We all have different and different degrees of strengths and weaknesses. When we only rely on our personal qualities, we do well in some areas but fail in others. In collaborations, we can focus on our strengths and rely on team members who are strong in areas we remain weak. By joining extremes—the cautious with the impulsive, the impatient with the plodding, the creative with the conservative—we can find the golden, middle way. The ability to agree with and appreciate people with very different qualities increases cultural goodness, makes the world more beautiful, and brings greatness to leaders.

True confidence and self-satisfaction may look similar on the surface; but, in reality, they quickly become opposites. Ignorance and complacency become a solid foundation for self-satisfaction and can make us temporarily feel better—until it ruins our reputation. Instead of believing our distorted, personal propaganda, we can view our self-assessments with skepticism. Misfortunes and difficulties don't surprise someone who has already anticipated them. But empty self-satisfaction only increases folly ruining our endeavors and undermining our efforts.

The more we want and try to make people like and respect us, the less they do. Actions based on desires to impress others usually only have the opposite effect as well as undermining our integrity. Genuine respect grows from authentic presence and genuine activity, not from advertising credentials and position. Bragging only invites disdain and envy. History mainly honors the results of struggle and integrity, not the outward trappings of unearned circumstance.

Don't bore people with irrelevant details. Too much technical jargon loses people's attention while obscuring the essential issues. Short and to-the-point descriptions lead to effective and timely action while too much talk with irrelevant issues only obscures focus and slows progress. When good and short, statements become twice as effective. And when something isn't said well, if short it won't be as bad. Rambling, pointless trivia increases in inappropriateness in ratio to the level and importance of the person listening. Be particularly careful not to become a talking nuisance to busy people with heavy weights of responsibility—well said is quickly said.

Understanding and channeling the right people into the right positions requires great skill, insight, and perseverance. Each line of work does best with at least slightly different skill-sets. Discerning and matching the best person for each specific task defines management competence and expertise. The easiest project-matches involve honesty, courage, integrity; the hardest require skill, cleverness, subtlety. And the more foolish the employee, the more challenge in directing them. It takes double the sense to direct those without much. The most respected occupations include variety, independence, meaningfulness, and freedom; the least respected have the most unchanging hours and routine, the most supervision.

In every thought and action, maintain an authentic integrity. At all times hold fast to the highest principles, acting how you would hope and expect for a prince or the officials with the most responsibility and power. Much more than position and birth, this unswerving dedication to the good defines a true leader. For those in power, disregard vanity and pomp but hold firm to the highest standards of virtue.

Never feel "finished" and slip into complacency. Mistaking a successful conclusion as a signal to relax into a self-satisfied stupor begins an inevitable decline into entropy. Instead, the wise view good luck and unexpected success as a foundation to do more, to become more engaged rather than only take a vacation. Letting go of superficial, personal desires, cultivate a big heart, an insatiable capacity for the kind of good luck that can lead to more and more goodness in the world.

Each half of the world laughs at the other half and both sink into foolishness. The wise work hard to become independent from their culture, historical context, and from any solid point of view. Tastes are as diverse as faces. Almost every opinion, every belief, every value system has strong advocates as well as opponents. What inspires one person repels another. What some love others loath. Trying to impose one set of morals on many only makes things worse. For these reasons, we can to a certain extent ignore rebukes and disapproval—for every one who criticizes, another will praise. And for all approvals there will also be condemnations. Only the conclusions of the wise matter.

Although history rewards its highest honors to the art of thinking and the shattering of illusions, modern society has lost this kind of appreciation; and instead, philosophy became suspect and frequently even considered nonsense. Seeing through illusions and deceit, however, remains a priority of the wise and a foundation for authentic integrity—the best support for a thoughtful mind and a virtuous path in life.

Few see deeper than the surface of people, events, and procedures. Good acting and marketing normally claim a much larger influence than the realities. Skillful illusions often change attitudes and actions much more quickly and effectively than the truth. For this reason, reality needs support. It is not enough to be right and have integrity, it must also look that way.

