Leadership Principles of Chinese Rulers

There is a story that Chairman Mao once described Deng Xiaoping, the second Paramount Leader of communist China, as “a needle wrapped in a ball of cotton.”

After Mao unified China, and led the People’s Republic into conflict first with the world and then with itself, Deng took control of the Chinese government, the Communist Party, and the People’s Liberation Army in the late 1970s. He became Paramount Leader by destroying his main rivals — the Gang of Four — a radical Party faction led by Mao’s wife, the “white-boned demon,” Jiang Qing.

Over the next few years, Deng consolidated control over the world’s largest country and gradually began to open it up, after it had been slammed shut during the madness of the Cultural Revolution. He was able to unite and inspire the Chinese people, who just months previously had been violently purging each other in tortuous “struggle sessions.”

When Deng took supreme power in 1978 and introduced his policy of “reform and opening up,” China was divided politically and stagnant economically. When Deng stepped down as Paramount Leader of the People’s Republic in 1989, China was at the cusp of a great boom, perhaps the single greatest episode of wealth creation in human history.

How did Deng do it? How was he able to lead the Chinese nation from its “century of humiliation” to its current status as a global power, in just a few short decades?

It is hard to say exactly, as Deng the guerrilla fighter largely destroyed his paper trail, but Ezra Vogel’s recent biography — Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China — lays out many of the Paramount Leader’s principles of leadership.

These principles work throughout the realms of politics, business, and beyond, and can help leaders in all walks of life, if they know how to apply the principles accordingly, and adapt to them to their own time and place.

The following eighteen principles of leadership come from Chapter 13 of Mr. Vogel’s book, in a section entitled, “Deng Xiaoping’s Guidelines for Governing and Reinventing China.” I have added some additional comments on how these principles can be used by leaders, or would-be leaders, in their own fields.

[1] Speak and act with authority. Consult with other leaders before presenting your ideas in public, and incorporate important people’s views into your policies. This will inspire confidence in your leadership, and your followers will begin to associate your voice with the voice of the organization. With confidence in your leadership, you can act decisively and with the authority.

[2] Defend the Party. Stay loyal to your core group. You will need a base of supporters to rise through the ranks and gain power. When you succeed, reward them and make them feel appreciated. Convince your rivals that life is better as your friend than as your enemy. If they resist you, cut them off from the resources they need to operate.

[3] Maintain a unified command structure. During times of reform and change, leaders must work hard to keep control over decision-making, and ensure that subordinates receive clear orders and guidance from the leadership. Your followers must not be pulled in various different directions by multiple bosses in an overly-decentralized leadership.

[4] Keep a firm grip on the military. In China, like in many countries, the gun rules. The military has ultimate power, because it can decide which leaders stay and which leaders go. In essence, they have authority over hiring and firing, promoting and demoting. Leaders must grasp this power close and never give it up. In your organization, keep your rivals from gaining the ability to hire and fire leaders, and attempt to gain control over the hiring and firing of your opponent’s followers.

[5] Build public support before promoting path-breaking policies. In China, new products and policies are introduced into society in stages, with a short-term test stage followed by a more universal expansion, if the test proved promising. When leaders want to make a change in their organization, they should encourage their followers to test the new policies first in limited circumstances. If the tests are successful and the new reforms prove popular, they can be expanded elsewhere with public support. If a test fails, shut it down quickly. This will allow leaders to grow success and smother failure before it becomes an issue.

[6] Avoid taking the blame. In certain circumstances, if you are directly responsible for a failure and everyone knows it, avoiding blame may be difficult. But in situations where numerous individuals contributed to decision-making, there is no need to become a martyr when things go wrong. When the music stops, make sure you have a place to sit.

[7] Set short-term policies in light of long-term goals. Educate your followers about the long-term goals of your organization. Once these long-term goals are agreed upon and pursued, there will be less disagreement about particular short-term policies. The people in your organization will be better able to implement your policies if their understand how their actions contribute to achieving goals they understand and support.

[8] Pursue policies that help achieve long-term goals. Once you know your long-term goals, design your policies to achieve them. Promote people and ideas that align with your goals. If certain policies detract from your overall strategy, shut them down and re-direct their resources to policies that do.

[9] Uncover even the unpleasant truths. Encourage your followers to be honest with you, and let them tell you the real state of things. If you discover a problem you are responsible for, investigate it thoroughly, but keep this investigation secret. Once you know the real truth, deal with the matter quickly and quietly, so that the problem does not grow and undermine your authority.

