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The Confucian and Mencian

philosophy of benevolent leadership

xin-hui yang, yan-qin peng, and

yueh-ting lee

T

HIS CHAPTERfocuses on the major teachings of Confucius

and Mencius as they relate to leadership. Confucianism has

had a great influence on people not only in China and the rest

of East and Southeast Asia, but also elsewhere in the world. Confu-

cianism is broad and complex and has relevance to politics, philoso-

phy, education, psychology, morality and ethics, but this chapter

focuses on exploring Confucian ideas related to benevolent leadership.

We first briefly introduce the biographical details and historical back-

grounds of Confucius and Mencius. Next, we introduce the Confucian

philosophy of benevolence, which includes the assumption of human

goodness and the prescription of key Confucian virtues such as

benevolence (ren), righteousness (yi), ritual propriety (li), wisdom

(zhi), trustworthiness (xin), and filial piety (xiao). Third, we elaborate

on a benevolent leadership model that includes self-cultivation and

leading others. We conclude by discussing the significance of Confucian

benevolent leadership for modern business organizations.

Biographies and historical backgrounds

Confucius (551–479 BCE) is most widely known in China as Kongzi

or Kongfuzi, with Kong being the family name, andziorfuzimeaning

master in Chinese. He is also known as Kong Qiu (Qiu is a given

name) or Zhongni (a social name). We follow the latinized name

of Confucius because it is well established in the literature outside

China. Confucius was a native of the state of Lu ̈(presently the city of

Qufu in Shandong province, China) during the latter part of the Spring

and Autumn Period (770–476 BCE). He was a great educator, thinker,

Thanks are extended to Chao-chuan Chen for his guidance and comments on

earlier versions of this chapter.

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