Leadership

  1. The Art of War
    Sun Tzu
    The Art of War
    Sun Tzu c. 500 BCE

    Thirteen short chapters set out how a general should plan, fight, and win a war. Chapter one gives its most quoted line: all warfare is based on deception.

    46 min reading time

  2. The Works of Mencius
    Mencius
    The Works of Mencius
    Mencius c. 300 BCE

    Conversations between Mencius and the kings, ministers and students he met traveling among the warring states of ancient China, urging rulers to govern with benevolence. He argues that people are born good, as surely as water flows downhill.

    4h reading time

  3. The Great Learning
    Zengzi
    The Great Learning
    Zengzi c. 400 BCE

    A short Confucian work on how good government grows from the inside out: from a sincere mind to a cultivated self, then an ordered family, state and world. It draws its examples from old poems and the announcements of ancient kings.

    13 min reading time