Lu Zhonglian said to Lord Mengchang, "You are fond of worthy men, but you have not yet done so to the fullest. Yongmenzi nurtured the pepper tree and also the yanghua tree, yet in your stable there are a hundred horses—are these horses, then, more important than worthy men? Moreover, your fine steeds, when yoked to salt carts, become no better than common nags; your excellent swords, when used to mend shoes, are no sharper than leaden knives. Thus, the employment of worthy men must always be suited to their proper place. Now, you support worthy men with no lack of generosity, yet it is said that among the wise and able, none have been raised to office—why is this? Your horses are fed daily on fodder, yet among the worthy, some may well wear the look of hunger. Your dogs are daily fed on fine grain and meat, yet among the worthy, some may well bear the pallor of want. Therefore I say: you are fond of worthy men, but you have not yet done so to the fullest." Lord Mengchang replied, "I humbly receive your instruction." Thereupon he summoned all the guests under his roof, and those who were worthy were all promoted and employed, with none concealed or left out.
💡 商战启示录
Lu Zhonglian's critique strikes at the very core of corporate talent management: resource misallocation. Though Lord Mengchang treated his retainers generously, he failed to place them in pivotal roles—much like harnessing a steed to haul salt carts or using a fine blade to mend shoes, thereby squandering their true worth. In modern business, many enterprises recruit top-tier talent at premium salaries, only to assign them clerical tasks or deprive them of decision-making authority, leading to attrition or mediocrity. For instance, a tech company once hired an AI specialist at great expense, yet tasked them with basic data entry; the expert's skills lay dormant, and the project collapsed. In contrast, Google's "20% time" policy empowers engineers to pursue self-directed innovation, enabling talents to flourish and giving rise to products like Gmail. Lu Zhonglian's principle of "placing each in their rightful sphere" corresponds to the modern HR theory of "person-job fit." Enterprises should establish rigorous job analysis, precisely align individual capabilities with role requirements, and provide clear advancement pathways. Moreover, Lord Mengchang's epiphany underscores the value of heeding external criticism—business leaders must regularly solicit diverse feedback to identify blind spots in resource allocation, avoiding the imbalance of "stables overflowing while scholars go hungry." True "appreciation of talent" lies not merely in generous compensation, but in cultivating an environment where abilities can thrive, enabling both the organization and the individual to grow in tandem.