[10] Be bold. It is often said that the only thing worse than a leader who makes the wrong decisions is a leader who never decides at all. If the signs point toward a certain path, a certain policy, adopt it. If a course of action has a valuable goal, a clear strategy, and popular support, take it. Watch closely for signs of stress and handle them quickly. The most successful leaders were people of action. Devise a good plan and act on it.

[11] Push, consolidate, and push again. Sometimes big changes cannot be accomplished all at one time, and must be completed in stages. If this is the case, move quickly when the conditions are right, grab many of your goals, and then slow the pace of change. This will give you room to breathe, your allies time to catch up, and will throw your rivals off balance. Once you have renewed your strength and gained your footing, launch another offensive and take command of the situation, pushing even further towards your final objective.

[12] Strengthen unity, minimize divisions. Don’t be unnecessarily cruel to your enemies. Display magnanimity to your followers and your rivals, and convince them that life is better under your wise leadership. Adopt centrist positions to occupy the political mainstream, and partner with influential decision-makers to push critics to the ideological extremes.

[13] Avoid publicizing past grievances. Once a former rival has submitted to your authority, there is no need to “settle accounts.” Past sins are water under the bridge. Some people may oppose you merely because they think you will destroy them. Show them that by becoming your follower, they will join the winning side and enhance their quality of life. This will test the loyalty of your competitor’s followers, and convince neutrals to join your side.

[14] Sidestep conservative resistance through experimentation. Sometimes people resist necessary changes and reforms because they have a vested interest in the status quo, and see no immediate need for action. If they are influential and could possibly block your progress, rely on the testing of your policies and give wide publicity to the experiments that work. Build obvious evidence and popular support for the success of your ideas, and the momentum will be on your side against the opposition. Once the experiment has been proven to work and has become popular, implement it. At first try to work with your reluctant counterparts, and if they remain unconvinced, override them.

[15] Use aphorisms to explain complex controversial issues. Do not try to prove you are smart by using big words and long sentences. Speak in a direct language that people understand. A person who can explain a complex idea simply is more impressive than someone who uses technical language that is practically indecipherable. Or worse, condescending.

[16] Make balanced presentations that explain underlying principles. Try to be seen as the moderate and reasonable voice in your organization. When you present an idea, make it seem like the practical, logical solution to the issue at hand, to which any sensible person would readily agree. Work closely with similar-minded colleagues, and integrate their views into your presentations and policies. This will give you more credibility, and pushes your rivals out to the fringes, where they will find less support.

[17] Avoid factionalism and select competent officials. Even though Deng knew it was important to support and reward his core group of loyal followers, he also knew that there were major benefits — for himself and the country — if he was able to identify talented followers of his rivals, and bring them over to his side. If you meet a talented person who would be a good fit in your organization, make it worth their while to join you. As your ideas and policies become more successful, more and more people will flock to your banner — not out of loyalty or like-mindedness, but because you are the winner. Use them effectively to build your empire, however small it may be.

[18] Study and shape the “atmosphere.” Before you act, make sure as many people as possible are on board with your plans and support you. To do so, shape the culture of your organization through speeches and presentations that reinforce your ideas and explain the underlying principles of your decisions. Give people room to debate and criticise within the core group, so that once a decision is agreed-upon and made, the majority will go along and implement the policy. Create a “results-orientated” atmosphere that supports people and policies that fix problems, and be seen as more practically-minded than ideological. Then your followers will be more willing to bring you innovative ideas, and will speak up when an experiment is about to go awry.

China is a hard country, and these are undoubtedly guidelines for determined leaders in challenging circumstances. These are the principles of “a needle wrapped in a ball of cotton.”

In his book, Mr. Vogel also wrote that Deng Xiaoping rejected the personality cult of Chairman Mao, preferring to “hide his light and bide his time,” and few major statues or monuments were built in his honor. Even so, it is very possible that Deng Xiaoping’s global stature will continue to grow in the future, as he is increasingly remembered as the man who transformed China and helped return the Middle Kingdom to its historical preeminence among nations.

If you are a leader operating in challenging times, it is good to learn the lessons of those who also faced monumental odds before you, and succeeded. And there are few better leaders to learn such lessons from than Deng Xiaoping.