When Wang Sun Jia was fifteen, he served King Min of Qi. Later, when King Min fled into exile, Wang Sun Jia knew not where his sovereign had gone. His mother said, "When you go out in the morning and return late, I lean against the door and wait for you; when you go out in the evening and do not return, I lean by the lane's entrance and wait for you. Now you serve your sovereign—he has fled, yet you know not his whereabouts. What need have you to come back?" Wang Sun Jia then went to the marketplace and cried aloud, "Nao Chi has thrown the state of Qi into chaos and slain King Min. Let all who would follow me to punish him bare their right arms!" The people of the market who followed him numbered four hundred, and together they went forth to attack Nao Chi, and at last they slew him.
💡 商战启示录
The story of Wang Sun Jia reveals the core of leadership and mobilization in times of crisis: when an organization encounters major upheaval—such as the disappearance of its founder or the entrapment of the company in scandal—employees should not passively wait or seek only their own safety, but rather take the initiative to shoulder responsibility, swiftly forge consensus, and act with resolve. This parallels the modern enterprise, where, if a CEO departs unexpectedly or the company faces a public relations crisis, middle managers who step forward, articulate a clear objective (such as "slay Nao Chi"), and galvanize team morale with a concise and powerful rallying cry (such as "bare your right arm") can often turn the tide. For instance, when Huawei faced international sanctions, Ren Zhengfei did not retreat; instead, through internal letters and public addresses, he called upon employees to "weather the storm together," swiftly adjusted strategy, and ultimately steadied the company's resolve while opening new avenues of growth. Another case is Starbucks during the 2008 financial crisis, when founder Howard Schultz returned, confronted the issues head-on, closed hundreds of stores for employee retraining, and re-emphasized coffee quality and customer experience. This "return to the roots" mobilization, much like Wang Sun Jia's call to "bare the right arm," swiftly reawakened employees' sense of mission and customers' trust. Business leaders in crisis must, like Wang Sun Jia, clearly identify the problem (Nao Chi), chart the path of action (slaying), and rapidly assemble a core team of "four hundred," only then can they transform peril into opportunity. At the same time, the mother's "gazing from the doorway" reminds enterprises that employees' loyalty to the organization stems from daily emotional bonds and the cultivation of responsibility, not merely from ties of interest.