|
1-201 793 8577 |
|
| ||||||||
| Home | Herbal Formulas | Consultations | Courses | Contact | ||||
| Books | Skin Care | Chi Nei Tsang Sessions | Practitioners | Links | ||||
THE TAO OF MASTERY
THE TAO OF MANAGEMENT
The Seventh Pillar of Taoism, the Tao of Mastery, is invaluable in the understanding of humanity and the purpose of one's own existence. It can also serve as a priceless guide for the achievement of lifelong goals and harmony between oneself and the universe
As long as human beings exist, management will exist. As long as two people must live together, management will be needed. Although the instruments that enable human beings to perform many tasks may change in time, the principles of human psychology and behavior never change. The best management has always been the key that unlocks human potential. Therefore, from the household to the White House, good management is a common necessity.
The Integral Management of Tao is the method which provides all the essential knowledge and wisdom a human being could possibly possess. In addition, this method is in the words of Lao Tze "simple, easy, and effective."
The history of the evolution of Taoist Management methods and principles was as long and as hard-won as the history of China. Every theory was tested and proven effective by iconic figures of history, sometimes at enormous cost in turbulent, dangerous times. Even in chaotic times, Taoist Management principles were immediately effective in overcoming obstacles and achieving peace and wealth for the general population. In peaceful times its powers can lift human populations to higher evolutionary levels. Therefore, Taoist Management principles must not to be taken lightly; it must be studied and practiced in reverence as a gift bestowed by God upon mortal humans. Regardless of who you are, as long as you are the one who wishes to accomplish and establish something meaningful in this world, the Integral Management of Tao is for you.
In the latter centuries of the Chou Dynasty (c. 1122 to c. 256 B.C.), power was decentralized and distributed among numerous feudalities, which later fused into seven major kingdoms after much struggle. Each and every one of the remaining kingdoms sought the common goals of wealth and strength. (In many respects the evolutionary pattern of the kingdoms prefigures that of current corporations.) In the pursuit of these goals, there arose in every kingdom a great need for managerial expertise, a need that generated nine different schools with nine different managerial theories and styles.
STYLE OF TAO
Considered to be the greatest, the Tao Style of management provided the means for utilizing all the preceding eight styles for maximum managerial effectiveness. It also provided the means to nullify the negative aspects of each style automatically. In simplest terms, the Style of Tao is the style of water. Water is used by Lao Tze to describe the nature of Tao because it has these properties:
A. Besides being self-propelling, water also carries other objects along its currents-it moves others to action.
B. When it meets resistance or obstacles, its power increases. When fast-flowing water hits an obstacle, all of its energy is completely converted to impact the obstacle with immense force (potential energy into kinetic energy).
C. Water unceasingly searches and wears away rock or land (steadfast obstacles) for new avenues or paths (new opportunities).
D. Water unceasingly cleanses everything in contact with filth, but its cleansing power never diminishes (it always retains its cleansing power, so it is forever improving itself and others).
E. Water flows in rivers and streams to the sea, where it evaporates to form the clouds, from which it is released over land, on which it gathers again into rivers and streams that again flow into the sea. No matter how it changes, it neither loses itself nor its beneficence and efficiency.
About Tao and all of its principles and techniques, extensive explanations will be given in The Integral Management of Tao: Complete Achievement, the contents of which are summarized below.
