The State of Qin attacked Handan, the capital of Zhao, besieging it for seventeen months without success. A subordinate of Wang Ji, the Qin general, named Zhuang, said to him: "Why do you not bestow rewards upon the officers and soldiers?" Wang Ji replied: "I am of one mind with the King of Qin; I need not heed the words of others." Zhuang said: "That is not so. A father issues commands to his son—some are certain to be obeyed, while others are certain to be disobeyed. For instance, if a father orders his son to send away a favored wife or sell a beloved concubine, these commands will surely be executed; but if he says, 'Do not think of them,' this will surely not be obeyed. Now, although you enjoy the King's favor, your relationship with him is like that of father and son, and even so, some commands may not be carried out—how much less so with the officers and soldiers? Moreover, you have long held sole authority and treated your subordinates with contempt. It is said: 'Three men spreading rumors of a tiger create belief in its existence; ten men twisting a rod can bend it; when many mouths move together, things fly without wings.' Therefore, it would be better to reward the officers and treat them with courtesy." Wang Ji did not heed this advice. The officers, reduced to dire straits, indeed harbored resentment against Wang Ji and Du Zhi, and falsely accused them of plotting rebellion. The King of Qin, enraged, wished to execute Fan Ju as well. Fan Ju said: "I am a lowly man from the remote eastern regions, who offended against Chu and Wei and fled for my life to seek refuge in Qin. I had no support from the feudal lords, nor any close friends or kin. Your Majesty raised me up during your travels and entrusted me with office, and all under heaven know my humble origins and the honor You have bestowed upon me. Now that I am suspected of sharing the guilt of the condemned, if Your Majesty publicly puts me to death, this will expose to the world the circumstances of my advancement by Your hand and invite criticism from the feudal lords. I beg that I may be given poison to end my own life, but I hope Your Majesty will bury me with the rites due to a prime minister. Thus, Your Majesty will neither fail in the punishment due to my crime nor owe any debt to the world." The King of Qin said: "Your words are reasonable." Thereupon he did not execute Fan Ju, but instead treated him with greater kindness.
💡 商战启示录
This historical episode reveals a core strategic wisdom in commercial warfare: neglecting the concerns of frontline employees or partners often breeds a crisis of trust within an organization, and may even trigger subversive risks. Wang Ji, relying on his solid ties with the upper echelons, refused to placate the military officers; as a result, the officers, driven by desperation, falsely accused him of treason, plunging him into peril and implicating Fan Ju in the process. In modern business, this parallels managers who cultivate relationships with boards or key clients while overlooking the motivation and communication with frontline staff and mid-level backbone. For instance, a tech company founder, overly dependent on core investors, made unilateral decisions in product development without heeding the technical team's input, prompting a mass exodus of key engineers, project delays, and ultimately failed fundraising. Conversely, Huawei's Ren Zhengfei champions a "striver-centric" ethos, employing equity incentives and internal communication mechanisms to sustain robust grassroots momentum, thereby maintaining continuous leadership in the telecommunications sector. Fan Ju's crisis management also merits emulation: he candidly acknowledged his predicament, bound his personal fate to the King of Qin's prestige, and proposed a win-win solution—"grant me death, but bury me with the rites of a chancellor"—preserving the king's honor while averting his own demise. In commercial crises, exemplary leaders, like Fan Ju, do not deflect blame but instead devise solutions that accommodate the interests of all parties, transforming peril into opportunity. In sum, this case admonishes managers: they must prioritize the equilibrium of interests across every organizational tier, fostering timely communication and motivation to avoid losing the forest for the trees; moreover, in moments of crisis, they should adeptly transmute personal predicaments into organizational challenges, safeguarding core assets through strategic wisdom.