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Not Excellence, But Ease: Daoist Leadership in Theory and in Practice

A Discussion Led by Stephen Walker, PhD

Many of our conversations about “leadership” focus their attention on the supposed excellence of those who lead—on traits and capabilities that elevate them somehow above the people they might otherwise be, and/or above those who do not manifest such leadership. Philosophers in the Daoist tradition would warn against conflating “leadership” with personal excellence in this way: their most important image for genuine leadership is lowness, as in the lowness of terrain that necessitates the flow of water towards it. Daoist models of leadership focus on allowing and inviting, and on a resulting kind of power whose hold over others is irresistible precisely because it involves no exercise of force.

Beyond pleasing people and satisfying their expectations for protection and personal validation, a leader on the Daoist model facilitates their projects, affording them opportunities to develop themselves and create in whatever way they wish. This picture focuses the would-be leader’s cultivation efforts on improved awareness and responsiveness to those around them, foregrounding nonjudgmental acknowledgment of diverse personalities and tastes. While the classic texts’ practical advice for would-be leaders is highly open to interpretation, it centers on relaxing and weakening the parts of oneself that would impose on people, the better to appreciate and invent responses to their ways of life. In certain respects, this seems diametrically opposed to what we usually take self-improvement to be—which implies that trying to make oneself into a leader tends to backfire, even tragically.

Stephen C. Walker holds a PhD in Philosophy of Religions from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He studies philosophy and the history of philosophy across multiple traditions; his research focuses on classical Chinese thought and especially on Daoism.

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