Ganmu. Of these three, all the kings are masters, and those who enter the five of them by the Son are all subjects. The son was evil and wei chengbi! ” Zhai Huang said again, "Juan, despise people, misplaced, may you be a disciple!" ”
Wei Wenhou said to Li Ke: "Mr. Li once said: 'The family is poor and thinks of a good wife, and the country is chaotic and thinks of a good face.' Now I want to elect the prime minister either Wei Cheng or Zhai Huang, which of these two is more competent? ” Li Ke replied: "Subordinates do not participate in the planning of matters related to the superior, and people who are estranged do not participate in the planning of close people." I am working in the foreign country, and I am too far removed from the rank of prime minister to accept orders to propose to you the selection of prime minister. ” Wei Wenhou dun asked, "Sir, don't give in!" ” Li Ke said, "This is the reason why you don't usually investigate, Prince." To examine a person, we usually look at who we are close to, when we are rich and noble, we see who he interacts with, when we are prominent, we see who is recommended, when we are poor, we see where the bottom line of what he does not do is, and when he is poor, see if he has something to do. Examining from these five aspects is enough to decide on the candidate for prime minister, where else do you need to listen to my advice! ” Wei Wenhou said, "Sir, please go back to the palace, my candidate for prime minister has already been determined." ” Li Ke left the palace and went to see Zhai Huang. Zhai Huang asked, "I heard that today the monarch summoned you to consult the question of the candidate for the prime minister, who exactly was chosen to be the prime minister?" ” Li Ke said, "Wei Cheng." ” Zhai Huang immediately changed his face in anger and said, "Xihe Shou Ling Wu Qi, I recommended it." The monarch was worried about the governance of The Land, and I recommended Ximen Leopard to serve as the Guardian of the Land. The monarch wants to conquer zhongshan, and I recommend Le Yang. After the zhongshan kingdom was conquered, no one went to the town to guard, and I recommended you sir. The prince of the monarch had no teacher, and I recommended Qu Hou. In terms of these few things that I can remember, I am worse than Wei Cheng! ” Li Ke replied, "Did you recommend me to your monarch in order to form a party and seek high-ranking officials?" The monarch asked me who would be the prime minister, and I said the above. Therefore, I deduced that the monarch would definitely choose Wei Chengxiang for a reason, Wei Cheng enjoyed the Fenglu of a thousand bells, nine-tenths of it was used for others, and only one-tenth was reserved for writers, so Xiangdong got Bu Zixia, Tian Zifang, and Duan Ganmu, all three of whom the monarch regarded as teachers. And the five people you recommend are all appointed as subjects by the monarch. How else can you compare with Wei Cheng! ” Zhai Huang felt very ashamed when he heard this, and hurriedly saluted Li Ke repeatedly, saying, "I Zhai Huang is really a rude person, and I have lost my words just now, and I am willing to be your disciple from now on!" ”
Whether ancient or modern, the first priority of leaders is to select and promote talents, and only by selecting and appointing people can we govern the country well, make the country rich and strong, and enable the people to live and work in peace and contentment. Emperor Yao's Jian Ba Da Shun, Shang Tang's appointment of Yi Yin, King Wen of Zhou's encounter with Jiang Taigong, and even Liu Beisan's appointment of Zhuge Liang by Gu Maolu were all classic examples of ancient selection of talents and abilities, which have always been talked about.
However, it is really difficult to know people, and how to judge whether a person has the ability of a senior cadre and whether he has both political integrity and ability is also a must-answer question for a leader. In other words, only when a leader has the knowledge of others can he accurately judge the merits of others. So is there a standard for this kind of knowing people? The "Zizhi Tongjian" provides us with many useful references, and today we will combine Wei Wen's selection of the chancellor to learn the art of knowing people.
Wei Wenhou wanted to elect a chancellor, and there were two candidates--Zhai Huang and Wei Cheng, but Wei Wenhou couldn't decide who to appoint, so he summoned Li Ke, who was the local guard, to consult.
Wei Wenhou quoted a popular saying during the Warring States period: "Poor family thinks of good wife, country chaos thinks of good looks." A virtuous wife has the ability to run the family, and a virtuous prime minister should have the way of maintaining the country. Through this saying, Wei Wenhou fully expressed his expectations for the candidate for prime minister.
Wei Wenhou spoke out such a major issue as the election of the prime minister and listened to Li Ke's opinion, which showed Wei Wenhou's trust in Li Ke, and he believed that Li Ke had the ability to help him make the right choice between Zhai Huang and Wei Cheng. In addition, on major personnel arrangements, who to consult with is also a matter that leaders need to understand very well, if the question is not human, not only will not solve the problem, but may also lead to new problems. Therefore, the leader's knowledge should first understand who is the most appropriate adviser, and there must be such an adviser around him.
For ordinary people, leaders who take the initiative to consult themselves on such a major personnel issue as the selection of the prime minister will certainly be flattered, but Li Ke is very calm. He didn't talk about it, and poured out all the brains he knew. On the contrary, he shows the humility that a wise man should have, which is the most important cultivation in talking to the leader - humility, restraint, and courtesy, otherwise it will make the leader feel that you are frivolous.
