Strategies

During the time when China was made up of many independent war lords all fighting to be the one and only leader many wars and battles were fought.Each warlord would have his master strategist who though not a general would plan the war strategies for his master.Of course success or failure would then depend on the mind of the strategist.What strikes me is that these people who served under all kinds of masters were not afraid of contradicting the thoughts of the master and were never afraid of giving their opinions.Some of them lost their heads if they served under an unreasonable master .Nevertheless ,they spoke without fear or favour and believed it was their responsibility to do so even though it might have cost them their lives. Lesson learned: Never be afraid to speak your mind or voice your opinions.It is always the test of a person's mettle ,whether he is one who says what he thinks people want to hear or what he feels he should say. Of course there is a fine line between being blunt and straight forward .Things though they should be mentioned can be done in different ways .Look at the art of communication...there are many way s to go about saying something.Bluntness can hurt people's feelings but diplomacy would always lead to a win win situation.Management theories tell us that when you need to tell somebody off you have to but before he leaves you his self esteem must be restored. It is always good to be frank and say the right things.I would say something even though I know its going to hurt somebody's feelings rather than keep quiet about it and suffer myself.Of course it is important how you say something.Phrases like " should you not consider this ? Maybe you overlooked this ? I think you could have done this ?" are not derogatory but helps get across the message that you disagree and I think that's the way to manage a situation. Whilst its prudent to think of somebody's feelings we must also be fair to ourselves and think of our own feelings.We have our principles and if we do not live by them what are we then ?