Shang Tang identifies the taste and talent


The only way to do politics is in the talent. How to use people is always related to the security of the country and the country’s rise and fall of the fundamental plan. The visionary politicians in Chinese history have always attached great importance to the issue of selecting and employing people.

Shang Tang was the ruler of Shang, a vassal state of the Xia Dynasty. He was a famous tyrant at the end of the Xia dynasty. He was a despotic, extravagant and brutal ruler who caused anger and discontent among the people. Shang Tang was determined to overthrow the rule of Xia Jie in accordance with the wishes of the people, and made a lot of preparations for this purpose. But everything is ready, only the east wind: he still lacks a wise and resourceful, planning and planning to assist the pillar of talent. For this reason, Shang Tang could not eat and sleep well. When he was anxious, a strange phenomenon caught his attention: Shang Tang’s wife had a slave Yi Yin, who was a chef, and was usually quite dedicated, but these days she was out of the ordinary, making meals that were either bland and tasteless or salty and bitter. Shang Tang was very angry, so he sent someone to find Yi Yin and reprimand him. But Yi Yin did not panic and said: “Of course I know that cooking should not be too light and not too salty, only when the salt and light are appropriate and the five flavors are in harmony, it will taste good. The dishes I have cooked in the past few days have been light and salty at times, but this is to remind the king that ruling the country is the same as cooking, that one should neither be too hasty nor relaxed. Only if you do not sulk and are just right will you get what you want.” Shang Tang was astonished to hear this. He never thought that a slave who cooked could say such profound words and know the way to rule the country.

Shang Tang discerns taste and talent
When Shang Tang thought about it, he felt more and more that this man must have a lot of history, so he secretly learned about Yi Yin’s life. He was soon surprised to find out that Yi Yin was a learned scholar and had been the court teacher of the daughter of the king of Xin, but due to the fall of the state of Xin, Yi Yin became the dowry slave of Shang Tang’s wife. There is no doubt that this was a man of great ambition and tactics. Yi Yin was a rare talent to realize the grand plan of overthrowing the Xia Jie and establishing a new regime. Shang Tang was overjoyed and immediately removed Yi Yin’s slave status and appointed him as the right minister.

From then on, according to Yi Yin’s advice, Shang Tang first created public opinion, counting all the crimes of Xia Jie, who was extravagant and perverse, and called those tribes ruled by Xia Dynasty to rebel against Xia Dynasty and surrender to Shang; to destroy the Geber tribe who disobeyed his advice; and to break Xia Dynasty’s wings, such as Wei, Gu, Kunwu, etc., so that Xia Dynasty could not be alone. At the same time, Shang Tang also adopted Yi Yin’s strategy of unification warfare and gave some of the tribesmen a wide berth and encouraged them to change their ways. In this way, Shang Tang’s reputation spread far and wide, and he became a popular leader who was supported by the people. Thus, with the support of Yi Yin, Shang Tang made a proclamation and launched an expedition against Xia, finally overthrowing Xia Jie and establishing the Shang Dynasty.

Today, it seems that there is some coincidence that Shang Tang got Yi Yin’s help and achieved great success, but there is also inevitability in it, which is that Shang Tang was determined to seek wisdom. If Shang Tang hadn’t been so eager and eager, a lowly slave like Yi Yin would not have come into his sight. It is because Shang Tang paid attention to every aspect, sincerely sought for virtues, did not stick to one pattern, courtesy of virtuous people, and only then achieved this good story.

Shang Tang
The ancient Chinese emperor’s philosophy of employing people and the excellent ideas in national science can also be applied to the HR management of modern enterprises. In the competition of talents triggered by the increasingly fierce economic war, whoever is the first to seize the first opportunity will win the initiative. Whoever is the first to grab the talent, who wins the competitiveness. “Not a single talent”, not only education, not only seniority, not only identity, not all, only for the use of the key to today’s enterprises.

Talent has different types, different levels, each talent has its own different personality characteristics, the enterprise needs a variety of talent. Therefore, leaders can not use a fixed pattern to set talent, to choose talent in any way, to be talented, but only to use, as long as the development of the department can contribute to the advice, and actively contribute to the power of those who are in the selection.

To do not limit the selection of talent, we must pay attention to the following three points.

First, do not model the talent, their own hands and feet. Talent has a certain standard, but no absolute standards. Diplomas, qualifications, titles, age, etc. is one of the qualities of talent composition, but these are not equal to the talent drawing.

Secondly, do not mystify the talent, to engage in full blame. Talent and mortal talent is relative, a person from this angle of observation is talent, from another perspective may be mortal talent.

Thirdly, do not vulgarize the talent, and make a crude selection. Although talent can not be modeled, mystified, but also must not engage in vulgarization.

In short, no matter what the organization is, as a leader, you must recruit talents and choose the best ones to help you create your own performance.

A leader must have a broad vision to achieve talent, and must be able to see, select and employ a wide range of people. The proof that a leader will use people is that he uses people in an unconventional way, in a variety of ways, depending on the person. On the contrary, it proves that a leader will not use people’s performance, that is, he uses people to stick to a pattern, no change, dead air.

Shang Tang praying for rain
The modern poet Gong Zizhen cloud: “I urge the sky to rejuvenate, not constrain a pattern of talent.”

However, if the leadership of the people stuck in a pattern, the sky “do not stick to a pattern of talent” and what is the use? In fact, constrained to a pattern, dare not boldly use people, flexible leadership with people abound. Their approach often makes the talent can not venture, can not do their best, indirectly make the enterprise lose vitality, lose competitiveness.

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