Taoist Leadership Principles

This week in Blue Chip we talked about Taoist Leadership Principals. Although the list of his principals is much longer, we only talked about 6 of the principals we thought best reflected our views in Blue Chip. One of the two principals I thought was most relevant to everyday life was principal #47 called Here and Now. This principal basically states that a leader must know the obstacles that are obstructing the group from attaining their goals now, rather than having idealist views about the future. In my life this has happened a few times. Recently I was pondering about what I wanted after college graduation. I thought about getting a good job and having nice things to go along with it. Sure these things are nice, but I was not thinking about the here and now. In the present, I had a huge exam that I had not done much studying for. I then thought of the Taoist principal and realized I had to pass this test in order to reach my goal of the finer things in life.  Clearly it helps to live in the present and overcome obstacles that will lead to the future rather than thinking too far into the future and forgetting about what is going to get me there. 

The other important Taoist principal I thought was important was principal #54, The Ripple Effect. The Ripple Effect states that if you are a positive influence in the world, it will rub off on everyone else and the ripple effect continues. I believe this is so true for many reasons! For example, one day in high school I was walking past a girl down the hallway and I really liked her shirt. I then smiled at her and acknowledged that I liked her shirt and kept walking. After passing her, I heard behind me that same girl’s voice. She went right ahead and complimented another girl on her shirt while they passed each other in the hallway. My act of kindness and positivity clearly rubbed off on others and it put everyone in a better mood including myself.  It is clear that one act of kindness can lead to many great acts of kindness no matter how little it is. My philosophy is if you can make at least one person smile during the day, you have done your job. Of course making many people smile is even better but if you could lift one person’s spirit it is a job well done. Clearly this Taoist principal is important in my life and I believe if everyone displayed this kind of positivity, great things will happen.

The Taoist principals are wonderful to live by. They are insightful and powerful and should be used by everyone in the world. Not only do the principals work in leadership situations, but more importantly they work in every day situations. There is nothing better than to make someone happy and to be living your life to the fullest in the present rather than searching for the good in the future.