郭嘉的这段话有三层意思：第一层意思，就是一个智慧的人，尤其是一个准备做谋士的人，要能够善于为自己选择一个好老板。你要是老板选错了，那你这一肚子的学问、知识、谋略，那你就没有用武之地；如果你老板选对了，那你就可以功成名就。第二层意思，袁绍不是一个好老板，为什么呢？袁公徒效周公之下士，那么周公是如何下士的呢，“一沐三握发，一饭三吐哺”，就是说他正在洗头，突然有人通报说有一个人才来了，马上停止洗头，把头发抓住去接见。正在吃饭的时候，有人通报说人才求见，马上把嘴巴里的饭吐出来，然后出去接见。洗一次头他三握发，吃一餐饭他三吐哺，他非常尊重人才，求贤若渴。郭嘉说，这个样子袁绍是学会了，但是没有学到周公的精髓，所以袁绍的礼贤下士是靠不住的，何况袁绍本人还有一些什么毛病，所以袁绍不是好老板。还有第三层意思，郭嘉没有明说，我们可以猜出来，那就是曹操是个好老板。
Guo Jia’s paragraph has three meanings: The first meaning is that a wise person, especially a person who is prepared to be a counselor, should be able to choose a good boss for himself. If your boss chooses the wrong one, then your knowledge, knowledge, and strategy will be useless; If your boss chooses the right thing, you can become famous. Yuan Shao is not a good boss, why? Duke Yuan acted as a corporal of Duke Zhou, so how did Duke Zhou behave as a corporal? “One bath three times holding his hair, one meal three times spitting and feeding.” This means that he was washing his hair when suddenly someone announced that a person had just arrived, so he immediately stopped washing his hair and grabbed it to meet him. While eating, someone informed me that only people would ask for an interview, so I immediately spit out the rice from my mouth, and then went out to meet. He shakes his hair three times after washing his head and spits and feeds three times after eating a meal. He respects talented people very much and is eager for talent. Guo Jia said that Yuan Shao had learned this, but he had not learned the essence of Duke Zhou, so Yuan Shao’s courteous and virtuous corporal was unreliable. Moreover, Yuan Shao himself had some shortcomings, so Yuan Shao was not a good boss. There is also a third meaning, which Guo Jia didn’t explicitly say. We can guess that Cao Cao is a good boss.
＊由此我们可以看出，在谋士郭嘉的眼里，曹操才是一个能够成就大事的人，所以他才毅然决然地离开袁绍投奔曹操。也就是说，人才都是择贤主而归附的，因为人才只有在一个好老板手底下才会实现自己最大的人生价值。那么什么样的人才能做一个好老板呢？易中天先生又为什么认为曹操是一个好的老板呢？
From this, we can see that in the eyes of the counselor Guo Jia, Cao Cao was a person who could achieve great things, so he resolutely left Yuan Shao and defected to Cao Cao. In other words, talents are all dependent on the choice of a wise master, because only under the hands of a good boss can they achieve their greatest value in life. So what kind of person can be a good boss? Why does Mr. Yi Zhongtian think Cao Cao is a good boss?
那么曹操怎么就是个好老板呢？也有以下几点表现：
第一是：知人善任，唯才所宜。唯才所宜是荀彧和郭嘉这两个人对曹操用人之道的评价，唯才所宜和知人善用或者知人善任，是统一的。什么叫知人善任？包括三个内容：第一是，知道哪些人是人才；第二，知道这些人是哪方面的人才，或者那种类型的人才；第三，知道把这些人放在什么位置上最合适。这就叫做知人善任，知人善任第一是知人，第二是善任，而善任就要唯才所宜。比方说我们一再提到的崔琰和毛玠，他们的特点是什么呢？作风正派，清正廉明，曹操就让他们去主持组织部和干部部的工作，选拔官员，果然他们两个选拔推荐上来的那都是德才兼备的。再比方说枣祗和任峻这两个人，这两个人的特点是什么呢？任劳任怨，曹操就让他们去屯田，结果曹操的屯田制得到了贯彻和落实，曹操获得了丰厚的粮草和经济基础。这就是曹操用人的第一个特点，知人善任、唯才所宜。这个特点，连最讨厌曹操的人，比方说写《容斋随笔》的洪迈，他也承认，洪迈对曹操的用人也有这么一个评价：“智效一官，权分一郡，无小无大，卓然皆称其职”，就是说他不管安排什么人做什么事都非常地合适，都非常地称职，这是第一个特点。
So why is Cao Cao a good boss? There are also the following aspects:
The first is: Know people well, be good at their duties, and be suitable only for their talents. “Only talent is suitable” is the evaluation made by Xun Yu and Guo Jia on Cao Cao’s way of employing people. “Only talent is suitable” is unified with “knowing people to be good at using or being good at their duties.”. What is knowing people and being good at their duties? It includes three aspects: first, knowing who is a talented person; Second, know what kind of talents or types of talents these people are; Third, know where to put these people in the most appropriate position. This is called “knowing people and being good at their duties”. The first is to know people and the second is to be good at their duties, and good duties must be based on talents. For example, what are the characteristics of Cui Yan and Mao Jie that we have mentioned repeatedly? With a decent and honest style, Cao Cao asked them to preside over the work of the Organization Department and the Cadre Department and select officials. As expected, both of them were recommended to have both political integrity and talent. Let’s take Zaoji and Ren Jun for example. What are the characteristics of these two people? “No matter how hard they worked, Cao Cao sent them to garrison the farmland. As a result, Cao Cao’s system of garrison reclamation was implemented and implemented, and Cao Cao gained rich food, grass, and economic foundation.”. This is the first characteristic of Cao Cao’s employment. He knows people well, is good at their duties, and is only suitable for their talents. This characteristic even affects those who dislike Cao Cao the most, such as Hong Mai, who wrote “Rongzhai Essays”. He also acknowledges that Hong Mai also has this evaluation of Cao Cao’s employment: “Intelligence and efficiency are one official, power is divided into one county, no small or large, and excellence is called his position.” This means that he is very suitable and competent regardless of who he arranges to do anything. This is the first characteristic.
