Organisational Politics & Sponsorship
คนดีไม่มีที่ยืนในองค์กร? (บทเรียนจากงักฮุย)
Summary
Yue Fei came close to recovering the territory for the Southern Song, was recalled mid-campaign, framed, and killed.
What has kept the story alive in China for nearly a thousand years is not the fighting but that he lost to his own side.
The tragedy maps onto working life in any era: the honest person often loses not to an external enemy but to the internal politics.
Key points
Competence is not armour
The closer he came to winning, the greater a threat he became to those who lost by that victory.
The more dangerous enemy was behind him
The recall order did not come from the other side, which is what makes this sting more than a defeat in the field.
Integrity is not a strategy
Doing the job well while ignoring the power game is a weakness history repeats without tiring.
History always judges afterwards
Yue Fei was honoured later. It did nothing for him while he was alive.