Daodejing, Verse 66

Daodejing - Other Voices

Incompetent Boss
If the sage would guide the people, he must serve with humility.
If he would lead them, he must follow behind.
In this way when the sage rules, the people will not feel oppressed;
When he stands before them, they will not be harmed.
The whole world will support him and will not tire of him.
Because he does not compete, He does not meet competition.

Everyone, most likely, has worked for a boss that it hot headed and seems to strive for putting people in their place. The University of California, Berkley has published the results of a study questioning 90 employed men and women about how aggressive they are in their career as well as how competent they feel in their position. The results demonstrated that incompetent people, through their own inferiority, would put their subordinates in their place. In a 2nd test they also chose severe punishments which people with good self-esteem and competence did not. There are other results in the article and I will post the link at the end for those that desire to read more.

I don’t know why I chose the 66th chapter for this post. There are many good chapters in the Tao Te Ching that focus on ruling and any one of them would have fit. The same logic and wisdom runs throughout the entire TTC, lead with a light hand, do not oppress people, do not be greedy, etc. The fact of the matter is that there are incompetent bosses that take the helm and treat everyone under them as dirt. A wise person would know their (I’m trying hard not to use him or her) limitations. With that knowledge they would move forward to obtain the skills necessary to maintain the position positively. After all, the sage knows to perform to their full ability. Anything worth doing is worth doing well.
~ from A New Shade of Black, author Mr. Methodic, original post date: 10/16/09 ~

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