In
essence,
Daizenmadehimselfthe
cat’s-paw,
thetooltotakethe
chestnutsoutofthefire.
He
musthavefelt
some
pain
in
losing
the
vase,
but
he
gained
not
only
the
painting
but,
more
important,
the
power
ofthe
courtier.Thecourtieruseshis
gloved
handtosoften
any
blows
against
him,
disguise
his
scars,
andmaketheactofrescuemore
elegant
andclean.
By
helping
others,
thecourtier
eventuallyhelps
himself.Daizen’s
example
provides
the
paradigm
for
every
favordone
betweenfriendsand
peers:
never
imposeyour
favors.Search
out
ways
tomake
yourself
the
cat’s—paw,
indirectly
extricating
your
friendsfromdistresswithout
imposingyourself
or
making
themfeel
obligated
to
you.
Oneshouldnotbe
too
stmightfnrward.
Goandsee
thefzmesz.
The
straight
treesarecut
down,
thecrookedonesare
leftstanding.
Kuulilya,
Indian
fzhiloroplmg
third
century
Ii.(1'.
KEYSTOPOWER
Asaleader
youmayimagine
that
constant
diligence,
andthe
appearance
of
working
harderthan
anyone
else,
signifypower.
Actually,though,
they
havethe
opposite
effect:
Theyimply
weakness.
Why
are
youworking
so
hard?
Perhapsyou
are
incompetent,
andhaveto
put
inextraeffort
just
to
keepup;perhapsyou
are
one
ofthose
people
who
doesnot
knowhow
to
delegate,
andhastomeddlein
everything.
The
trulypowerful,
ontheother
hand,
seemnevertobeina
hurry
oroverburdened.Whileotherswork
their
fingers
tothe
bone,
they
taketheirleisure.
They
knowhowtofindthe
rightpeople
to
put
intheeffortwhile
they
savetheir
energy
and
keep
their
handsout
ofthefire.
Similarly,youmay
believe
that
bytaking
onthe
dirty
work
yourself,involvingyourselfdirectly
in
unpleasant
actions,
you
im-
pose
your
power
andinstillfear.Infact
you
make
yourself
look
ugly,
and
abusiveof
yourhighposition. Trulypowerfulpeoplekeep
theirhands
clean.
Onlygoodthings
surround
them,
andthe
only
announcements
they
makeare
of
glorious
achievements.
Youwilloftenfindit
necessary,
of
course,
to
expendenergy,
ortoef
factanevilbut
necessary
action.But
you
mustnever
appear
tobethisac-
tion’s
agent.
Find3.
cat’s—paw.Develop
theartsof
finding,using,
and,
in
time,
getting
ridofthese
people
whentheir
cat’s-paw
role
hasbeen
ful-
filled.
Ontheeveofan
important
river
battle,
the
great
third—century
Chi
nese
strategist
Chuko
Liang
foundhimself
falsely
accusedof
secretly
work
ing
fortheotherside.As
proof
ofhis
loyalty,
hiscommanderorderedhim
to
produce
100,000
arrowsforthe
army
withinthree
days,
orbe
put
to
death.Instead
of
trying
tomanufacture
the
arrows,
an
impossible
task,
Liang
took
a
dozenboatsand hadbundlesofstrawlashedtotheirsides.In
thelate
afternoon,
whenmist
always
blanketedthe
river,
hefloatedthe
boatstowardthe
enemycamp.Fearing
a
trap
fromthe
wily
Chuko
Liang,
the
enemy
didnotattackthe
barely
visibleboatswithboatsoftheir
own,
your
rclalinm
collapsed
tum‘,
fell
at
my
feet
whenImmziunwl
yourcaptivity.
"
Aswonasthesewurtls
were
xlmken
the
merclumtivbird
mllapx::(l
and
fell
to
thebottom
of
the
urge.
“Thenews
aflzis
kirxxv
man'3(loathhaskilled
him,
run.
”
/huught
the
merchant.
Sorrowful!)
he
pickedup
thebird
and
put
itonHlze
wirzduw.\ill.Alonce
thebirdruvwcdmm’
flew
to 41
nextrby
mac.
“Now
you
know.
"
1/24:
birdmul,“(hmwhat
youI/laugh:
was
rlimse
(orwasin
factgood
news
for
VIM’.Amihow
the
rrmmlge,
the
suggc.sIioIzof
howIn
behtzvcineI!’dt’!’to
fret’
m_yseIfi
wasrmnsmzzml
tome
throughyou,my
captur.
"And
heflaw
mmy,free
atlast.
m1_|=s<>r"m1«_
DFRVISHEES.
l|)l{lIiSSH/\u,1967
LAW 26 211