Recently, on a weekend, I was scrolling on my phone at home when I happened to come across a short video of Mr. Zhao Yuping explaining the management wisdom of Song Jiang in Water Margin (《水浒传》). Finding it quite interesting, I went to WeChat Reading to find the original book. I had thought it was a casual book about historical stories, but I never expected it to hide so much workplace-management know-how.
Zhao Yuping uses the story of how Song Jiang, a “petty clerk from Yuncheng,” secured the top seat at Liangshan to dissect a few of the most essential questions in the workplace: how do you make people willing to work for you? How do you give a team cohesion? How do you recognize and use people?
I. Giving: “Timely Rain” Was Not a Name He Got for Nothing
Song Jiang had a nickname, “Timely Rain,” meaning he could always deliver help when others most needed it. Starting from this, Zhao Yuping proposes a core workplace ability: knowing how to give.
Relational behavior vs. task behavior
The book notes that a qualified team member needs to walk on two legs:
- Relational behavior: handling interpersonal relationships, building a network platform, creating a harmonious atmosphere
- Task behavior: meeting work targets, getting results
Many workplace newcomers tend to go to extremes: either they just bury their heads in work and ignore interpersonal relationships entirely, or they are all things to all people while doing nothing of substance. Neither gets you far.
Song Jiang’s brilliance lies in that he both knew how to give (relational behavior) and could calibrate that giving just right (in service of the task). When Wu Song was being cold-shouldered at Chai Jin’s estate, Song Jiang sent timely help — money, care, respect — and in the end won over this great general.
How to give so that it hits the mark?
Zhao Yuping summarizes four points:
- Differentiated incentives: give different people different things according to their needs
- Close the distance in daily life, elevate the feeling at key events: accumulate normally so you can deploy it at the crucial moment
- Create memories first, then produce feelings: only with shared experience is there a basis for trust
- Spiritual content needs a material carrier: words alone won’t do; there has to be a concrete gesture
Give the name in the open, give the profit in the dark; give face in public, give the red envelope in private.
This line struck me deeply. In the workplace many people either talk only about money, which looks mercenary, or talk only about sentiment, which looks hypocritical. The true master is the one who can combine the two just right.
II. Fairness: Only the Fair and Selfless Can Build a Great Company
The first layer of meaning of the word “fair” is being able to set aside personal emotion when doing public business.
Zhao Yuping puts forward a view: a person should have at least three channels.
- Work channel: sitting up straight, passionate and rousing
- Entertainment channel: happy, full of vitality
- Sports channel: exercising seriously, full of vigor
Different scenes call for different emotions; this is “channel management.” The reason Song Jiang could be the boss is that he could switch freely between different channels. Serious when seriousness is called for, warm when warmth is called for.
This made me reflect on my own performance at work. Sometimes because something in my life puts me in a bad mood, I bring that emotion into work, being cold to colleagues or overreacting to a subordinate’s mistake. This is precisely a failure to switch channels well.
How is the character “企” (enterprise) in “企业” written? A “人” (person) on top and a “止” (stop) below — this is called “where there is no one, it stops.”
If you ruin your network of relationships, your career will stall. In the workplace, your professional ability is hard power, and your emotional-management ability is soft power; neither can be missing.
III. Discernment: See the Big Picture, and See the Small Details
“Discernment” refers to the acuity of reading people. Zhao Yuping offers a view: there is no person who cannot be arranged, only leaders who don’t know how to arrange.
Everyone has his background and strengths; the key is whether you can see them clearly and use them well. Some people are strong technically but poor at communication, suited to tackling technical problems; some are good at handling people but not steady enough, suited to external liaison; some bear hardship without complaint but lack independent judgment, suited to executing specific tasks.
The book mentions a principle of using people: look at the big picture, and look at the small details.
- The big picture: a person’s character, values, and bottom line
- The small details: a person’s habits, details, and way of handling things
For someone whose big picture is fine, the small details can be smoothed out over time; for someone whose big picture is problematic, no matter how capable, he cannot be used. This is the most basic bottom line of using people.
IV. The Twin-Wheel Drive of Motivation: Interest + Value
The title of the second chapter is “Give You a Reason to Work,” and it discusses incentive mechanisms.
Interest-driven
Zhao Yuping makes a very interesting point: where you sit decides how you think.
He gives the example of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (《聊斋志异》): why do the fox spirits in the book especially dote on scholars? The answer is — because the people writing the book are themselves scholars.
