Chapter 29 Zhenguan CEO's Management Philosophy

As the CEO of Datang Zhenguan, one of the fundamental reasons why Li Shimin was able to create a glorious and prosperous age that will shine through the ages in just two decades and achieve a great career that is unsurpassed in generations is that he has a set of extremely brilliant management. philosophy.Therefore, he was able to attract all the top talents at that time to his side, thus exerting unprecedented creativity. From the reign of Wude, Li Shimin's subordinates can be described as "the counselors are like clouds, and the fierce generals are like rain".In the era of Zhenguan, all kinds of talents emerged one after another.Lu Zhaolin, one of the Four Heroes of the early Tang Dynasty, once described the grand occasion of the Zhenguan Dynasty: "Yu (Shinan), Li (Baiyao), Cen (text), Xu (Jingzong) made progress with articles, Wang (Gui), Wei The generations of (Zheng), Lai (Ji), and Chu (Suiliang) were distinguished by their talents and skills, and they were able to rise from the common clothes. They were courtiers, graceful attendants, and offered them day and night. If I win people, I will prosper here!" ( "Full Tang Wen")

Zhenguan's talent group was not only the best at that time, but it was even worse than other dynasties.As Wang Fuzhi said: "There are many capable ministers in the Tang Dynasty. There was the Han Dynasty before and the Song Dynasty later, and none of them could be caught." So, what is the reason for the emergence of talents in the Zhenguan Dynasty? In other words, what is Li Shimin's secret in the development of human resources? In the first year of Zhenguan, when Li Shimin came to power, he ordered his right servant She Feng Deyi to be responsible for recommending talents to the court.But several months have passed, and there has been no movement.Li Shimin was very upset, so he questioned Feng Deyi.

Feng Deyi said with an innocent face: "It's not that the minister is not dedicated, but that there are really not many talents in the world today." Li Shimin's face darkened immediately, and he said: "A gentleman employs people like a weapon, and each takes advantage of his strengths. Those who were able to govern in the past borrowed their talents from another generation? How can you slander people for a lifetime if you don't know what you are suffering from?" (Volume 1 ninety-two) Feng Deyi was speechless and had no choice but to back away in embarrassment.

This passage is the essence of Li Shimin's philosophy of employing people.As the saying goes, "Talents have strengths and weaknesses, and they don't have to be good at both", so the key is to "leave for the strengths while discarding the weaknesses, and then make it beautiful" (Volume 10 of "Quan Tang Wen", "Golden Mirror").That is to say, in the eyes of truly brilliant managers, everyone may be a talent.Because the ruler is short and the inch is long, everyone has advantages and disadvantages, and has some characteristics or specialties that are different from others.As the leader of an organization or the manager of human resources, it is necessary to be good at discovering the uniqueness of each person, and then put them in the most suitable position, so that their talents can be matched with their duties, so as to give full play to their talents. best performance.

In other words, in many cases, the advantages that a good manager discovers from you are likely to be seldom realized by you yourself, or even not noticed at all. To paraphrase a popular saying now: the world is never short of talents, but lacks the eyes to discover them. Feng Deyi is obviously not a competent manager because he lacks such eyes. No wonder Li Shimin would ridicule him: Did people who governed the world well in the past go to other dynasties to "borrow" talents?It's because you don't know people well, how can you underestimate everyone in the world? However, knowing people is not so easy.Wei Zheng said: "Knowing people has been difficult since ancient times." (Volume 3) Li Shimin himself said: "The way to employ people is not easy." ("Golden Mirror")

So, how does Li Shimin identify the quality of talents? In addition to cultivating a pair of insightful eyes for identifying talents since the war years, Li Shimin during the Zhenguan period would also hold "democratic life meetings" from time to time, allowing ministers to criticize and self-criticize, so as to accurately grasp the advantages of each person, Take full advantage of their strengths. For example, in December of the fourth year of Zhenguan (630 AD), Li Shimin held a banquet and invited all the prime ministers of the Zhengshitang at that time to attend.After drinking for three rounds, Li Shimin suddenly said to the waiter Wang Gui in a chatty tone: "Aiqing has profound knowledge and good eloquence. Now please start with Fang Xuanling and evaluate each of you one by one. , and finally talk about yourself, and see how your talents compare with theirs?"

