About good leadership

There is a difference between a manager and a teacher.
Many so-called teachers are managers. Their vision is in the present.
Management is nothing more than motivating other people to say yes.

A teacher says no. His vision is beyond the present.
His leadership is based on the spiritual quality of saying no.

A teacher is a teacher. A master is a master.
A master is "a finger that points to the moon".
Tswang Tse


It is difficult for most beginners to judge the quality of instruction they are receiving. Much of what is available for public consumption heavily depends on marketing, romantic or dramatic gestures taking the place of real stuff. The general public may be impressed by showmanship.

In the internal martial arts there are two kinds of relations : students and disciples.
A REAL MASTER only points to the moon. (keep in mind that the master is not the moon itself). In this business-oriented world where 'Tai Chi-Chi Kung masters' are a dime in a dozen, we can cash in on a deal by paying for a certificate proclaiming you are a "sifu" (or something like that) or a master (or something like that). A businessman can buy his way through anything.
Tai Chi is difficult, there are very few masters, why are there so few of them ?
Master Erle Montaigue answered that question : "Because Tai Chi Cuan is difficult". A master is a leader, effective leadership requires clarity of mind.

Saying no to some ideas is one thing,
saying no to a person is another thing.

   Photo : The New York Times

Losing face.
The Chinese concept of "Face".

Our Western concept of "face" is self-oriented, individualistic and "facebook oriented". Nowadays most Westerners suck at self-promotion, if we want to stand out from the crowd, we need to sale ourselves, to build a network of people who support our ideas (Einstein said something along the lines of "a person is lucky to have one original idea in a lifetime"). Chinese thinking is different from Western global twitter-exhibitionism, often they smile, and generally they don't express their personal feelings. The own ego is of little importance, menstrual cycles aren't twitter-hot spots and the age of their dog is of no importance unless he's a cheese. Most Chinese aren't big on adapting the whole Universe on their menstrual cycles regardless of how productive, contra-productive or damaging the results may be. Exhibitionism is now big business, when a person shares too much information on facebook, whether it's to draw attention or to make him/her feel important.

The Chinese "concept of face" goes beyond our Western "small faces-concept", it has nothing to do with facebook. "Having face" means one who cultivates morality so that his or her conduct will not lose others face. The person having face is expected to be communally conscious, Chinese concept of "face" is group-directed, other-oriented, family-oriented, nation-oriented with the emphasis on the collective. One of the worst things to do is "to lose face". The Chinese "concept of face" is about interaction, 'having face', 'losing face' and 'shame' isn't just personal feelings, it's a relationship based thing. In the martial sense face is a partner-oriented complex system of giving and receiving, and saving face just means avoiding potential embarassement. To save the face of your opponent you have to be much more skilled that you can defeat your opponent. A common virtue in China is that of modesty, you give face by elevating people. Elevating your partner leads to not only giving face to another but also to gain face yourself. So giving face is also another way of gaining face.

Seeing the world in terms of black-or-white, in which choices seem clear tend to black-or-white thinking. Black-or-white thinking is how it should be, but there is no black-or-white situation, it's all part of life. Remember that the concept of Yin and Yang has nothing to do with black-or-white, it is about change, relation and interaction. In the same way the Chinese concept of face is not about black-or-white, neither is it about what the situation and the relationship calls for. Taoist ethics has never been based on good or bad, instead they're more based on the circumstances of the moment (situation-ethics). Chinese raise 'maintaining face' and 'avoiding losing face' to an art. Saying no to something, saying no to some ideas is one thing, saying no to someone is another thing. We can contradict that person in front of someone and cause that person "to lose face". Even the act of "saying no" to somebody can a person lose face. So most Chinese avoid Yes-or-No questions and black-or-white situations to avoid putting someone in a position where they might have to give a "Yes-or-No answer". They don't want to hurt someone's feelings.
Finally "face" means good intelligence management, human intelligence gathering by means of interpersonal contact. It means dignity, respect, tolerance, honor, prestige and reputation : "having face" (reputation), "having bad face" (when face has been lost).