Your interest point decides your viewpoint. A person, wherever his backside sits on the interest point, will naturally have the corresponding thought in his head.
In the workplace, to understand a person’s behavioral logic, you must first figure out where his interest point lies. Why does an employee lack motivation? Perhaps because he feels doing more and doing less is the same. Why is a partner uncooperative? Perhaps because he sees no benefit in it.
Interest-driven is the most fundamental logic; deny this and everything else is empty talk.
Value commitment
But interest-driven alone is not enough.
Zhao Yuping gives an analogy: working is like building a tall building — floors one to ten are called practical benefit; above floor ten, that’s called a higher realm. Without the practical benefit, if you start by talking about the higher realm and ideals, that’s a castle in the air; but if you always talk about floors one to ten with no higher realm, you can only have a low building.
At Liangshan, Song Jiang set up an apricot-yellow banner inscribed with four characters: “Act on behalf of Heaven.” This is the value commitment — the brothers are not just fighting for money but doing something meaningful.
This point moved me a lot. People have two driving forces for work: interest-driven and value commitment, and neither can be missing.
V. The Small Core Team: You Need Three Kinds of People Around You
The third chapter discusses that a leader needs a “small core team,” including three roles:
1. The person who waves the fan (the Wu Yong type)
Such people excel at strategy and can help you analyze problems and formulate plans. But their characteristic is being “clever,” and if used poorly they will “outsmart themselves.”
A good warrior has no conspicuous feats.
A truly brilliant commander does not build world-renowned military feats, because he can subdue the enemy invisibly and eliminate the war before it expands.
The principle for using such people is: just have them wave the fan, don’t have them swing the battle-axe. Let them do what they are good at; don’t force them to have execution ability.
2. The person who swings the battle-axe (the Li Kui type)
Some things you can’t say conveniently — let him say them for you; some things you can’t do conveniently — let him do them for you. He can express the company’s position by savage means, after which you use civilized means to win more space.
Every team needs such a “black-faced” role, but be careful: use him to get things done, don’t let him set the rhythm.
3. The stand-in (the Lu Junyi type)
A leader is busy and cannot attend to everything personally. You need a trusted person who can represent you at various occasions and handle various matters.
The core trait of such people is reliability — ability need not be the strongest, but he must set your mind at ease.
VI. Where You Sit Decides How You Think: The Limits of Cognition
The book also mentions a very interesting phenomenon: why do people who are capable, loyal, and talented fail to deliver results?
Zhao Yuping believes the main reason is that they have no sense of identification with the company.
Where does a person’s motivation come from? First, having personal interest and practical benefit at work; second, making him feel it is worthwhile and something he can identify with.
This explains many seemingly contradictory phenomena in the workplace:
- Why is an employee still unhappy after a raise? Because there is no sense of identification
- Why do people still leave when the company has good pay and benefits? Because there is no sense of identification
- Why do some people earn little yet work with great drive? Because there is a sense of identification
Where your backside sits on the interest point, that’s the kind of thought you’ll have in your head. This is human nature; don’t fight it — learn to use it.
As a manager, you must align the team’s “backside” with the company’s “backside” in the same direction. How specifically? The book gives no standard answer, but the direction is clear: make the individual’s interest point coincide with the organization’s interest point.
VII. In Closing
After reading this book, my biggest impression is: there are no shortcuts in the workplace, but there are many regularities.
Song Jiang went from a petty clerk in Yuncheng to lord of Liangshan Marsh, and it was not luck he relied on but a complete “management methodology.” These methods transcend a thousand years and still apply today:
| What Song Jiang did | The modern workplace equivalent |
|---|---|
| “Timely Rain” giving benefits | Differentiated incentives, emotional value |
| The banner “Act on behalf of Heaven” | Vision-driven, mission identification |
| The core team of Wu Yong + Li Kui + Lu Junyi | Complementary team composition |
| The reputation of Gongming (Timely Rain) | Personal brand, workplace reputation |
Of course, the book is mainly about “managing upward” and “managing the team.” For an ordinary employee, what matters more is to first do yourself well before talking about managing others.
But understanding these rules in advance can at least let you take fewer detours in the workplace. After all, the person who knows the rules of the game always has an advantage over the person who stumbles blindly.
If you too are struggling along in the workplace, I recommend this book. It won’t tell you the specific steps to take, but it will give you a sense of clarity — an “oh, so that’s how it is.” That clarity is sometimes worth more than specific techniques.
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