- Fan Li
Fan Li (范蠡) was an advisor in the state of Yue in the
Spring and Autumn Period . He had been to the state of Wu as hostage withKing Goujian of Yue . Three years later they came back and he helped Goujian to carry on a reform. At lastYue was able to defeat the state of Wu. After the victory he resigned and renamed himself Tao Zhu Gong (zh-cpl|c=陶朱公|p=Táo Zhūgōng|l=Lord Tao Zhu). He became a successfulbusinessman in his later years and was famous as a rich person.He managed a
pharmacy selling traditional Chinese medicine. The pharmacy originally included only two elderly employees, He Bo (zh-cp|c=何伯|p=Hé Bó) and De Shu (zh-cp|c=德叔|p=Dé Shū inMainland China , Dé Shú inTaiwan ). The business began to expand only when Tao Zhugong hired He Bo's youngest son, Xiao Wen (zh-cp|c=小文|p=Xiăo Wén).He wrote a book known in English as "Golden Rules of Business Success" (zh-stpl|s=经商宝典|t=經商寶典|p=Jīng Shāng Băo Diăn|l=Manage Business Jade Advice). This book remains popular today as its advice is sometimes considered timeless. It includes Twelve Business Principles and Twelve Business Pitfalls describing the art of successful business
management .The Twelve Golden Rules are as follows:
* Ability to know people's character.
* Ability to handle people.
* Ability to stay focused on the business.
* Ability to be organized .
* Ability to be adaptable.
* Ability to control credit.
* Ability to use and deploy people.
* Ability to articulate and market.
* Ability to excel in purchasing.
* Ability to analyze market opportunities and threats.
* Ability to lead by example.
* Ability to have business foresight.The Twelve Golden Safeguards are:
* Don't be stingy.
* Don't be wishy-washy.
* Don't be ostentatious.
* Don't be dishonest.
* Don't be slow in debt collection.
* Don't slash prices arbitrarily.
* Don't give in to herd instinct.
* Don't work against the business cycle.
* Don't be a stick-in-the-mud.
* Don't overbuy on credit.
* Don't under-save (keep reserve funds strong).
* Don't blindly endorse a product.Cartoon versions of this book are widely available in
Singapore , both inMandarin Chinese and in English. The Mandarin version includesHanyu Pinyin and an English translation for each of the original business principles.References
Xu, Hui. "Jīng Shāng Băo Diăn: Táo Zhūgōng Shāngxùn." 2nd ed. Singapore: Asiapac Books Pte. Ltd., August 2002.
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