在此处宁静，在彼处穿行

On the Dec 22nd Issue of the Economist, there's an article "Mao and the Art of Management - a role model, of sorts" in the special Finance and economics column. I have thought it’s one of  articles that analyze mao’s success of management  when I first glanced the cover of this issue. On the contrary , it’s all about the four key ingredients which all bad managers(just like mao) could profitably employ to stay at the top with bad performance.

It summarized four characteristics of Mao's managerial tricks that the under-performing,over-compensated chief executive can learn from. Over this article ,u can smell a strong ironic tone. Without a Chinese background , the author’s perspective is more profound and penetrating than us. 

Now ,let’s enjoy the four ingredients extracted by the author :)

First, as a bad manager, he need to creat a A powerful, mendacious slogan, which can justifies a manager's selfish actions with “cognitive dissonance” efforts —the ability to make acompelling, heartfelt case for one thing while doing another. In the  author’s eyes , Mao lived like an emperor but has an ironic slogan "Serve the People". Furthermore, it’s an essential skill in many professions in mordern society and firms.

Secondly, he need manipulates all the media and get the slogen out. The author suggests Mao only talked to "sycophantic" journalists and promoted the "Little Red Book" which contains phrases that became a marketing campaign which built a branding for his underlings.  Although there’re laws that ban such manipulative actions of the media because public companies need to disclose as much information as they can, instead of selectively disclosing information to whom you prefer as an audience.  However, this strategy can works according to the author because there are increasingly many companies delisting as public companies to gain control of information. 

Thirdly, he would sacrifice his  friends and colleagues as he wish .  This is a strategy employed by Mao but seemed to be advisable for managers today.  You don't want close colleagues to steal ur job from u.  

Last and of most important thin’ is using  activities to substitute for achievement.  Mao avoided "tedious or uncomfortable meetings when he was likely to be  criticized."  The message for bad managers is, even though u have plans and your plans may fail, keep them coming!  The more plans you have, the longer it takes to reveal the disastrous results of ur plans.  According to the author, it's inspiring to have plans, whether they will work or not. If you can't do anything right, do a lot.The more youhave going on, the longer it will take for its disastrous consequencesto become clear.

In the end , the author said:’In the long run, of course, the facts will find you out. But who cares? We all know what we are in the long run.’ It’s the fact of our society . What a pity!!