Wang Gui pondered for a while, then looked around at the crowd, and said methodically: "Serving the country diligently, knowing everything you can do, a minister is not as good as Fang Xuanling; a minister who is both civil and military, a general and a prime minister, is not as good as Li Jing; writing edicts and memorials, detailed and detailed To be fair, a minister is not as good as Wen Yanbo; to deal with complicated and urgent affairs properly and thoughtfully, a minister is not as good as Dai Zhou; Compared with all of you present here, this minister is somewhat superior." Li Shimin nodded frequently when he heard it, deeply agreeing.Everyone was also amazed and admitted that Wang Gui had indeed hit the point.

In fact, Li Shimin's approach is the so-called "talent assessment" in today's management science.To achieve "employing people like tools", first of all, of course, we must know what "tools" each person is.And Li Shimin himself is a top expert in talent evaluation, he can be said to have a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of his subordinates. In the last year of Zhenguan, once at a court meeting, Li Shimin said to Changsun Wuji in front of the ministers: "I heard that the lord is virtuous and his ministers are upright. But people suffer from ignorance, so today I ask you to criticize me in person. gains and losses."

Changsun Wuji was taken aback, and quickly picked up the good ones and said: "Your Majesty's martial arts and culture have transcended the past and the present, and everything is beneficial when he gives orders. "The Book of Filial Piety" says: "You will obey the beauty." I don't see any mistakes or mistakes from your Majesty." ("Old Tang Book·The Biography of Changsun Wuji") Li Shimin frowned immediately: "I hope to hear about my shortcomings and mistakes, but you are always flattering me. Well, since you don't talk about it, I will talk about your gains and losses in person today, so that everyone can learn from it. Take it as a lesson. Listen to it, if there is something, change it, and if there is nothing, encourage it.”

Then Li Shimin started from Changsun Wuji, and evaluated the ministers in front of him one by one. "Changsun Wuji is good at avoiding suspicion and quick to deal with. He is not inferior to the ancient sages. However, commanding troops in battle is not his specialty. Gao Shilian dabbles in ancient and modern times, has a clever mind, and does not change his integrity in the face of danger. He is an official. He doesn't make friends in private, the only thing he lacks is honesty and honesty. Tang Jian's words are beautiful and fluent, his temperament is gentle, and he is considerate. He is even more eloquent when he is drinking and drinking. It is a pity that he has followed me for thirty years. There is no talk about the country's gains and losses. Yang Shidao is pure and good, and his morals are beyond reproach, but he is cowardly and difficult to take on great responsibilities. No matter how urgent the affairs are, he is ineffective. Cen Wenwen is honest and honest, and his articles are his specialty, but he is used to citing classics. Sometimes it's unrealistic..."

Next, Li Shimin commented on Liu Ji, Ma Zhou, Chu Suiliang and others one by one. Although the tone was mild and euphemistic in general, what he said hit the nail on the head and hit the nail on the head. I believe that the imperial bosses who were present at the time must have heard a cold sweat. Although their strengths were also affirmed by Li Shimin, as a courtier, everyone's weakness was so carefully handled by the emperor, it's no wonder they didn't break out in a cold sweat. Taizong's eyes are really "poisonous"! It is precisely because of this sharp vision and ability to see everything that Li Shimin was able to "abandon their weaknesses and take their strengths", and established a set of employment mechanisms that "make the best use of their talents", and then create a team with their own strengths. , High performance team with complementary advantages. In the "Emperor Fan" written in his later years, Li Shimin made an extremely incisive exposition of this management thought of "employing people like tools".After reading it for thousands of years, there is still a thought-provoking light of wisdom shining between the lines.