It means: you can't just listen to the orders of your superiors without making changes, you can't just believe in book dogma, you should proceed from reality and study and deal with problems realistically.

From Chen Yun's famous saying: not only the book, but also the truth, communication, comparison and repetition. On June 24th, 1990, Chen Yun gave Li Zemin, secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, a prepared banner when he was talking with the leaders of the party, government and army in Zhejiang Province. There is a fifteen-word motto written on the banner.

Just do as you are told, accept the principle of death and don't try to be flexible. Chen Yun believes that we should be flexible in doing things, don't stick to dogma and instructions from superiors, have our own ideas and solve problems from reality. At the same time, we should listen to opinions with an open mind and find our own shortcomings through repeated comparisons.

Extended data:

For these fifteen words, Chen Yun gave a vivid explanation by metaphor:

For example, if you look at this teacup, you can see whether there are flowers here, and he can see whether there are flowers there. Both are one-sided. If we exchange views with each other, then we will have a comprehensive and realistic understanding of tea cups.

We have made many mistakes in the past. The most important reason is that we look at problems one-sidedly and regard one-sidedly reality as a comprehensive reality.

As a leading cadre, always pay attention to exchanging opinions with others, especially listening to negative opinions, which is only beneficial, but not harmful. Comparison is the comparison of up, down, left and right.

War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, chairman MAO's "on protracted war" adopted this method. He made a comparative study of several basic characteristics, such as the strength of the contradiction between the enemy and ourselves, progress and retrogression, and the advantages outweighed the disadvantages, and refuted the theory of national subjugation and the theory of quick victory that grew up after Taierzhuang's victory in World War I.

Chairman Mao said that both the theory of national subjugation and the theory of quick victory are subjective and one-sided, and War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression can only be a protracted war. Historical development has proved that this conclusion is completely correct.