TABLE OF CONTENTS OF
THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF TAO: COMPLETE ACHIEVEMENT
PREFACE INTRODUCTION I. First Role Model: Chiang, Shang, The Great Duke II. The Tao of Management 1. Nine Styles of Management PART I: BASIC KNOWLEDGE I. THE TAO OF EVOLUTION 1. Five Kingdoms 2. Seven Levels of Humankind 3. Three Folds of the Body 4. Seven Ages of Human History II. THE TAO OF YIN AND YANG RELATIVISM 1. Two Golden Ages 2. Yin and Yang and Their Importance Defined 3. Six Types of Yin-Yang Interactions 4. Six Laws: Operation of the Universe 5. Second Role Model: Su Chin, the Greatest CEO, and Sage Kuei Ku III. THE TAO OF EIGHT ATTITUDES 1. Becoming the Right Person 2. Accomplishing Missions 3. Yin-Yang in an Algebraic Formula 4. Eight Trigrams, Reservoirs of Knowledge 5. Attitude of Heaven (Goals) 6. Attitude of Water (Discipline) 7. Attitude of Mountain (Tolerance) 8. Attitude of Thunder (Creativeness) 9. Attitude of Wind (Loyalty) 10. Attitude of Fire (Giving) 11. Attitude of Earth (Retirement) 12. Attitude of Lake (Entertainment) 13. Systemization by Japanese Corporations and Their Competitive Power 14. Eight Blessings 15. Eight Exercises (for self-improvement and "insurance") IV. THE TAO OF POSITIONING 1. Five Groups of Possible Factors Leading to the Obtainment of Positions 2. Six Strategies to Guarantee a Position 3. Six Situations That Jeopardize a Position 4. Four Ways of Safeguarding a Position 5. Third Role Model: Moses V. THE TAO OF FIVE-STAR SYSTEM 1. Two Hemispheres of the Brain 2. Five-Element Theory 3. Personality Type: Water 4. Personality Type: Metal 5. Personality Type: Fire 6. Personality Type: Wood 7. Personality Type: Earth 8. Personality-to-Job Matching for Highest Productivity 9. Five-Element Departments in an Organization 10. Diagnostic Instrument for Organizations 11. Ancient Taoist Structure VI. THE TAO OF PSYCHO-DYNAMICS 1. Human Nature and Styles of Management 2. Psycho-Dynamics (truth of human nature) 3. Centripetal Perception 4. Centrifugal Perception 5. Rules of Physics Dominating Human Psychology 6. Analytic Geometric Forms 7. Principle of Loss (executives cannot survive without it) PART II: LOFTY PERFORMANCE I. THE TAO OF LEADERSHIP 1. Performance of Commander Chang 2. Fourth Role Model Marquis Chang, Liang and Sage Yellow Stone 3. Qualities of a Leader 4. Leader's Responsibilities to His Followers 5. Leader's Impression on Followers 6. Decision Making 7. The Power of the Leader (skills to ensure a leader's performance) A. Persuasion B. Reward C. Being with Followers D. Budget 8. Organization 9. Sacrifices of the Leader . Loneliness A. Freedom B. Security 10. Counteraction (of leadership) . Scheme of Pretense A. Scheme of Jurisdiction B. Swindling Scheme 11. Grades of Leadership . Leadership of Hate A. Leadership of Fear B. Leadership of Happiness C. Leadership of Invisibility D. Emperor Yao II. THE TAO OF COMPLETE RESOLUTION 1. Three Mental Functions 2. Classes of Decisions . According to Law A. According to Custom B. According to Intuition C. According to Inference D. According to Rational Confirmation 3. Information . Types of Information (ten basics everyone ought to know) A. Sources of Information (five different sources for collecting information according to Sun Tze) 4. Thinking Process (that ensures capability) . Suspicion A. Supposition B. Analysis i. Five Relations (unparalleled method for helping you think) ii. Functions of Five Relations iii. Fifteen Samenesses 5. Composition (Taoist method to ensure greatest perfection) 6. Final Decision . Three Reasons for the Occurrence of Wrong Decisions A. Styles of Decision Making . Decision Making by a Group i. Decision Making by a Leader ii. Decision Making by a Brain Trust B. Fifth Role Model: Marquis Chu-Ko, Liang C. Decision-Making Results (that are foreseeable) D. Optimizing Results . Internal Exercises to Balance the Thinking Process III. THE TAO OF INTERCOMMUNICATION 1. Messages . Internal Message Chaos A. Intercourse Chaos . Illness i. Fear ii. Worry iii. Anger iv. Joy B. Fifth Role Model: Jesus 2. Interpretation . Buddhist Monk (story) A. Four Procedures of Interpretation . Essence of Movement i. Picturing ii. Evidence iii. Unmistaken Conclusion iv. Mr. B's Case 3. Persuasion . Orders (how to make others truly listen) . Three Rules of Order Giving i. Two Forbiddens A. Ordinary Persuasion (negotiate everything and make specific or non-specific people truly listen) . Impressiveness and Test to Increase Persuasive Power i. Confidence (establishing) ii. Reflex iii. Classification