Why don't leaders write their own materials?

Leaders do not write materials, and things such as official documents ask the secretary to catch the knife and do the work for them, which has a historical tradition, at least back to Zhuge Liang.

There is a passage in volume 70 of the Zizhi Tongjian that reads:

Liang tasted the self-school book, and the main book Yang Yan went straight in, saying: "In order to cure the body, the upper and lower levels can not invade each other." Please give the Ming Gong a writer's example: There are now people who make slaves plough crops, concubines cook, chicken masters Si Chen, dog owners bark, cattle carry heavy loads, horses wading on long roads; private business is not open, all that is needed is enough, grace and high pillows, and eating and drinking. Suddenly, once he wants to do his own service, he will not pay his duties again, and he will exert his physical strength, and he will be exhausted and sleepy for this purpose, and he will not be able to achieve anything in the end. Isn't it better to be wise than a? The law of the lost master of the house also. That is why the ancients called it ' sitting and talking about the Tao , the prince ; doing and doing , it is called the doctor of the scholar . Therefore, Bingji did not ask the dead man of the crossway and was worried about the cattle, Chen Ping refused to know the number of Qiangu, yun 'has his own master', and Pi Cheng reached the body of the position. Now that the Ming Dynasty is the ruler, he is bowing down to the school book, sweating all day long, and not working hard! "Thank you." And the pawn, the light wept for three days.

One day, Zhuge Liang personally proofread the official documents in the house, and the master bookkeeper Yang Yan walked in and advised him not to work so hard, because there is a system for governing the country, and the superiors and subordinates should perform their respective duties and should not be confused.

In order to enhance his persuasiveness, Yang Made an analogy of governing the family:

There was a man who ordered slaves to plough the fields, maids to cook rice, cocks to beat and whistle, dogs to bite thieves, ox carts, and horses to walk; the result of this was that there was no waste in the affairs of the family, and everything he wanted could be satisfied, leisurely and self-sufficient, and he was just eating and drinking.

Suddenly, one day, he had to do everything himself, without slaves, chickens, dogs, cows and horses, and as a result, he was tired of his body, trapped in trivial matters, exhausted, mentally weak, but achieved nothing.

Why is there such a big difference, is his talent inferior to that of a slave and a chicken dog? No, but because he forgot his duty as head of the family.

So the ancients said: The one who sits and discusses problems and makes decisions is the prince, and the one who carries out orders and does things himself is called a scholar' The two famous chancellors of the Han Dynasty understood this truth--Bing Ji did not ask about criminal cases such as murder, but was worried that the cattle would reduce the world's grain production due to the heat (Sima Guang commented that he was "lenient, courteous, and not intimate with small things; people think that they know the general situation"); Chen Ping did not understand the country's money and grain income, but said, "These people who are specifically responsible for themselves know", and they all really understand the reasons for performing their duties. Isn't it too tiring for you to manage the national government affairs now, but to personally revise official documents and sweat all day long? ”

After listening to these words, Zhuge Liang expressed his deep gratitude. Yang Yan died, and Zhuge Liang wept for three days.

This happened in the fourth year of the Huang Dynasty (223 AD), the year when Liu Bei died and Zhuge Liang came to power.

Literally, it's hard to conclude the relationship between the two. But the fact that Zhuge Liang, the chancellor of the Shu Han Dynasty, could cry for three days showed that the relationship between the two was not ordinary, at least Yang was very important to him. However, from the Zizhi Tongjian, we can no longer find any other place where the two are related, which means that this case must be related to his crying for three days.

The official position of chief bookkeeper is the adjutant in charge of the clerical affairs under the account of the chief officials at all levels.

Volume 63 of the Literature Examination: "The official palace of the Gaigu people all have a master book and an official, from the Three Dukes and the Imperial History Office, down to the Nine Temples and Five Prisons, and even the counties and counties." ”

During the Wei and Jin dynasties, in the shogunate of the king and the local governors, the main bookkeeper often participated in the confidential and consular affairs, because he was a relative of the chief, so he was quite powerful.

There are many celebrities who have made the main book in history, such as Yang Xiu and Sima Yi, who have made the main book of Cao Cao, the king of Wei, Lü Bu has made the main book of Shi Dingyuan, and Liao has made the main book of Guan Yu. This is equivalent to the chief secretary-general and the deputy director of the office, who specializes in pushing materials.

It is estimated that after Yang Yan said this, he took over all the work of pushing materials and did not let Zhuge Liang worry, and as a result, he died of exhaustion early.

Leaders are in charge of major affairs and take care of every opportunity every day, so they generally do not write official documents in person. However, some leaders have very high requirements for materials, not only "four or six sentences" (that are all things on the surface), the key requirement is to say enough about political achievements, there can be one to say two, but there must be no two to say three, at least to say four, as for the shortcomings, we must say as tactfully as possible. This is a pain for the person who wrote the material.

Although from the perspective of the division of duties, the leader does not have to personally engage in materials, but the leaders cannot have a "material fetish" -- requiring his subordinates to repeatedly push and review layer by layer, and they must make it a groundbreaking stone.

The material of this thing does not have to be too exquisite, can explain things clearly on the line, let the secretary of the family light the lamp boiling oil to push the material, that consumes youth and life! It is said that some leaders led a few people to push in the middle of the night, and the final result was to change "laying a solid foundation" to "laying a solid foundation.". Jia Dao "twisted off several stems and whiskers" for the deliberation of a word, and the bitter bards in Tang poetry pursued "two sentences and three years, one chant and two tears". But that is all the self-amusement of the idle literati, they have time, anyway, they do not have to go to work to meet and summarize. The material is to summarize and guide the work, if it is "two sentences and three years", then the broccoli is cold.

Admittedly, large materials need to be pushed collectively. But small materials such as ordinary speech are not necessary. If the leader can't see what his subordinates write, he will start it himself. Let the secretary provide relevant information in different categories, read the information three times by himself, and add his usual thinking, the idea will definitely gradually become clear. Then the meeting, say what you have in your heart, and say a few words. It should be known that only those who tell the truth can do practical things, and only those who hold short meetings can do great things!

In this way, not only can the subordinates save them from doing useless work and making a farce of "eight drafts and nine drafts, back to the original draft", but also a short meeting, so that everyone does not have to sit under the stage and stare at the meeting, and see how many pages are left in the manuscript in your hand!

In this way, the problems of style, style, and style are solved at the same time.