The Tao of Business by Ansgar Gerstner

Author:Ansgar Gerstner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Earnshaw Books
Published: 2009-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

Being the Boss

Tao Takeaways

Be a cooperative leader

Be responsive, do not force things

Never get complacent

Value social engagement

Support your staff

Be a model person

A person good at managing other places himself below them.

Chapter 5

Managing a Team

Ziran - Be natural and authentic

“Humans find orientation in earth. Earth finds orientation in Heaven. Heaven finds orientation in the Tao. The Tao finds orientation in ziran.” (Daodejing, chapter 25)

Ziran is a concept that is difficult to translate into a single English word. As with wuwei, I use the Chinese transcription rather than confining it to the straightjacket of any one English word, thereby leaving more space for understanding its full meaning.

The above quote from chapter 25 is an important statement in the Daodejing, since it is the Tao that later gave Taoism and Taoists their name. The reason why ziran is a concept of such significance in the Daodejing is because it describes a central feature of the Tao.

Ziran literally translates as to be “like that of one’s own accord”. What this means is being natural, being authentic, basically being in harmony with and going along with the potential within oneself.

Ziran is the foundation of wuwei, non-action, and the prerequisite for going with the flow. If you are ziran, you are in balance. A person who is not balanced needs to constantly rely on interference to get things back on track. Corrective interference, however, is much less efficient than amplifying existing potential.

Ziran is an extremely valuable tool in communication, both with yourself and with others. If your communication with yourself is unimpeded and free flowing, you have the best possible foundation for comprehensive communication with others. People who regularly overrule their inner voices are hardly open and responsive enough to process all the information that can be received consciously and subconsciously from others. The more information you are able to absorb and process, the more you can read between the lines of a situation, and the more options you have to optimize communication within your team. Improving communication with yourself has direct positive effects on your rapport with your team.

Sometimes, people do not tell you straight out what is on their minds or what is really going on in a situation. What they tell you is only half the story. But more often than not, as long as your intuition and instinctive antennae are working well, you can spot the situations where you are getting only half the story. Making good use of all your instincts and capacities offers you the opportunity to address issues at an early stage, making it much easier to ensure that processes run as smoothly as possible from start to finish.

When there are difficulties in communication, no matter whether they are new ones or whether they have already existed for a while, sometimes even minimal changes can either complicate or dissolve tension and discontent. The more you, as the team leader, are in touch with yourself and emotionally balanced, the more easily you can avoid and resolve problems and get things back on a smooth track.

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