of People a. Personality b. Background c. Dislikes iv. Principles of Advantage and Disadvantage . Hsiang-Pi a. Persuasive Skills b. Testimonial v. Presentation . Inductive Logic a. Deductive Logic b. Taoist Quaternary Logic (for indisputable presentations) c. More Testimonials vi. Further Techniques B. Suggestion (effective presentation to and implementation of ideas for superiors) . Yin-Yang Pairs for Effective Conduct (subordinate speaking skills) i. Effective Conduct before the Superior ii. Yen, Yin, the Famous Diplomat 4. THE TAO OF RICHES AND FAME . "Weight Watching" (organizational health-care) A. Smallness (secret of true success) B. Greed (evaluation of money, power, and fame) C. Rules for Money Lovers D. Monetary Rules E. New Age of Management F. Mission First, Profit Second (for true and everlasting reward) G. Saving the Company, Saving the World IV. CONCLUSION 1. Subtle Casket Blueprint (precious gift to readers) 2. Sixth Role Model: Kung-Sun, Yang, Lord of Fifteen Cities V. APPENDIX 1. Eye Exercises 2. Stomach Rubbing Exercise 3. Tao of Balanced Diet 4. Morning and Evening Prayers INDEX
THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF TAO
TESTIMONIALS/REVIEWS
Within a year of the publication of The Integral Management of Tao: Complete Achievement (1988), we received a great many letters, all extremely meaningful. Due to limited space, only a few have been duplicated here for reference:
Leonard A. Worthington, J.D., LL.D., Director Emeritus, Hastings College of Law, University of California:
"The vast scope of the lessons, illustrations and manner of presenting the essential prerequisites for successfully handling the problems of today, while simply presented in this book, are so complete that if the reader were to digest and put into practice the centuries of wisdom contained within its covers the results would be tremendously rewarding.
"You offer a veritable foolproof blueprint for successful and healthy existence in a world beset with fear and unhappiness. The reader who intelligently studies your words of wisdom will find himself the recipient of success and happiness which comes to those who are willing to heed the teachings from higher spheres.
"Among my almost a thousand volumes I treasure yours most highly and it occupies a 'must' in my library as it should for others.
"My appreciation to you for this priceless gift to humanity extends beyond a simple 'Thanks' because the rewards which I and other readers can anticipate and receive from our intelligent use of this knowledge can extend far beyond our highest expectations."
Albert S. Humphrey, Chairman, Business Planning and Development, London:
"THE BOOK IS WONDERFUL AND THANKS A MILLION. . . .
"As you know I was part of a research team in 'management science' set up by Stanford Research Institute from 1965 through 1970. Our research resulted in statistically discovering the 3 factors which statistically (Chi Square test for significants set at 0.997) separates successful companies and people from mediocrity are:
1) Continued Education of senior people
2) Overt Attention to resourcing the organization or person (purchasing) and
3) Written down short term plans for improvement
"I was disappointed to discover that these factors were already known in 1,200 BC and that Dr. Chang has written on this in Chapter V. The Kingdom of God.
"Equally interesting is the comparison of Tao to Dr. Otis Benepe who created in our research the Matrix which set out what actions would survive and what actions would die. . . . This same knowledge existing before our time embarrassed me a bit in that we didn't read Sage Kuei Ku's book and Su Shu Yellow Stone Sage's Plain Book earlier. It could have helped our work.
"The justification of the need for management as explained on page 45 should be read by everyone, as well as the last paragraph on page 46.
"The comment of the 'importance of retribution' page 53 is significant and bears reading as well as the 'faster growth brings earlier death.' In our studies of product life cycles those products which are developed quickly die quickly ie toys, fashion, many convenience foods, and services shows that not much has changed since 1,200 BC.
"Page 54 which covers the need of a good leader-to make educational, training and motivational policies that do not elevate expectations excessively; when plans are made, take care to consider potential problems as well as benefits. These principles we found are necessary in business and management planning work both in the USA and Britain.