Li Ke also quoted a maxim: "Inferiority does not seek respect, neglect does not seek relatives." This is an important principle for people to deal with the world, whether in the official field, the workplace, or in society, only by following this principle, can we handle the interpersonal relationship with the people around us, once this principle is violated, the light will put yourself in embarrassment, the heavy will offend the leader, wear small shoes, and be subjected to sticks, it is not known.
The closeness of interpersonal relations is an objective phenomenon, "people are not as good as new, people are not as good as the past", "brothers in battle, fathers and sons in war", no matter in what kind of social environment, first of all, we must judge what state of relationship between ourselves and the people around us, otherwise it will come out of the mouth.
Li Ke was a local keeper and claimed to be a courtier. And Wei Wenhou consulted him on the candidate for the prime minister, and the prime minister was the head of the hundred officials and Li Ke's future superior, so Li Ke had to use humility to excuse himself.
Regarding Li Ke's humility, Wei Wenhou naturally wanted to repeatedly ask, "Sir, don't let it happen." As a courtier, there is a responsibility to speak to the monarch, blindly retreating, courtesy is also not advisable, therefore, Li Ke at the urging of Wei Wenhou, this began to express his opinion on the right topic, however, he did not directly say who is more suitable to be the prime minister, but gave five aspects of the examination of senior talents, let Wei Wenhou himself come to his conclusions, not only answered Wei Wenhou's questions, but also showed a superb art of talking with the leader, while avoiding the embarrassment of choosing one of the two, therefore, Li Ke's response art, It is very worthy of our careful consideration.
Li Ke said to Wei Wenhou: "Living in the eyes of his relatives, rich people see what they do, da see what they do, poor see what they do not do, poor see what they do not take, the five are enough to determine." In fact, Li Ke listed the conditions for the person he wanted to elect first, and let Wei Wenhou himself deduce the name that was suitable for serving as the prime minister according to these conditions, this is the clever word technique, and talking with the leader can reach this level to be regarded as a wise man, and it is impossible to do it without real talent and practical learning, and if there is no real talent and practical learning, it is a courtier, a clever little person.
To look at one's relatives is to see who this person is usually close to. The so-called near Zhu is red, near ink is black, corresponding to the same voice, the same qi, what kind of person a person usually interacts with the most, what kind of person he himself is, and some people say that a friend around a person is his mirror, what kind of friend he has, what kind of person. Specifically, there is generally public opinion about what kind of person a candidate for prime minister should be close to in ordinary times. If he befriends snobs, how can he be a good prime minister? Just like many corrupt officials, who usually interact with profiteers, how can they be expected to become honest civil servants?
Wealth depends on how a person disposes of and uses wealth after he is rich, whether he is miserly or generous, whether he is profligate or daily use, whether he is mercenary or eager for justice. According to Confucius's concept, being rich and courteous should be the basic cultivation of a rich person, and after becoming rich, he should make good use of wealth to help the poor, and should receive and help relatives and friends. Like the Song Dynasty minister Fan Zhongyun, after he became rich, he established Yitian to help the poor children of the family, which is the best example of what the rich regard for. If a person cannot make good use of wealth, miserly, greedy, and mercenary, he cannot be the prime minister under any circumstances.
To see what one does is to see who one recommends after one has attained enlightenment, and if all one is a wise man, it is the duty of the prime minister. If what is cited is not a relative, it must be for the sake of pengbi adultery, party and chaos, and such a person cannot serve as the prime minister.
To look at what they do is to see where the bottom line is when a person is in trouble. The ancient word poverty refers to poverty, the so-called exhausted mountains and rivers, completely trapped in trouble, rather than the modern concept of rich and poor. A typical example is the Song Dynasty national hero Wen Tianxiang, who went through all kinds of difficulties and dangers to resist the Mongolian Yuan, and finally ran out of mountains and rivers, unable to return to heaven, and was arrested and imprisoned in the capital city. Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty, took pity on Wen Tianxiang's talents and sent various characters to persuade him to surrender, but Wen Tianxiang was unmoved, and finally left a "Song of Righteous Qi" generous and righteous. There is a sentence in the "Song of Righteous Qi": When the poor festival is seen, one by one, it is green. This kind of integrity is Wen Tianxiang's bottom line, no matter how poor he is, no matter what difficulties he encounters, even in the face of life and death, this bottom line will not be crossed. In other words, a true prime minister must uphold his duties in all circumstances.
To be poor is to have ambition when we are poor, and we cannot completely abandon our principles and bottom lines because we do not take what we do not take because we are poor. We now regard poverty and poverty as one concept, in ancient times it was two, poverty is material poverty, nothing, no food and clothing, this is poverty. When a person is so poor that he has nothing, he will often do everything out of instinct. If you can still maintain human dignity and lofty ambitions when you are materially poor, then you are qualified to become a prime minister, in the words of the Taoists, that is, not to serve as a material servant, in the words of Mencius, that is, to be poor and untouchable.
