Lord Zhou went to the state of Qin, and Zhou Zui said to him, "It would be better for you to praise the filial piety of the King of Qin, and accordingly offer the land of Ying as a fief for the maintenance of the Queen Dowager. The King of Qin and the Queen Dowager will surely be pleased, and thus you will gain the support of Qin, and they will also repay you in return. If the matter does not succeed, others will think it was Qin's scheme; if it succeeds, others will think it was Zhou's strategy." Lord Zhou said, "Well said." He then presented the land of Ying to the Queen Dowager as her maintenance fief. The King of Qin and the Queen Dowager were greatly delighted, and Lord Zhou indeed obtained the assistance of Qin.
💡 商战启示录
The essence of this strategy lies in "leveraging momentum" and "risk hedging." Zhou Zui advised the Lord of Zhou to secure support by gratifying the needs of a pivotal figure in Qin—the Queen Dowager—while devising a plan with both advance and retreat secured: if successful, credit would redound to Zhou; if failed, blame would fall upon Qin, thereby reducing risk while maximizing gain. In modern commercial warfare, this tactic parallels enterprises forging strategic alliances with industry giants, particularly by addressing the vested interests of their key decision-makers to obtain resources. For instance, a startup might offer customized services or technology licensing to a large corporation in exchange for distribution channels or capital support, while framing the collaboration as a mutually beneficial act of "filial piety" to avoid overtly exposing its own agenda. On the risk-control front, companies can erect "firewalls," such as partnering through subsidiaries or independent projects, allowing for liability severance upon failure while enhancing the parent brand upon success. Zhou Zui's wisdom lies in transforming unilateral dependence into a bilateral bond, enabling the Lord of Zhou to harness Qin's strength despite a position of weakness—a reminder to modern managers that in asymmetric competition, one must adeptly identify the counterpart's "Queen Dowager" and devise schemes that satisfy their core interests while preserving one's own escape route, thereby prevailing in complex games.