第二个特点：推诚取信，用人不疑。这个是用人的一般原则，疑人不用，用人不疑，会用人的人都是这么做的。但是曹操这里有一点特殊，特殊在什么地方呢？就在于曹操第一他身处乱世，乱世的特点是什么呢，人心浮动，人际关系紧张，人与人之间缺乏信任和诚意，用曹操的话说这叫做“上下相疑之秋也”，大家都不信任，这是第一个特点。第二个特点，是曹操的双重角色，曹操这个人用周瑜的话说叫“名为汉相，实为汉贼”，当然这个事情我们现在也不能肯定地说那曹操到底是不是汉贼了，至少我们可以肯定地说，曹操在前期他还是想把汉王朝维护下去的，他后期的个人野心膨胀，变成奸雄，想取而代之。但是即便在前期曹操也未尝没有自己的小算盘，他名义上是为汉王朝招纳人才，实际上它是希望这些人才为他所用。但是这样一来，他又一个优势，他也有一个劣势，就是曹操的“奉天子以令不臣”或者说“挟天子以令诸侯”，他又优有劣，优势是什么呢？他可以利用中央政府、大汉王朝、现任皇帝的名义，以及这个政府的官位、爵位、俸禄来招揽人才，比刘备比孙权要方便一些；他的劣势是什么呢？就是他弄不清楚他招来的是为谁服务的，是效忠皇帝的还是效忠他的，搞不清楚，这就难免会有猜疑。第三个特点就是曹操阵营复杂，他这个阵营里面有原来东汉王朝的官员，有新招聘和新选拔的官员，有曹操自己带出来的人，也有别人阵营里面的投靠曹操、投降曹操、投奔曹操的。那么这些人之间也是互相猜疑，也就是说对于曹操来说，信任和诚意在这个时候、在这个环境、在这个条件下格外地重要。而曹操在这个时候作为一个领导人，一定要表现出自己的宽容和诚意。
The second characteristic: honesty and trust, and no doubt in employing people. This is the general principle of employing people. People who doubt people do not need to use them, and those who know how to use them do so. But Cao Cao has something special here. Where is it special? It is because of Cao Cao that he is in a troubled world. What are the characteristics of a troubled world? People’s hearts are floating, interpersonal relationships are tense, and there is a lack of trust and sincerity between people. In Cao Cao’s words, this is called “the autumn of mutual distrust”. Everyone does not trust, which is the first characteristic. The second characteristic is Cao Cao’s dual role. In Zhou Yu’s words, Cao Cao is known as “a Han Xiang, but actually a Han thief.” Of course, we can’t be sure whether Cao Cao is a Han thief now. At least we can be sure that in the early stage, Cao Cao still wanted to maintain the Han Dynasty. His personal ambitions expanded in the later stage, becoming a traitor, and he wanted to replace them. However, even in the early days, Cao Cao did not have his own small plan. He nominally recruited talents for the Han Dynasty, but actually hoped that these talents would be used by him. However, in this way, he has another advantage, and he also has a disadvantage. That is, Cao Cao’s “serving the Son of Heaven to order but not to obey” or “coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes”. He has both advantages and disadvantages. What is his advantage? He can use the names of the central government, the Han Dynasty, and the current emperor, as well as the official positions, titles, and salaries of this government to recruit talents, which is more convenient than Liu Bei than Sun Quan; What are his weaknesses? It is because he cannot figure out who he has recruited to serve, whether he is loyal to the emperor or to him. If he cannot figure out, there will inevitably be suspicion. The third characteristic is the complexity of Cao Cao’s camp, which includes officials from the original Eastern Han Dynasty, newly recruited and selected officials, people brought by Cao Cao himself, and people from other camps who have defected to, surrendered to, or defected to Cao Cao. So these people are also suspicious of each other, which means that for Cao Cao, trust and sincerity are particularly important at this time, in this environment, and under this condition. As a leader at this time, Cao Cao must show his tolerance and sincerity.