The above five aspects have been done, all qualified, this person is the best candidate for the prime minister. Although Li Ke did not directly point out his name, Wei Wenhou naturally had an answer in his heart.
It should be noted that at the end of the Q&A, neither of them broke the mystery or said the name, which is also an art of talking between a leader and a subordinate - until the point is reached, tacitly. Not to say that the broken not only has a taste, but also has room for maneuver, and there is room for maneuvering up and down. "Yi Chuan" has a cloud: if the king is not secret, he loses his subject, if he is not secret, he loses his body, and if he is not secret, he will be harmed. Both the monarch and the courtier tacitly agreed, and this was the best result of the conversation.
This situation is often encountered in the workplace, similar to your experience, poor ability, and even many places are not as good as your people get promotions and raises, and you can only silently roar in your heart: why does he appreciate and raise his salary? I am obviously much better than him in many places, why is it not me who has been promoted and raised? In fact, it is your anger that has lost itself, so that you can't calmly examine and evaluate this kind of thing, and your leader must see what you can't see, unless the leader is a complete asshole. Of course, there are many out-and-out asshole leaders in the workplace, but that's not what we're talking about.
When Li Ke left the palace, he went to see his friend Zhai Huang, one of the candidates for prime minister identified by Wei Wenhou. When Zhai Huang heard that Wei Wenhou was preparing to appoint Wei as chancellor, he immediately became indignant and angrily complained to Li Ke--"Why can Wei Cheng become a chancellor? Then he began to do his part.
Zhai Huang did indeed do a lot for the State of Wei, and also recommended Ximen Bao, Wu Qi, Le Yang, Li Ke and other outstanding talents who ruled the country and commanded the army, and these few people who were also well-known figures in the background of the history of the Warring States were also well-known figures, and none of them were idle people, so Zhai Huang thought that he was not inferior to Wei Cheng, and even had greater merits than Wei Cheng, stronger abilities than Wei Cheng, and more recommended talents than Wei Cheng, and Wei Wenhou's choice of Wei Cheng as chancellor was completely blind and completely unfair.
In the face of Zhai Huang's anger, Li Ke did not give sympathy, but directly pierced the shell of his anger, allowing Zhai Huang to see the essence of the matter. From this point of view, Zhai Huang's recommendation of Li Ke is indeed a knowing person, if it were not for a close friend like Li Ke, perhaps Zhai Huang would have fallen into anger and jealousy and could not extricate himself. Therefore, Li Ke's "living is to see their relatives" is actually suitable for everyone, and everyone must make friends who are wiser than themselves in peacetime, and they can only get the help of needles at critical moments.
Li Ke first asked Zhai Huang a question: Why did Zhai Huang recommend Wu Qi and others? Is it for the sake of friends to become richer than the week? If this is the case, then Zhai Huang is not only ineligible to serve as prime minister, but even the basic courtesanship has been lost.
Then Li Ke cited two points of Wei Cheng's superiority:
First, Wei Cheng eats a thousand bells, nine-tenths of it is used to help others, leaving only one-tenth for himself, which is what Li Ke said, "rich to see what he is with", from which it can be seen that Wei Cheng is not greedy for money, not stingy, not only for profit, he understands the principle of "wealth gathers people scattered, wealth scattered people gather", understands that people's hearts are more important than wealth, if Wei Cheng is the prime minister, he will certainly be able to use the wealth of the country to ensure people's livelihood, unite people's hearts, and nurture talents.
Second, The three people recommended by Wei Cheng to Wei Wenhou, such as Bu Zixia, Tian Zifang, and Duan Ganmu, were all masters of the king, while Zhai Huang only recommended Nengchen, which showed that Wei Cheng was far superior to Zhai Huang in terms of pattern, vision, heart, and level, and this was the gap that Zhai Huang himself could not see because of the pattern and vision.
Li Ke's words awakened Zhai Huang, and he quickly apologized to Li Ke and was willing to serve Li Ke with a teacher's courtesy from then on. It can be seen from this that Zhai Huang is indeed a very great and virtuous person, who knows what he has done and can change. If it were an ordinary person, I am afraid that li ke would be ungrateful on the spot, accusing li ke of forgetting Zhai Huang's recommendation, and even regarded Li Ke as a vendetta from then on, completely breaking up the friendship. If that were the case, Zhai Huang would not have the scale of a prime minister at all.
Confucius himself once said: He who has no friends is inferior to himself. Usually make friends must make friends with those who have high moral character, talents and outstanding people, do not always mess with fox friends who are inferior to themselves, friends like Li Ke are real friends.
At the same time, we must also learn from Zhai Huang's cultivation, although he is angry for a while, but once he sees the shortcomings he has lost, he can repent of it and not fall into the quagmire of "what he is relying on". Whether in the official arena or in the workplace, the pattern, vision, heart, and temperament always need us to constantly improve ourselves in order to shape a better self.
