Verse 17: Leadership

Verse Seventeen
When a Master takes charge,
hardly anybody notices.
The next best leader
is obeyed out of love.
After that,
there's the leader obeyed out of fear.
The worst leader is one who is hated.

Trust and respect people.
That's how you earn
their trust and respect.

The Masters don't give orders;
they work with everybody else.
When the job's done,
people are amazed
at what they accomplished.
~ Ron Hogan rendition ~

We live in a world that exalts celebrity -- those movers and shakers with egos the size of the sun. Just take a look at EVERY president who has been seated in the Oval Office -- whether you like his politics or not -- each one of them has been a prideful person, the kind of person who likes to be seen, heard and worshiped. Then again, doesn't that describe the rest of us too?

We want to receive the credit when things go well, but also be spared the blame when things go bad. When a project or activity proves highly successful, it's not enough for most of us to sit back to enjoy the feelings of a job well done; we want to be lauded, congratulated and celebrated. We want others to slap us on the back and tell us it couldn't have been done without our leadership.

But not Lao Tzu. He urges each of us to work in the background -- humbly behind the scenes. The reason he makes this suggestion is because we all know what pride, self-righteousness and self-importance creates: jealousy. And jealousy is a very destructive emotion.

As Ursula LeGuin sees it, we need to learn how to become invisible leaders.

This invisible leader, who gets things done in such a way that people think they did it themselves, isn't one who manipulates others from behind the scenes; just the opposite. Again, it's a matter of "doing without doing": uncompetitive, unworried, trustful accomplishment, power that is not force. An example or analogy might be a very good teacher, or the truest voice in a group of singers.

For Diane Dreher, the key concept in this verse is about trust.

As water carves through the hardest stones, trust wears down the rigidity of defenses, building greater openness between people. Building peaceful valleys in the hearts of men and women, trust unites them in a bond of peace. The Tao person affirms this power of trust, sometimes in the most hostile circumstances.

When we trust each other intuitively, our concern shifts from personal needs to those of the community. Our goals become one and the same as the goals of the group. When we realize that all things under Tao are part of one grouping, then where does our pride fit into the picture?

If we as a society could embrace this kind of definition of leadership, what kind of government would we have? Brandon Toropov and Chad Hansen, authors of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Taoism contend that

the best government is that which makes its presence known least; the best leader is one who speaks infrequently but effectively. Taoism leaves people to choose and pursue their own way of life, their own conception of the good. Almost all authoritarianism, on the other hand, starts with a self-styled genius (or sage) who professes to know what is good for everyone else. On this subject the Taoist is skeptical...and leaves people alone.

This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.