"'Wise men know how to divide their shares' is a principle which should be practiced widely. Regretfully because this is not practiced, this has been the root of much unrest and bankruptcies in this country since 1974 when Opec really disturbed our world.
"We have found that Dr. Chang is right when he writes 'when Gigantic egos are coupled with gigantic ambitions, they cause endless frustration and depression, mental illness, and crime.'
"'And that managers should submit three plans every year; six month plans, two year plans, five year plans and monthly revisions of these plans' is a principle which we find leads to success; less than this leads to mediocrity.
"I can go on and on about Dr. Chang's book and the importance of these concepts and ideas to managers who today want to cope with the complexities of their working life."
John Lindseth, President, Long Life Products, Inc.:
"I thank you for writing The Integral Management of Tao: Complete Achievement. This book has changed my life visibly in just a few short months that I have been studying it. A few more prominent ways include:
"Since reorganizing our business according to the principles of the Five Star System, our
" Sales have more than doubled.
" We have been able to select and hire the appropriately qualified people to balance our corporate team resulting in greatly improved work efficiency and harmony of working relations.
" The direction of our growth is more clearly defined as our creativity is considerably sharper.
" There is an increased sense or feeling of security that the newly organized and more balanced corporate structure gives.
" Our marketing efforts have become very sharp and focused, resulting in our associating with brokers in 27 states.
" As a result of the Eight Attitudes, my work is more focused, more disciplined, and my interaction with my associates is very smooth.
" In communications, the most immediately useful tool has been information on how to speak to people according to their background. This has been invaluable in allowing me to adjust my communications to give the appropriate response. This has resulted in retaining a higher percentage of clients with a correspondingly improved income.
"The examples could, without doubt, go on and on. This is the single most practical and useful book for daily living and working that I've seen. I have studied these subjects for years, ranging from taking all of the Dale Carnegie courses to being trained in psychology. Compared to The Integral Management of Tao, these sources pale."
Vera Brown, Author, President of Vera's Retreat Inc., Featured on Life Styles of the Rich and Famous, and Honored Woman of the Year by The City of Hope:
"I found that you have simplified a complex subject so beautifully that everyone from all walks of life could benefit from the knowledge put forth in the book.
"It was a realistic approach to a better life through proper and good management of time and effort to help one achieve one's goals in every area of one's life.
"It is a book to read and re-read and to keep near you as a reference book to aid you in the management of your life to constantly search for improvement."
Edvina Cahill, Chief Administrative Officer, San Francisco Unified School District:
"Ideally, this book should be read by people prior to or at the beginning of their careers and during their whole work life, for its philosophies smoothe the everyday business of living into harmonious degrees of understanding.
"Universities might do well to consider adding The Integral Management of Tao to their required reading lists regardless of the course.
"This is a must book for all professions. I've enjoyed it!"
San Francisco Examiner:
"Dr. Stephen T. Chang could have looked at David Stockman and Alexander Haig and told President Reagan that their associations with him were destined to fail. According to Taoist facial reading, their classifications clash."
Andrew Ramer, Author of Little Pictures: Fiction for a New Age and Co-author of The Spiritual Dimensions of Healing Addictions and Further Dimensions of Healing Addictions:
"We live in a time of increasing specialization. It is rare to find anyone with the fine tuning of a microbiologist and the expansiveness of an astrophysicist. In this and in his earlier books however Dr. Chang is presenting us with a way of living in the world that is both ancient and modern, that functions on many levels, spiritual, global, interpersonal and self-actualizing.
"In The Integral Management of Tao we are given a method of organization, of how to function in the world. This material builds upon the personal work described in the earlier books. On the surface this seems to be a book for business people. The examples Dr. Chang gives us come from global corporations and from ancient empires. But if we think of ourselves as the CEO's of our private lives, then this book has much to say to all of us, in and out of the world of business.
