The twelve words "Respect is better than neglect, righteousness is better than desire; know its male, keep its female" were first taken from the Laozi Tao Te Ching, and the author of these words was Zeng Guofan, a military and political figure in the late Qing Dynasty. This short twelve words, but contains a wealth of philosophy for people in the world, and he has always encouraged himself by this, so what exactly is the meaning of this sentence?
The phrase "respect over slackness" means to overcome one's inertia through diligent attitudes and practices; "righteousness over desire" means to overcome the evil desires of the heart by following the right path. The story of Zeng Guofan, who was dumber than a thief, is the best example of this saying. Zeng Guofan was not a gifted child, so he often had to recite the text many times before he could remember it. One night he was reciting an article over and over again, and he couldn't remember it even after reciting it for a long time, while a thief happened to enter his house that day.
From this story, we can see that Zeng Guofan knew that he was not smart, so he had to bury his head in his studies and make up for his mistakes through hard work. The thief in the story is much smarter than Zeng Guofan, but instead of following the right path, he chooses the shady profession of thievery, which seems to be a "shortcut" but is not the right path and is not tolerated by society and the law after all. Zeng Guofan, on the other hand, was not smart, but studied hard and got a good reputation, and eventually embarked on a straightforward career.
"The male can be understood as the strengths and bottom line, and the female can be understood as the weaknesses and the heart. In order to deal with people, you should know how to build on your strengths and avoid your weaknesses, and at the same time, you should stick to your bottom line and not forget your original heart when you achieve a little. Zeng Guofan knew that he was not gifted enough, so he studied harder than others; from a "stupid kid" to a career of seven promotions in ten years, he leaped ten levels and became one of the "four famous ministers of the late Qing Dynasty", which was not unrelated to Zeng's handling of people. The company's main goal is to provide a good solution to the problem.
These twelve words were not only practiced by Zeng Guofan throughout his life, but also encouraged another person of extraordinary achievement, who is Cao Dewang. In Cao Dewang's office, the couplet of these twelve words was hung for decades. Let's take a look at what kind of influence these twelve characters had on his life.
Because his family could not afford to pay for Cao's education, he started to make a living at the age of sixteen, pouring tobacco, selling fruits and working as a cook.
In his early years, he had to interrupt his studies due to the necessity of life, but Cao Dewang knew clearly the importance of knowledge, so despite being a successful man with a successful career, he still insisted on one habit in the past decades, that is, to set aside two hours every day to read the newspaper. This is Cao Dewang's "respectful victory".
Whether the company was just starting out in its career, or later Fuyao Glass Group became the first and second largest auto glass supplier in China and the world, Cao Dewang had a bottom line of doing things, that is, he never paid bribes and did not get the benefits he wanted through this "unjust" way.
In addition, he is also very enthusiastic about charity and believes that his achievements cannot be achieved without the help of society. In May 2009, he became the first Chinese person to top the Ernst & Young Global Entrepreneur Award, and was called "the best". This is Cao Dewang's "desire for righteousness and victory".
In 2001, Fuyao Glass actively responded to the Canadian International Trade Court and won the first anti-dumping case after China's accession to the WTO; between 2001 and 2005, it took several years and cost 100 million dollars for Fuyao Glass to become the first Chinese company to sue the U.S. Department of Commerce for anti-dumping and win. Cao Dewang, as an entrepreneur with such great achievements, we can hardly hear any negative news about him, but when it comes to things like international anti-dumping, he stands up straight and does not get into trouble and is not afraid of anything, which is his "know its male, keep its female".
A pair of couplets with twelve words encourage two people with extraordinary achievements in the past and present, from which we can see that the Chinese culture is profound and profound and has a long history, and we can also see that heroes see the same thing, and we can see that successful people always have similar good characters.
