Book Cover

Even if you don't know the enemy, as long as you know yourself well, you already have an advantage.

# Review

This book features translations of conversations between Tang Taizong, one of the greatest emperors in Chinese history, and his ministers. The book also features biographical details of the emperor's life.

As the title of the book suggests, the conversations are typically centered around how to govern a nation effectively, but the lessons are applicable in basically all leadership situations. The three lessons that stuck the most with me are:

• Taizong exemplified many Confucian virtues such as renoucing greed and arrogance, and embracing fairness and honesty.
• Taizong, as an emperor, opted to listen to diverse opinions and to seek out complaints and criticism, not to quell them, but to correct his faults.
• One should select team members for the greater good of the organization, and not for the greater good of the individual; furthermore, one should treat teammates with respect and magnanimity to foster loyalty.

The book is a very quick read and contains common sense wisdom distilled into short quotes.

# Conclusion

It's very interesting to learn more about Chinese history; I think one of my goals is to improve my Chinese to a degree that I am able to read the raw, untranslated version of Taizong's conversations.

# Overall rating: 7.8

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