Chapter 82 Serve with carrots and sticks

"Carrot and stick" is one of the incentives.This metaphor refers to the use of rewards as bait and punishment as a spur to get people to act.The most sensational use of this strategy was President Theodore Roosevelt of the United States. The twenty-sixth President of the United States, T. Roosevelt, proposed and implemented a foreign policy of threat of force and war blackmail.In one of his speeches, he quoted an African proverb, "Hold a big stick and taste like honey, and you can walk all over the world without rushing" to explain his foreign policy during his term of office, which later developed into the so-called "stick and carrot policy". At the beginning of the 20th century, relying on its greatly enhanced military and economic power, the United States actively pursued outward expansion plans and intensified its aggression against Latin America, especially the Caribbean region.Based on AT Mahan's theory of sea dominance, Roosevelt advocated the use of force as the backing to force Latin American countries to "follow the rules" and obey the orders of the United States.

This is an example of using carrots and sticks in diplomacy, and there are many people in power who use this strategy in "internal diplomacy".In Chinese history, emperors of all dynasties paid great attention to using this strategy to consolidate their dominance.Zhu Yuanzhang is known as the "Lord of Conjectures" in history, he is both ambitious and suspicious.After he became emperor, he left behind the humility and meritocracy that he had when he conquered the world, and what he thought about day and night was to maintain his absolute dignity and the world.For this reason, he used all kinds of despicable methods to eliminate dissidents and kill heroes.

Li Shanchang was famous for his resourcefulness and decisiveness in the battle with Zhu Yuanzhang.In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, he organized the formulation of laws and regulations and ancestral temple etiquette.After Zhu Yuanzhang's status stabilized, his attitude towards Li Shanchang changed drastically.Li Shanchang was praised by him as "decisive" in the past, but now he is said to be "arbitrary".In the past, he authorized Li Shanchang to deal with difficult problems first, and praised him as "sharing my worries", but now he said that he "has no emperor".Zhu Yuanzhang became suspicious of Li Shanchang's great achievements and power.However, considering Li Shanchang's high merit and prestige, he would act recklessly for fear of accidents, so he used big sticks to beat him and carrots to comfort him, which not only eliminated Li Shanchang's adverse influence on him, but also prevented accidents from happening.The specific analysis is as follows:

Big stick.Look for an opportunity to cut off Li Shanchang's real power.Li Shanchang, who knew Zhu Yuanzhang well, felt the emperor's suspicion of him. For several days, Li Shanchang did not go to court due to illness, so he took the opportunity to give Zhu Yuanzhang a memorial. First, he apologized for not being able to go to court to discuss politics. After becoming an official (retired), check Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude towards himself.According to the usual practice, Zhu Yuanzhang should issue condolences and retain him, but he came along and approved Li Shanchang's retirement immediately, and drove Li Shanchang out of the prime minister without any effort.Zhu Yuanzhang first removed Li Shanchang's post with a big stick.

Carrots soothe.Li Shanchang's prime minister power was taken away, and the threat to Zhu Yuanzhang was removed.But many people secretly scolded Zhu Yuanzhang for being ruthless and vicious.In order to win people's hearts and appease Li Shanchang, Zhu Yuanzhang married his daughter Princess Lin'an to Li Shanchang's son Benqi as his wife, and the Zhu and Li families became relatives of the state again.Zhu Yuanzhang married Li Shanchang again, and the soothing effect of this "carrot" should not be underestimated. Coincidentally, the "stick and carrot" used by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty is unprecedented.During Qianlong's reign, there were more than 70 cases of literary inquisition against intellectuals, far more than his predecessors.Qianlong's technique is powerful enough, a few game chapters, a few words of appreciating the flowers and singing the moon, often make up unwarranted charges, making everyone in the literati feel in danger, Qianlong used such a ruthless stick consolidated its position.

But he did not forget the importance of "sending carrots".He stipulated that when meeting a bachelor, all the young and old of the royal family should bow half-kneeling and call him "Old Mister";At the same time, on the one hand, the formal imperial examination activities were carried out, and scholars were constantly recruited to join the team serving the imperial court; Literati, or hermits who disdain to take the imperial examinations but live in seclusion in the mountains and have some prestige, are recommended by local officials or governors, and the emperor directly interviews them.Boxuehong Ci has hired 24 people.The recruiters themselves were proud of themselves, so they were naturally grateful for the emperor's kindness; the hundreds of people who failed the ranking also shamelessly pretended to be old and lonely and loyal to satirize the government.

In addition, Qianlong cared deeply for the recruits who were personally interviewed by him. For example, there was a man named Gu Donggao who was not young when he was hired. Qianlong personally wrote two seven-character poems to praise him; later, when Qianlong went to the south of the Yangtze River, he personally gave him an imperial letter and named him the sacrificial wine of the Imperial College. The reason why Qianlong did this was all out of the purpose of maintaining his supremacy of imperial power, clan power, and court supremacy, and to keep the "Great Qing" from "changing color".If anyone deviates a little in this regard, the red face will immediately turn into a white face, and the smile on the face will be replaced by a murderous look.Regardless of whether you are intentional or not, or whether or not, you will be arrested and imprisoned immediately. In the lightest cases, you will be "dismissed from office", in severe cases, you will be "hanged", and you will even be "abandoned from the market" after execution. Even friends and clansmen were all unlucky.

People are people in society, how to work with others, especially with subordinates, and how to make subordinates willingly and wholeheartedly do their best is really a question worth thinking about.There is indeed some art of life in it. The principle of "stick" and "carrot" is to attach equal importance to grace and power, and to hit and pull.This trick not only has many classic examples in Chinese history, but also has a broad application space in real life. For example, in the workplace, for those arrogant subordinates who have no respect for their superiors because of their ability, as a boss, on the one hand, they can use the company system to catch his violations and criticize them, so that he can pay attention to his attitude; Give a certain amount of psychological compensation, such as treating him to a meal in his spare time, and reminiscing about the old days.

In life, the "carrot and stick" communication strategy is also very rich.If the child is disobedient, parents often criticize it first, and then find an appropriate opportunity, such as inviting the child to travel, etc. to make up for it.Of course, it is necessary to grasp the degree and not let the child feel that giving him a "carrot" is to condone him to make mistakes. 1. Give both kindness and power, so don't be afraid that the other party will "repay kindness with revenge" because of your power. 2. You must master the degree well, don't beat him to death with a stick, and don't pamper you lawlessly.

3. To master the rhythm well, the key to consider is when to show grace. 4. Carrots and sticks, slaps and sweet dates are all means. The key is to let the other party know where the "pain" is and where the "sweetness" is.