Guan Yan incurred the wrath of the King of Qi, and said to his retainers, "Who among you is willing to follow me to seek refuge with another feudal lord?" The retainers remained silent, and none replied. Guan Yan wept in sorrow and said, "How lamentable! Why are scholars so easily obtained yet so hard to employ?" Tian Xu replied, "The scholars cannot even secure three meals a day, while the geese and ducks in your household have grain beyond measure; your harem ladies are clad in silk and satin, trailing finely woven brocade, yet the scholars cannot even obtain a scrap for hemming their garments. Moreover, wealth is what you hold lightly, while life and death are what scholars hold dear. You are unwilling to part with what you deem trivial to bestow upon the scholars, yet you demand that they sacrifice what they hold most precious in your service. This is not because scholars are easily obtained yet hard to employ—it is rather that your way of treating them is lacking."
💡 商战启示录
Tian Xu's blunt words laid bare Guan Yan's predicament: he demanded his subordinates' absolute loyalty unto death, yet had never granted them even the most basic necessities or respect. This mirrors a classic case of "misaligned incentives" in modern business. Many managers complain about talent attrition and low loyalty while overlooking employees' core needs—fair compensation, professional dignity, and room for growth. If a company merely paints grand visions and appeals to sentiment, while its salaries and benefits fall below industry standards—or worse, withhold what is rightfully due—it becomes the corporate equivalent of Guan Yan, whose "geese and ducks had food to spare" while his retainers "could not eat their fill even three times a day." Inevitably, talent will walk away. By contrast, companies like Huawei and Haidilao owe their success to treating employees as "scholars" rather than "tools": Huawei shares the fruits of success with its strivers through high salaries and equity incentives, while Haidilao grants its frontline servers full empowerment and respect, earning in return their wholehearted devotion—"serving their lord with what they hold most dear." Business, at its core, is an exchange of value. If employers begrudge sharing the "wealth they hold lightly," they can hardly fault employees for withholding the "effort they hold dear." True leadership begins with perceiving and generously responding to the needs of one's partners—not with demanding loyalty as a one-way street.