Du He, seeking to persuade the Lord of Zhou to favor Jing Cui, said to him: "Your state is small, and even if you exhaust your treasures and jewels to serve the feudal lords, you cannot but act with utmost caution. This is like spreading a net to catch birds: spread it where no birds are, and you will catch none all day; spread it where birds abound, and you will startle the flocks away. One must spread the net at the boundary between where birds are and are not, and only then can one capture many. Now, if you wish to bestow favor upon the eminent, they will hold you in contempt; if you bestow it upon the humble, they will seek nothing from you. Therefore, you should favor those who are now destitute but may rise to prominence in the future—only thus can your desires be fulfilled."
💡 商战启示录
The core of Du He's strategy lies in seeking the intermediate ground of "the moment between birds present and birds absent"—that is, investing in potential rather than in what is already mature or utterly hopeless. In modern business, this corresponds to venture capital and talent strategy. For instance, when ByteDance invested early in Toutiao, it did not choose to compete head-on with giants like Sina and Tencent, but instead targeted the emerging field of algorithmic recommendation—a domain not yet monopolized by the giants, precisely "the moment between birds present and birds absent." By focusing on overlooked user needs, ByteDance rose swiftly. Similarly, in corporate recruitment, one should neither vie exclusively for top-tier graduates from elite universities (where competition is fierce and costs high, as at "the place of many birds"), nor take on those entirely devoid of potential (ineffective, as at "the place of no birds"). Rather, one should seek out the "humble scholars" of ordinary origins yet possessing growth potential—such as Tong Wenhong, Alibaba's early front-desk receptionist, who, though not formally trained in her field, rose through her latent ability to become a group vice president. Furthermore, this strategy also enlightens market expansion: finding a niche between saturated and untapped markets. Pinduoduo, by avoiding first- and second-tier cities and entering the lower-tier market, exemplifies "stretching the bow at the moment between birds present and birds absent." Ultimately, enterprises should, like Lord Zhou, precisely invest their resources in the "Jing Cuis" of the future who can yield returns, rather than blindly courting existing powers—thereby achieving strategic breakthroughs with minimal means against formidable odds.