"The two sections of this book are based upon timeless Taoist knowledge. At every step of the way we are shown the relationship between personal choices and the harmony of yin and yang in the cosmos. The movement of those two forces into eight directions, eight trigrams and eight exercises related to them supports a balanced individual making balanced choices. Then Dr. Chang explores the Chinese five element theory, shows how each element generates a basic personality type, and shows how an understanding of the relationships between those types can support an organization's smooth functioning, from a personal to the departmental level. Nothing, according to Dr. Chang, happens in isolation, and his philosophy offers a simple and useful model for understanding the connections between decisions, leaders, workers, products and the economy.
"The second section of the book is on the nature of leadership itself. It is about how to make right choices by understanding different styles of leadership and their consequences. Here we are shown how a knowledge of the five relations in Chinese thinking, parents, children, superior, subordinate and brother, can help to organize work decisions. There is information on different methods of communication and how each can be used with a different relation. There is also information on the nature of persuasion and how it can be best used in the business world. The appendix of the book brings all of this theoretical material back to the core again, the body, with exercises for vision and stress reduction, a side-effect of most work situations.
"While some knowledge of Dr. Chang's previous books can be helpful, this book can also stand on its own as a text in leadership training. It is practical and all-encompassing. As government and industry seem to be increasingly out of touch with both the planet and the people of the world, a book such as this seems to me both necessary and rare. If we are going to eliminate war, pollution, hunger and other world problems, we will need a global view such as Dr. Chang's. So this book is not just a self-help tool for individuals who want to improve their decision-making processes and their financial lives. It is also a guideline for rethinking the ways we have allowed government and industry to reshape, to unshape our world. It's easy to become attached to what we want to do and what we want our governments to do. In The Integral Management of Tao Dr. Stephen Chang offers us a spiritual view of why and how we can improve our lives, from a personal to a global level."
James E. Carter, Author, Professor and Former President of the United States of America, and Mrs. Rosalynn Carter:
"[The Integral Management of Tao] means a great deal to us and reminds us of the generous spirit of America."
Ronald W. Reagan, Former President of the United States of America, honored Dr. Chang:
"Stephen T. Chang has played a vital role in strengthening and safeguarding our nation's legacy of freedom, hope, prosperity and opportunity for all Americans."
A Discourse on Management
A Review on Dr. Stephen T. Chang's The Integral Management of Tao: Complete Achievement by Luke T. Chang, Ph.D.; President, Lincoln University
Some five years ago, through the medium of Mr. Thomas Yang, my friendship with Dr. Stephen T. Chang has developed ever since. Through his courtesy, I was able to enjoy reading his book on The Great Tao. It is a great work, so great that when I casually showed it to Mr. Robert Buckinmeyer of the California State Department of Education, he grabbed it. The book is an in-depth analysis of Chinese philosophy, particularly the Taoist sector. (The book was published by [Tao Longevity LLC under the imprint of] Tao Publishing, San Francisco 1985.)
Recently, Dr. Stephen Chang completed an equally remarkable work, The Integral Management of Tao. . . . It is a theoretical approach of management based on Chinese history and philosophy, particularly from the teachings of the Yellow Emperor, Lao Tzu, Sage Kuei Ku Tzu and the Yellow Stone Sage. According to the author, Sage Kuei Ku's book, the Kuei Ku Tzu, was written in a rare form of archaic script; it took him special effort to master an ancient language-to read, study and decipher the book. The same is true for Dr. Chang on the Yellow Stone Sage's Su Shu. In addition, the Kuei Ku Tzu had been declared a forbidden work by feudal lords throughout the millennia, with no one in the ancient or modern world having access to it. I had only heard of Kuei Ku Tzu, never having an opportunity to obtain a copy of it.
I am in complete agreement with Dr. Chang when he asserts in his preface: "As long as human beings exist, management will exist. So long as people must live together, management will be needed."
The author divides The Integral Management of Tao: Complete Achievement into ten chapters:
The Tao of Evolution
The Tao of Yin and Yang Relativism
The Tao of Eight Attitudes
The Tao or Positioning
The Tao of Five-Star System
The Tao of Psycho-Dynamics
The Tao of Leadership
The Tao of Complete Resolution
The Tao of Intercommunication
The Tao of Riches and Fame
All the chapters are very penetrating in analyzing the subject matter, and are worth painstaking study and due diligent practice. But the chapter "The Tao of Five-Star System" was widely praised because he pointed out that "knowledge of personalities is of utmost importance in the working environment. If a manager assigns a 'wrong person' to work on a 'wrong job,' everything will go wrong" (p. 110).
