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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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English
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THE RULER'S GUIDE

Chinghua Tang

The Emperor of Tang and the Secrets of His Spectacular Success

Reminiscent of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power, this book by Harvard Business School trailblazer and managerial expert Chinghua Tang presents to Western readers for the first time the wisdom of China’s greatest emperor Tang Taizong. The Emperor’s thoughts on everything from talent recruitment to planning to expanding influence to earning loyalty to competing with rivals to dealing with untrustworthy will be of interest to students, parents, business leaders, politicians, military officers, and anyone else in a position of authority who wants to be more effective.
The Ruler’s Guide is the first publication in English of the leadership principles modeled and articulated by Tang Taizong, arguably the greatest Emperor in Chinese history. In Asia, many historians rank him with such rulers as Augustus, Genghis Khan, and Napoleon. When he founded the Tang dynasty, Taizong was only twenty-eight years old, and his chief accomplishments were on the battlefield where he personally slew 1,000 of the enemy. Seeking an accurate mirror to reflect back his flaws, Taizong took the unusual step of populating his court with advisors whose job was to criticize him on a daily basis, and his dialogues with the wisest of his counselors form the core of this book, which is a manual for managing in any sphere, whether it be government, business, the military, athletics, philanthropy, or even parenting.

Ultimately, Taizong would defeat the descendants of Genghis Khan’s Huns, enact a vastly simplified code of laws, open up the Silk Road trading route, create a golden age of cosmopolitan culture, and by his attitudes on religious tolerance introduce Buddhism into Tibet and invite Catholicism into China. His dynasty would last 300 years.

The Emperor’s thoughts on everything from talent recruitment to planning to expanding influence to earning loyalty to competing with rivals to exploiting teachable moments to dealing with untrustworthy colleagues will be of interest to students, parents, business leaders, politicians, military officers, and anyone else in a position of authority who wants to be more effective.

That the primary source for this book, The Zhenguan Executive Guide, has been in continuous circulation since the 8th century attests to the evergreen nature of the Emperor’s advice. A fierce advocate of having at one’s side “designated critics” who can warn of excesses, Taizong, in his sometimes contentious conversations with his advisers, expressed timeless wisdom about how to deal with subordinates, not get too big for one’s britches, and avoid complacency.

Chinghua Tang is a true Chinese scholar, as well as a writer of two Chinese bestsellers, a graduate of the London School of Economics with high honors, and the first citizen of the People’s Republic of China to earn an MBA at Harvard Business School.
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Published 2017-01-02 by Scribner

Book

Published 2017-01-02 by Scribner

Comments

Ancient wisdom at its best. This book is to management what The Art of War is to military strategy. Inspired by both Confucius and Sun Tzu, Tang Taizong, along with his key advisors, offers us a world of superb advice that is still relevant even though it has existed for more than a millennia. The Emperor both confirms good management practice and propels us to achieve new peaks, along the way providing a persuasive rationale for cultivating a strong moral character.

Fascinating…The book offers gem after gem of timeless and practical leadership lessons. Reading it made me think how much better off the world would be if common sense were common practice. The Ruler’s Guide is full of common sense.

France: Flammarion

Deep, dazzling, and destined to be a long bestseller…This is the best book of its kind since Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. The Ruler’s Guide is a little masterpiece, ancient in its origin but full of wisdom for the 21st century.

This brilliantly presented book is a jewel. The governing principles of one of history's most accomplished rulers and China's golden age emperor have never been seen in English—until now. And the intervening centuries have only validated the philosophy of Tang Taizong. You will be lifted and inspired by the elegant simplicity of The Ruler's Guide.

The Ruler’s Guide is a collection of riveting and powerful insights on leadership. It’s worth reading for leadership responsibilities in the boardroom or in combat.

“An enjoyable and readable book. Mr. Tang has much to pass on to us, not the least of which is an explanation of theChinese understanding of ‘Virtues,’ which give us much to consider about how virtues, rather than harsh laws, make a vibrant society.” —James Webb, former US senator, author of The Emperor’s General and Fields of Fire