I browsed "The Biography of Zeng Guofan" in a bookstore and spent two afternoons reading it.
In Zeng Guofan's short but fulfilling life of more than sixty years, he had ups and downs in the workplace. He went through three dynasties, experienced the ups and downs of the imperial examination, experienced the intrigues in the officialdom, and also had his own highlight moments. .
Zeng Guofan’s officialdom was just like our workplace with “hidden murderous intent.” I read his workplace survival rules from "The Biography of Zeng Guofan".
?1. Do what you are good at and learn to cooperate. There are specializations in the field. Don’t try to do everything by yourself in a workplace team. Do what you are good at to the best of your ability. Only by being good at cooperating with others can you complete the work tasks well. Zeng Guofan was not good at leading troops in battles. During the war against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, most of the battles he led ended in defeat, because he was good at overall command, and he himself knew that leading troops in battles was not as good as Zeng Guoquan, Hu Linji, and Zuo Zongtang.
?2. Keep a certain distance from colleagues. Colleagues are not equal to best friends. Don’t naively think that you can make true close friends in the workplace. There is a difference between colleagues and good friends and best friends. In the face of interests, people’s selfish desires will outweigh everything else. The reason why you and a colleague can have dinner every day to complain about your boss is because you have no competing interests for the time being. Zeng Guofan and his disciple and colleague Li Hongzhang are a clear example. When the Qing government sent Zeng Guofan to suppress Hong Xiuquan's Taiping Rebellion, Zeng Guofan refused Li Hongzhang's reinforcements many times in order to ensure that the Zeng family won the first prize in the final stage of conquering Tianjing City.
?3. Assess the situation and protect yourself. This is not to let us flatter others, but to teach us professionals to learn when to do things and say what to say, so that we can "survive" first. When the company held a project meeting, most people agreed with work plan A, and the boss finally finalized plan A, but Xiao Lin insisted on plan B. Whenever Zeng Guofan encountered major problems in officialdom, he would think of an escape route to protect himself.
?4. Avoid arrogance and impetuosity, and stay humble. When a certain project is successful, you must want to tell the world, run to your boss's office and tell him how you succeeded, how awesome you are, and think that you will definitely get a promotion and a salary increase. But these can only be thought about. What we really have to do is work quietly, be a low-key person, and grow into a towering tree quietly. After the Taiping Rebellion, Zeng Guofan took the initiative to apply to the court to cut down the Hunan Army and reduce his own capabilities. This made the court often assign important responsibilities to him.
?5. You can’t go wrong by doing a lot of good deeds. The office is not cold, you still need to maintain a warm heart and be a warm workplace person. On the premise of protecting yourself, you can help colleagues in need. Even small things such as teaching people to print or helping to check copywriting can help you accumulate popularity in the workplace. These popularity may play an important role one day. When Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang were frustrated, Zeng Guofan saw that he had a great job and asked the court to appoint him as an official. Later, whenever Zeng Guofan encountered difficulties, they would lend a helping hand.
When I read "The Biography of Zeng Guofan", I felt alternately sad and happy, with mixed emotions. Sometimes I feel sorry for him, such as when he represented the Qing government in illness and negotiated with foreigners in the Tianjin Mission Case Incident but was scorned by the world; sometimes I admire him because his imperial examination failed when he was young, but his stubbornness and persistence made him pass the final exam seven times in a row; sometimes He was very angry. During the Taiping Rebellion, he failed to discipline his younger brother Zeng Guoquan in time and burned, killed and looted Tianjing City, causing innocent people to die in the war. But looking back, after all, he is also an ordinary person, and he also has emotions and desires. However, we cannot deny that he has dominated the officialdom for decades, and there is a lot worth learning from him.