In discussing the Five-Star System, which is really interpreting the Chinese philosophy of the Yin-Yang theory and the interplay of the Five Elements (Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood), Dr. Chang pointed out a vivid example in using the system to determine the health of an organization. One of his associates counsels for a major U.S. investment bank interested in a South American country was sent there to examine the situation:
In one week he diagnosed the problem and came up with all the corrective suggestions. Unfortunately, the bank did not appreciate his wonderful method and sent a group of so-called experts to the same location. It took them one year to learn what the problems exactly were. By the time their reports were completed the company in South America had already collapsed. The bank lost all its investments. Later the bank admitted that the diagnostic sections of the reports submitted by my associate and the experts were exactly the same. The only differences were that my associate's report included corrective solutions and was completed within a week and the experts' report offered no solution within a year. The bank spent a great fortune acquiring a great loss, just because it lacked this knowledge (p. 113).
Equally interesting was when Albert S. Humphrey, Chairman of Business Planning and Development in London, pointed out that he was part of a research team in 'management science' set up by Stanford Research Institute from 1965 through 1970. Our research resulted in statistically discovering the 3 factors which statistically separates successful companies and people from mediocrity. . . . I was disappointed to discover that these factors were already known in 1,200 BC and that Dr. Chang has written on this in Chapter V. . . .1
This writer particularly admire chapter 8 on the decision-making process. The author elucidates the idea of three compositions from Kuei Ku Tzu. Each composition should explain one of three decisions to be chosen as the final decision by the decision-maker. Each decision must, therefore, be written out fully.
A composition must contain at least four paragraphs: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The sage suggests that a composition be four-sectioned, to assure completeness. Thus the formula incorporates both logical induction and deduction, in addition to eliciting dialectical demonstrations.
The book combines ancient wisdom with modern knowledge and high output techniques. After you finish reading it, you would feel you are a trained leader in your field with vision and ideas that work. You don't want to give up the book, as it is practical and all-encompassing for daily living and working.
Now, let me turn to my observation on management in the context of the global scene.
According to my observation, the vicissitudes of the corporations of various industries are mainly due to the quality of management. And the huge budget and trade deficit are also due to failure in governing. Management in private business and government for public interest are the same thing: both require good management.
Take the merchandise trade deficit as an example. Starting in the 1960's, the U.S. lost steadily its competitive advantage.2 The chart at the end of this article shows that the U.S. position in world trade is shrinking.
The figures are based on U.S. Dept. of Commerce sources. It is widely known that U.S. merchandise lost its competitiveness because the U.S. government does not promote the Research and Development (R & D) as hard and effectively as the Japanese government (MITI) does. In addition, there are anti-trust laws which prevent private corporations from consolidating the resources to do the job. Herein the U.S. lost its competitiveness as well.
