The ruler's guide by Chinghua Tang

"The ruler's guide" by Chinghua Tang. This book is published by Scribner in  2017 and has 176 pages.

China’s greatest emperor Tang Taizong (598-649 AD), founded Tang dynasty by becoming Emperor at 28. He was considered a wise man and great ruler. He allowed Islam and Christianity in China and is considered responsible for spread of Buddhism in Tibet. This book is an anthology of discussions between Emperor and his ministers. It is considered a guide to Management, Leadership and Statecraft.

Emperor should stand straight. Lead by example, be modest, keep learning, Overcome weaknesses and control desires. As the carpenter does not let any piece of wood go waste, so should the king do with human resources. He encouraged his ministers to recommend a talent even if he was related to someone.

His minister enlists Six type of Good officials who the ruler should cultivate and  Six type of bad officials who should be avoided. Wei Zheng wrote to emperor a memorandum listing 9 virtues and 10 vices. Taizong recommends to leverage strengths and avoid weaknesses in person and goes on to say that the person should be assigned responsibilities based on his abilities.

About the relationship between the ruler and his ministers he says, they should trust each other and be honest while expressing opinions. When he noticed that his Prime Ministers were spending too much time on trivial matters he asked prime ministers to handle only important cases. This is nothing but Work prioritization in modern parlance. He directed them to effective Delegation and encouraged them to trust junior ministers.

He was of a firm belief that a governor (read supervisor or manager) should not be punished for the wrong doings of his subordinate because then the governor will try to cover up the wrong doing to save himself, eventually harming the country (read company).

He says 'Efficiency is doing the things right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing.' Does that remind you of Peter Drucker?

Taizong had a post of Chief Remonstrant. The position was to criticize the policy and personal behavior. Generally this was a senior minister or the teacher of the ruler. Remonstrant's role was to remonstrate king's wrong decisions. Wei Zheng was an influential remonstrant who was not afraid of pointing out the mistakes of the ruler in his memos. On a number of occasions, the ministers expressed views opposing Emperor's decisions or behaviour. Tang did change his opinion or decision when he found merit in it and rewarded the minister for his observation.

While discussing Art of war between Taizong and his military general, Tsun Tsu is widely quoted. He says a general should know how to mix regular attack with surprise attack otherwise he will not be able to exploit strengths and weaknesses of enemy. Author compares the characteristics of two of the generals of Tang with modern day investment managers.

He identifies complacency as the root cause of the down fall of King or an empire and even of a person. He was regularly warned against complacency by his ministers. He had a sense of fairness and hired enemy and pardoned many for their loyalty to their former masters. Wei Zhong, the Chief Remonstrant, was adviser of his brother, who Taizong killed to ascend to power.

He asked his minister to write a book for the Princes to guide them in how to conduct and improve. This was the key to creating a worthy successor who would continue the dynasty even if he has not faced hardships.

He started practice of kicking off the season by tilling a piece of land himself underlining the importance of agriculture and his empire's agrarian economy and gave tax breaks to those who helped improve economy. He conducted empirical exams for appointment of government officials. These exams were the predecessor of today's civil services exams.

Rolls of silk were used as currency in those days. They were used for bribes and rewards.

Taizong comes forth as a ruler with sense of fairness, he is open to criticism and wants to improve based on feed back. He is a task master and does not hesitate to assert his authority. He encourages the worthy, strives for efficiency, is intolerant of mediocrity, commands respect, has vision and wants to leave a lasting legacy. He was magnanimous, empathetic & forbearing. In short he was an Enlightened Leader. Isn't this what one looks for in a good leader, even today? 

What amazed me is the amount of written record available about Tang Taizong. When author quotes memoranda written by his ministers, it means that the written records survived for  more than 1300 years.

A lot of research has gone into writing this book. It was a tough task to write an anecdotal anthology and not a story. Author has done a good job. What appealed me the most is that although Tang Taizong lived more than 1300 years ago, the qualities that made him one of the greatest rulers and his approach to administration are relevant even in today's age. This book can be easily read as leadership guide.

How to read this book? I recommend to keep it handy at your desk and read it part by part, daily or frequently, to avoid wisdom overflow.

Why did I read this book? Chinese emperor. 

What I didn't like? Not much about Taizong, the person.

What did I like? Crispness. 

Recommend reading.