Leadership Lessons from Confucius: five qualities of consummate conduct

Zizhang asked Confucius about consummate conduct. Confucius said: “Someone who is capable of putting five qualities into practice across the world can be considered as consummate in their conduct.” “And what are those?” “Respectfulness, tolerance, trustworthiness, diligence, and generosity. If you are respectful, you will not be insulted by others; if you are tolerant, you will win people’s hearts; if you are trustworthy, people will entrust you with responsibility; if you are diligent, you will achieve results; if you are generous, you will be capable of managing other people.”
子張問「仁」於孔子。孔子曰：「能行五者於天下，為仁矣。」「請問之？」曰：「恭、寬、信、敏、惠。恭則不侮，寬則得眾，信則人任焉，敏則有功，惠則足以使人。」

It is not that difficult to identify the personal qualities you need to cultivate in order to lead a richer and more fulfilling life. The key challenge is applying them in how you conduct yourself and engage with other people. That requires the adoption of a consistent process for putting these qualities into practice during your day and reflecting on your actions in order to identify further opportunities for improvement. Begin by focusing on just one or two qualities that you need to nurture in order to build the process. The greater the number you include, the greater the risk of giving up due to a perceived lack of progress.

Notes

This article features a translation of Chapter 6 of Book 17 of the Analects of Confucius. You can read my full translation of Book 17 here.

(1) Consummate conduct is the sum of many different qualities and virtues. Whenever someone asks Confucius to define the meaning of it, Confucius tailors his response to highlight the key issues that he thinks his questioner should address in order to move closer to this goal. Zizhang was nearly fifty years younger than Confucius and known for his sharp intelligence, self-confidence bordering on arrogance, and penchant for self-promotion. Confucius is counseling him to smooth the rough edges in his character with his call to show greater respectfulness, tolerance, trustworthiness, diligence, and generosity.

I took this image in the Four Beasts Scenic Area in Taipei.