Lord Mengchang had a retainer whom he disliked and wished to dismiss. Lu Lian said to Lord Mengchang: "If a gibbon were to leave the trees and dwell in the water, it would fare no better than a fish or a turtle; if it were to traverse perilous crags, even a thousand-li steed would be outmatched by a fox. Cao Mo, brandishing his three-foot sword, could hold an entire army at bay—yet were he to set aside his blade and take up a plow to toil beside a farmer in the fields, he would prove inferior to that farmer. Thus it is said: when a man abandons his strengths and employs his weaknesses, even a Yao or a Shun would find some things beyond their reach. Now, when you assign tasks to others and they prove unequal to them, you declare them useless; when you instruct them and they fail to learn, you call them dull. For dullness you dismiss them, for uselessness you cast them off—and those thus cast off and driven away will harbor resentment in their hearts, and may one day return to repay you in kind. Is this not the very calamity that besets those who would establish teachings and govern the people of this world?" Lord Mengchang said: "Well spoken." And so he did not dismiss the retainer.
💡 商战启示录
This strategy offers a profound lesson for modern business: managers must never judge talent by a single standard, but rather discern each person's strengths and weaknesses, and deploy them accordingly. In the early days of Apple, for instance, Steve Jobs was exacting in his demands regarding technical details, yet when collaborating with Steve Wozniak, he did not insist that Wozniak master marketing—instead, he allowed him to focus on engineering innovation, ultimately giving rise to the triumph of the Apple II. Conversely, if a manager readily discards an employee for shortcomings in one area, not only may latent value be lost, but hidden dangers may also be sown—those cast aside may defect to competitors, or even become a force that turns against the company. Oracle Corporation, for example, once underestimated a former employee, who departed with core technology and founded a formidable rival. Thus, modern enterprises should cultivate an inclusive philosophy of talent, activating employees' strengths through role alignment and developmental training, rather than resorting to simple elimination. Lu Lian's admonition rings like a clarion call: rather than forcing people into what they cannot do, let them excel at what they can; rather than lightly casting people aside, guide them wisely. In an era of frequent talent mobility, retaining and harnessing the potential of "specialists with singular gifts" often yields a distinctive competitive edge—this is the profound application of ancient wisdom in the modern arena of commerce.