我们前面一再讲曹操对那些包括背叛他的人都那么宽容，他对张绣，对魏种，对毕谌，还有对曾经恶毒攻击他的人，比方说陈琳，对这些人这么宽容，他是为什么？他就是要向天下人表示，我曹操这个人确确实实是真心诚意地希望天下的人才都到这里来为国家效劳，我是非常诚恳的，哪怕你们背叛了我，我也不在乎，也不后悔，也不计较，甚至我也不惩罚，只要你再来，他就是为了表达这个诚意。那么这样的一种信任和诚意，他换来的是什么呢？换来的是忠诚。比方说于禁，于禁是曹操自己亲手从行伍当中提拔起来的将领。曹操第一次南征张绣的时候，张绣不是投降了曹操然后又反叛了吗，反叛的时候就打得曹操有点落花流水了，这时曹军是很混乱的，但是唯独于禁的这个队伍非常地整齐，一路整理着自己的队伍，一路敲着鼓，有秩序地撤退。撤退的路上碰到几个其他人手下的士兵，衣衫不整狼狈不堪的样子，于禁就问他们怎么回事，他们说，我们被青州兵抢劫了，青州兵是什么呢？青州兵就是投降曹操的黄巾军，这个黄巾军投降曹操以后曹操把他们收编为青州兵，曹操对他们特别宽容，这些人一看曹操打败了就起来作乱，就把曹操其他的队伍抢劫了。于禁一看这还得了，既然都是曹公的队伍怎么可以这样做！然后队伍开过去把青州兵整治了一顿，再往回撤。这时候青州兵挨了于禁的整，就赶紧跑到曹操那儿告了于禁一刁状，等到于禁回到大本营的时候，上上下下已经是沸沸扬扬了，但是于禁仍然首先整顿好自己的队伍，安下营寨，没有及时去见曹操。当时就有人跟于禁说，青州兵都告了你了，你还不去向曹公说清楚，你现在在安营扎寨干这些事干什么？于禁说，敌兵在后，说来就来，我们不做好准备怎么迎敌呢？公事要放在前面，我于禁的个人的进退荣辱要放在后面，再说了，曹公是何等英明的人，他怎么会听信谗言呢？安顿好部队以后，做好了战斗准备以后，于禁才去见曹操，曹操大加表扬，说于将军你真是有古之良将的风度，太好了。这是什么？信任换忠诚。
We have repeatedly mentioned that Cao Cao was so tolerant towards those who betrayed him, including Zhang Xiu, Wei Zhong, Bi Chen, and those who had viciously attacked him, such as Chen Lin. Why was he so tolerant towards these people? “He wants to express to the people in the world that I, Cao Cao, sincerely hope that all the talents in the world will come here to serve the country. I am very sincere. Even if you betray me, I don’t care, regret, or care, and even I won’t punish you. As long as you come again, he is just to express this sincerity.”. So what did he trade for such trust and sincerity? In exchange for loyalty. For example, Yu Ban was a general promoted by Cao Cao himself from the ranks. When Cao Cao first attacked Zhang Xiu in the south, didn’t Zhang Xiu surrender to Cao Cao and rebel again? When he rebelled, Cao Cao was a bit overwhelmed. At this time, Cao Cao’s army was very chaotic, but only Yu Ban’s team was very neat, organizing their own team all the way, beating drums all the way, and retreating in an orderly manner. On the way back, I met several soldiers under the command of others who were dressed in disheveled clothes. Yu Ban asked them what was the matter. They said, “We were robbed by the Qingzhou soldiers. What are the Qingzhou soldiers?”? “The Qingzhou soldiers were the Yellow Scarf Army that surrendered to Cao Cao. After the surrender of the Yellow Scarf Army to Cao Cao, Cao Cao recruited them as Qingzhou soldiers, and Cao Cao was particularly tolerant of them. As soon as Cao Cao was defeated, these people rose up and rioted, robbing the other teams of Cao Cao.”. Yu Jian looked at it and found that it was okay. Since it was all Cao Gong’s team, how could it do this! Then the team drove over and disciplined the Qingzhou soldiers before retreating. At this time, the soldiers of Qingzhou were punished by Yu Ban, so they quickly ran to Cao Cao and filed a lawsuit against Yu Ban. By the time Yu Ban returned to the base camp, the situation was already in full swing, but Yu Ban still first reorganized his team and settled down the camp, failing to meet Cao Cao in time. At that time, someone told Yu Ban that the soldiers of Qingzhou had already sued you. Why are you doing these things in encampment now? Yu Ban said, “The enemy soldiers are behind us, so we will come soon. How can we meet the enemy if we are not ready?”? Official affairs should be put first, and the personal advancement, retreat, and disgrace of the person I banned should be put behind. Moreover, what a wise man is Cao Gong? How could he listen to slander? After settling down the troops and preparing for the battle, Yu Ban went to see Cao Cao, who praised him greatly. He said, General Yu, you really have the demeanor of a good general from ancient times. It’s great. what is it? Trust for loyalty.
