Zeng Guofan has always adhered to two words - "sincerity" in dealing with interpersonal relationships throughout his life.

In the minds of many people, Zeng Guofan is often synonymous with "powerful people", thinking that he is a scheming and even cunning person. When talking about leadership, most people also confuse leadership with power, and even think that leadership is power and skill.

In fact, the core of Zeng Guofan's leadership is not Machiavellianism. Zeng Guo's famous saying, "Only the most sincerity in the world can defeat the most false in the world, and only the most clumsy in the world can defeat the most skillful in the world." This is the source of his leadership.

The first characteristic of Zeng Guofan's treatment of his subordinates was that he did not use power. He said, "The most important thing in controlling a general is sincerity, not power." He said that he should treat his colleagues and subordinates with sincerity.

The personal style of a group leader often determines the ethos of the entire group. If the leader is accustomed to using power tactics, the entire team will definitely be full of power struggles, and huge energy will be wasted in intrigues. To prevent this kind of situation, leaders must get out of Machiavellian thinking and adopt "sincerity" thinking.

Zeng Guofan wrote to his younger brother Zeng Guoquan in his hometown, reflecting on his previous way of serving as an official. He said:

I was originally an honest person without much scheming. But in the past, because I was involved in officialdom, I also learned some political skills. As a result, on the one hand, I learned my own mental skills badly; on the other hand, we stupid people don't use these political skills as well as others, and people will often see it. Making people laugh does more harm than good.

I have been reflecting at home these past few months and decided to work honestly for the rest of my life and return to my true nature as an honest person. Therefore, when you are outside, you must not take the path of opportunism. If you are used to opportunism, you will become worse day by day and your character will be ruined. Even if others are playing tricks on you, you have to pretend not to know and respond to him clumsily and sincerely. After a long time, he will be embarrassed to play tricks on you. If you also want to fight with it and the two of you enter a vicious circle, things will only get worse and worse, which is not good for anyone.

Therefore, usually speak more righteously and truthfully, and don’t be afraid to speak too much. As time goes by, you will naturally do it for everyone’s good. You might as well say more if you are straightforward, but you should not regard malicious attacks on others as being straightforward, especially you should not talk about other people's shortcomings behind their backs.