Zeng Guofan has a famous saying, "Only the most sincerity in the world can defeat the most hypocrisy in the world; only the most clumsy in the world can defeat the most cleverness in the world."

When I first heard this, I was dubious. Because there are so many books on Zeng Guofan on the market now, most of them use the theory of success to portray him as a Machiavellian and careerist. In this context, "The Leadership of Zeng Guofan" written by Zhang Hongjie is extremely valuable. He used detailed historical materials and rational analysis to present us another Zeng Guofan.

When Zeng Guofan dealt with the internal relations of the Hunan Army Group, he followed the principle of "clumsy and sincerity", advocating clumsiness and sincerity. He said, "The way to control a general is to value sincerity more than power." He has always been adhering to the principle of "Sincerity leads to gold and stone." Deal with things with sincerity to save the country and defend the country, and use this spirit to form and unite the Hunan Army, rather than just using generous military pay as bait. Treat people without using power, and treat colleagues and subordinates with sincerity. "If you speak the truth more often, people will be able to reveal their true feelings over time. That is, you may wish to speak more frankly, but you cannot criticize others for being straightforward, especially you cannot attack others' shortcomings from behind." This is actually very rare. Suspicion and distrust between people mostly come from poor communication. This lack of communication has various subjective and objective reasons, but it mainly stems from the selfishness of each person. To reduce and avoid this situation, as a leader, you must first be open and honest, and treat each other with sincerity. Only then can you be able to achieve positive results and create a good atmosphere. From another point of view, he specifically mentioned that "a superior should be kind to his subordinates in the public court and avoid private affairs." China is a face-saving society, but caring about face does not mean always saying good things and being conciliatory. The so-called sincerity in treating others should mean telling the truth at the appropriate time and occasion, and being forthright in admonishing. The most taboo thing is to say good things to one's face and bad things behind one's back.

The second characteristic of Zeng Guofan’s treatment of his subordinates is that “if you want to establish yourself, you must establish others; if you want to achieve yourself, you must achieve others”. That is, if you want to achieve your career, you must first help others achieve their careers; Help others manifest. This actually demonstrates a spirit of "benevolence". There are so many things in the world, how can only one person shoulder the responsibility? What is more important is to discover talents, cultivate talents, and reward talents. In selecting talents, Zeng Guofan emphasized the need to be "conscience", "bloody", and "simple and courageous". When leading troops, he even emphasized treating his subordinates as if they were his own children. According to statistics, by the time of Zeng Guofan's death, there were more than 50 officials recommended by Zeng Guofan and above, including 4 governors, 26 governors and officials, and countless officials at the state, prefecture, and county levels. Some people even say that "half of the officials in the world are his disciples", including the famous ZTE ministers Hu Linyi, Zuo Zongtang, Shen Baozhen, etc. But at the same time, it was also mentioned that while cultivating people, it is also necessary to use laws and disciplines to restrain them. "When the ancients used soldiers, they first understood the rewards and punishments for merit and crime." On the one hand, "National treasures should not be given indiscriminately." The reward must be worthy of the name in order to inspire people. On the other hand, "legislating is not difficult, but enforcing the law is difficult. Whenever a law is enacted, it must be implemented and implemented regularly."

The third characteristic of Zeng Guofan's treatment of others is "forgiveness". "Be respectful and bow to others, and treat others with forgiveness. Respect is to be cautious and do not dare to ignore anything, no matter how big or small. Forgiveness is to leave room for others in everything, not to take credit for the merits alone, and not to shirk blame for the faults." Just as he had a grudge with Zuo Zongtang, who was known as "arrogant" and "competing for merit", he never abandoned public service for personal reasons. During the Zuo Suppression and Western Expedition, he gave strong support in the crucial aspect of raising wages, and also Liu Songshan, his most proud subordinate, was given to Zuo Zongtang to help him achieve his achievements. Zuo Zi was so ashamed that after Zeng Guofan's death, he sent people all the way to send elegiac couplets. No one expected that he would sign "Zuo Zongtang, born late" on the elegiac couplets. Another example is Li Yuandu, who was impeached by himself many times for fleeing from the city and changing his family. After Zeng Guofan's victory in Tianjing, he still wanted to give him a recommendation and a chance to reform. After Zeng's death, Li Zai did not complain about Zeng's blow to him. In his elegy "Crying for Master Zeng Wenzheng", he wrote, "Rain and rain are like the spring breeze." "Cheng Men is now gone, and Li Xue will be reborn." "Come" means to be Zeng's student in the next life.

In fact, whether it is building a good person or forgiving, it ultimately lies in the word "sincerity". To achieve "utter sincerity", one must "nurture the heart" and work hard on one's own cultivation and persevere. Among these, the most fundamental thing is to be “not anxious but not seeking”. Don't be jealous, don't be greedy. This actually involves a question of values, but how many people in the world can be nonchalant and indifferent in the face of fame, wealth and success? However, Wen Zhenggong was able to hold himself to such standards throughout his life with moderate qualifications and achieve unparalleled achievements. It is no wonder that many people with lofty ideals in later generations highly praised his extraordinary spirit and realm.

This is the essence of what we should learn, not the so-called "powerful strategies" and other superficial things boasted in the success study books.