Learn Chinese

How to handle the situation when your guanxi (relationship) is in jeopardy, when doing business with the Chinese? Think about this story. It may help …

Sleeping late is an act of exhausting your yang energy, while waking up late is a way to kill you yang energy. It is ‘double deprivation’ of your yang energy — if you sleep late and wake up late. This can badly affect your health in the long run.

The best time to be sound asleep in a day is between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. Based on the traditional Chinese beliefs, this is the time when the earth is asleep. Following the rhythm of the Nature will make your sleep deeper and more effective. Unfortunately, many of us are unable to be asleep during these hours. There is one thing you may do …

Do not just sleep. Time your sleep, so that you can benefit the most from every slumber. In the Chinese traditional belief, maintaining a rhythm in harmony with the Nature is critical to health. While there are four seasons in a year, there are four seasons in a day as well. You must do the right thing in the right season to stay healthy.

To win a war, five critically factors have to be in place.
Sun Tzu, the great military thinker, succinctly put them in five words.
Ethic
Heaven
Earth
Leader
Discipline
According to the strategist, only when the ruler is ethical that he can win the support of his army and people, resulting in them fighting for the country without fear of death.  Heaven [...]

One of the five major reasons a leader can fail is loving his people. This may sound weird. Is it wrong to love your people as a leader? According to Sun Tzu, the military strategist, the attribute can be dangerous for a commander, as his enemy can use his compassion for his people to harass him.

Imagine yourself as a leader in the war field, rather than the boardroom. I am sure you will be more wary about what do, and factors that can be fatal to you as a leader. Let’s see what Sun Tze the military strategist has to say about this. He summarized the worst weaknesses of a military commander in five sentences.

Can you tell a good leader from a bad? You can if you truly understand how Sun Tzu, the time-honored military thinker chose his commanders. He summarized the attributes of a good commanders into 5 words (see Chinese characters below), so it is easy to remember.

As a business leader, do not take over your general as a general. Enable him to be a general. It may take you a longer time or more resources to get things done. This is, nevertheless, an essential process of building an effective army.

Breathe the natural way — like a baby — is part of the Chinese tradition of staying healthy.
It is known as natural breathing, as it was the way you breathed when you were born.  Observe how an infant breathes, and you will understand what I mean.  The basic principle is to breathe with your belly, [...]