Tag Archives: Confucius on ritual

Confucius

Leadership lessons from Confucius: a creative ritual

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creative ritual

子曰：「君子博學於文，約之以禮，亦可以弗畔矣夫！」
Confucius said: “A leader who expands their learning through culture and keeps their behavior in check through ritual is unlikely to go wrong.” (1)

Creativity doesn’t happen by accident. It requires cultural fuel to spark it. Creativity doesn’t happen by accident either. Even a writer bashing out their novel alone needs a well of cultural inspiration to draw from to build the plot, describe the settings, and mold the characters. Continue reading Leadership lessons from Confucius: a creative ritual →

Confucius

Leadership lessons from Confucius: say what you mean

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say what you mean

子曰：「觚不觚，觚哉！觚哉！」
Confucius said: “A cornered chalice without any corners. How can that be called a cornered chalice? How can that be called a cornered chalice?” (1)

Say what you mean. Mean what you say. If you’re running a political polling company dedicate your efforts on finding out what people are really thinking rather than attempting to dictate what they should think by massaging the results to support a pre-determined narrative. Quite apart from the moral issues at stake, why sacrifice your long-term credibility for short-term fame? Continue reading Leadership lessons from Confucius: say what you mean →

Confucius

Analects of Confucius Book 3: by numbers

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Analects of Confucius Book 3 by numbers

As in Book 2, Confucius is featured in all the chapters of Book 3 of the Analects. The sage’s faithful followers Zixia and Zigong also appear in the book along with three new ones in the form of the rather dim-witted Lin Fang, the grasping Ran Qiu,  and the clever but arrogant Zai Yu. Continue reading Analects of Confucius Book 3: by numbers →

Confucius

Analects of Confucius Book 3: Confucius on ritual ceremonies

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Rites

Confucius never defines exactly what he means by ritual in Book 3 of the Analects. Instead, he spends most of his energy on criticizing others, most notably members of the Three Families, the true powers behind the throne of his home state of Lu, for their violations of the unwritten rules governing important ritual ceremonies that had existed since at least the beginnings of the Zhou dynasty in the early 11th century and probably even before that. Continue reading Analects of Confucius Book 3: Confucius on ritual ceremonies →

Confucius

Analects of Confucius Book 3: I follow the Zhou!

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Culture

With civilization collapsing around him as multiple states and factions within them fought for control of China, Confucius looked back to the “golden age” at the beginning of the Zhou dynasty in the 11th century BC as the model for restoring stability and culture to the country. Continue reading Analects of Confucius Book 3: I follow the Zhou! →

Confucius

Leadership Lessons from Confucius: vision and core values

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core values

子曰：「三年無改於父之道，可謂孝矣。」
Confucius said: “If after three years a man has not deviated from his father’s path, then he may be called a filial son.”

Do you know the vision and core values of the organization that you work for? Although you might be able to dredge up a few garbled phrases from your memory banks, the likely answer to this question is no. There’s no shame in this. After all, you have more pressing issues to think about such as hitting your quarterly sales numbers or making sure your new product ships on time.

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Leadership Lessons from Confucius: observing ritual and showing deference

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ritual and deference

子曰：「能以禮讓為國乎，何有！不能以禮讓為國，如禮何！」
Confucius said: “If a ruler is able to govern a state by observing ritual and showing deference, what more does he need to do? If a ruler fails to accomplish this, what use is ritual to him?”

A while ago, we signed an agreement to participate in an industry event in the US. This was the first time we had done business with this company, and I was impressed with the efficiency of the rep that we were dealing with. That is until she suggested almost immediately after we’d signed the document that we take part in another event half-way across the world in a location that was not a strategic priority for us.

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Analects of Confucius Book 2: Confucius on ritual

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Rites

Ritual can be best understood as a behavioral language that provides the grammar, syntax, and standard usage patterns that enable people to act in an appropriate way in any given situation – whether at a wedding, a funeral, a formal dinner, or a casual lunch. Continue reading Analects of Confucius Book 2: Confucius on ritual →