In addition, because there is no concentrated effort in R & D, the quality of U.S. goods is becoming less and less competitive with that of Japan and Germany, for example. Small wonder that one Japanese claimed that while in the U.S. he couldn't find anything made in the U.S. that could measure up to the "scrutiny of a quality-conscious Japanese." (There was only one perfect item: Vermont maple syrup.)3
However, credit should be given to the Bush [G. H. W.] Administration. It recently tried to improve the quality of products through the use of the "Malcom Baldridge National Quality Award." It entrusted the National Institute of Standards and Technology to be responsible for development and administering the awards. The first ones were awarded to Xerox Corporation's Business Products System and Milliken & Company.4 How soon this kind of encouragement could have nation-wide effect remains to be seen, although President Bush on that occasion spoke of making painstaking reassessment and the drive to win back that market share.5 Let me just pick another example: The Economic Policy Institute pointed out that the U.S. stands to lose two million jobs and suffer a $225 billion trade deficit by 2010 if the government fails to boost our industry to compete in high-definition television (HDTV), semi-conductors, computers and digital communication.6
As to the U.S. Budget deficit, the Federal Government is making efforts to reduce it, particularly through the Gramm-Rudman legislation. But bi-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently estimated that continuing the status quo in spending and taxes would leave a budget deficit of about $135 billion in 1993.7 To my mind, the following factors contributed to the persistent problem: (a) Social systems, particularly the SSI system. The original idea was good for helping the poor, but the result has been to discourage people from working, producing more homeless and drug users; (b) poor worker-training standards; (c) high consumption; and (d) a low savings rate.8
This is why a study shows that the Japanese gross product, on a per capita basis, will have grown at more than twice that of the U.S. by the year 2000. "Not only had the U.S. become a weak economy incapable of balancing its books, all it seemed able to do was blame Japan."9
More importantly, consider the fact that the U.S. is now the world's largest debtor, due to the mismanagement of the national budget deficit and international trade deficit. As Arthur Schlesinger puts it: "Total foreign claims on American assets have more than tripled during this careless decade."10 He continues to point out its implications of national security if "Our creditors should register disapproval of government policies by dumping Treasury securities and other holdings on the market." It is indeed an iron law of history "that power passes from debtor to creditor" as Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan rightly declared.11
Finally, as the world political and economic scene changes, it is easy to blame the Japanese or Germans. Yes, Germany and Japan do pose problems for the U.S. in the future. But "German-bashing or Japan-bashing is a formula for escaping our difficulties, not for solving them," as Schlesinger correctly concludes in his article. "Our problem is not Japan or Germany."12
Therefore, how are we going to solve the problem for the U.S.?
I believe that the basic approach to the solution of the previous discussed issues is education, but not just because I am an educator.
In general, American workers need better schooling and more job training in comparison with their German or Japanese counterparts. They must learn to capture emerging high-technology markets with the greatest opportunity for growth and profit, as the Japanese have done in the past. There is no doubt that Japanese schools produce less dissenting students, who usually receive better discipline; one does not hear much of dropouts or drug addicts. One also does not know of schools producing a glut of lawyers who lead to a glut of litigation in which the law itself does not become a settled or predictable framework for justice.
Perhaps these are the reasons why when Mr. George Bush was a candidate for President, he called for a "Coalition of Education America" in July 1988 and declared himself the "Education President."13
Lately, as President of the United States, he conferred with the Governors at the Governors Confab (?), brought out his campaign proposal of $500 million in federal aid to encourage improvement in elementary and secondary school education as well as in research projects.
Whatever President Bush and his administration might do for American education or economy, I would like to emphasize what I have said before: "The current activist advocates 'Human Rights.' We at Lincoln University lecture on human values. We believe that through proper education, the young people can be improved in their intellectual and ethical standards, thus enhancing human values and maximize the shareholder value of corporations."14
Above all, modern management covers so many fields and specialties. But fundamentally, one needs to start with ancient wisdom encompassed in The Integral Management of Tao.
NOTES
1. Quoted from a brochure compiling past book reviews of Dr. Chang's work which was also published by Tao Publishing.
2. Reprinted from Raymond J. Waldmann, Managed Trade, The New Competition Between Nations, Ballinger Publishing Co., Cambridge, Massachusetts: 1986.
3. Quoted from Best of Business, Spring 1989, p. 56.
4. Refer to Business America, November 20, 1989: pp. 2-11.
5. Quoted from Business America, November 20, 1989: pp. 2-15.
6. San Francisco Examiner, November 20, 1989 B3.
7. The Wall Street Journal, May 25, 1989: A27.
8. Organization for Economic Corporation and Development. (See chart)
9. Best of Business, Spring 1989: 56.
10. The Wall Street Journal, December 22, 1989: A6.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
14. Quoted from the writer's unpublished speech delivered at the 1989 Commencement of Lincoln University in San Francisco.
In addition, President Bush [H.W.] in his recent annual budget message revealed comparisons of savings rates of the world industrial powers. This writer reproduces them in the following for the reader's reference.
| Registration | Friday: $25  |
Saturday: $150 |
Sunday: $150 |
Full Program: $300 |
|---|