The most practical skills involve disguising intentions. Imitate the inky cuttlefish to hide your cards, to keep your passions unknown, to conceal even your tastes. The more obvious your goals, the more easily rivals can subvert them or use them to manipulate. Defend your aspirations by balancing caution and reserve against malicious curiosity and competition. This helps avoid both backbiting and flattery.

Achieving and maintaining a good reputation has a difficult and high cost because a genuine one only arises from exceptional qualities which are as rare as mediocre traits are common. Borrowed from fame, it develops not from egotistic striving but instead from merging with innate wisdom. Though possible to fake, only a well-founded reputation based on substance endures. This kind of recognition comes with high expectations and demands but also confers influence and opportunity.

Under the surface of our prejudice, our culturally-influenced opinions, confused conclusions, and false beliefs; we have a wise voice of reason, an intuitive clarity, an accurate psychological awareness. Without listening to this—even with impressive qualities, intelligence, and skills—our decisions undermine our goals. Nothing else lacking in our character has so many unfortunate consequences. With an egoless attention to this inner voice of reason, all the activities of our lives become more satisfying, more truthful, and more successful.

One of the great arts of managing people involves keeping expectations alive without letting them devolve into disappointment. With too little expectation, people lose inspiration and get lazy. With too much, they become disillusioned and get lazy for that reason. By finding a middle ground between these two extremes, leaders keep motivation high, discouragement low. Instead of contributing too much, too soon; spread out the acknowledgment of accomplishments and rewards in small increments over a longer period of time. For every success, keep a vision of further success clear.

Never let the world plumb your depths. The world disregards and diminishes the clearly known but projects much more than the reality on the implied, on the unknown, and the mysterious. Let people see the surface but not the inner core, the results but not the causes, the accomplishments but never the full capacity, the extent of your skills, or the depths of your insight and wisdom. Much more admiration arises when people have to guess the extent of your skill no matter how great the reality.

Passion and variety spice up, deepen, and enrich life. Cultivated skills, taste, and intellect create a microcosm of nature herself that brings delight, passion, and success. By recognizing opportunities, solutions, and practicability; one person can accomplish as much as many. And this person's enthusiasm, inspiration, and appreciation spreads and influences many others giving them an accessible energy and a more vivid sense of meaningfulness.

Cleverness seduces us with quick rewards and easier successes. But these remain vulnerable and easily reverse. Wisdom takes a slower, more thoughtful, but stronger and more deeply rooted approach. Even a small amount of genuine wisdom goes much further than a deluge of clever but superficial exploits. This understanding extends to all of our words, thoughts, and deeds and—although it doesn't often entice immediate applause—it wins approval from the wise which is the true benchmark of genuine success.

Often the most well thought-out plans fail, the most inner-vetted decisions turn out badly. But they do extremely well compared to ventures undertaken with doubt and uncertainty. Better to forgo projects when doubts stay high, when the path forward unclear, when judgment wavers. If you have deep doubts about success, rivals and others who watch you will quickly turn the fear of failure into a conclusion. Therefore never start a new venture when reason and intuition don't confirm the choice.

Inner integrity colors our experience, our health, even our bodies. Holding fast to a strong strength of purpose filled with virtue, honesty, and wisdom sustains longevity and supports a full and rewarding life. In a similar but opposite way, vice becomes its own punishment undermining health and shortening our years. Foolish, corrupt, and selfish action destroys our sense of purpose and hastens the death of both body and spirit.

It's easy to see our outer image and qualities but much more important to see clearly our inner selves—our talents, passions, short comings, inclinations, character flaws, intellect, our levels of understanding and wisdom. Without an undistorted view of who and what we really are, we can't improve ourselves, our families, our communities, or the world. By default, most of us fall into the arrogance of self-deception, the distortions of projection, and the delusions of ego-centrism. Forging a mirror that reflects our true qualities requires deeply honest self-reflection, a brave resolve, and careful consideration.