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The Three Jewels of Leadership
Approximately 2500 years ago, Lao Tzu wrote the Tao Te Ching — which translates to modern English as “The Way”. While not the oldest spiritual/religious text, it is one of the first to define a specific pathway way for living. Its concepts can be found in Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam — as well as philosophies like Stoicism and Platonism.
One of the concepts is called, depending on translation, “The Three Treasures” or “The Crown Jewels”. According to Lao Tzu, these were the most essential of human traits. They are:
- Compassion
- Humility
- Moderation
These three traits show up repeatedly in history across all cultures, forms of government, world events. As mentioned, they are common themes in the world’s religions — but they are also common themes with other spiritual/mystical writers that are not part of any particular religion. A summary conclusion: there appears to be a timeless universality to these ideals.
In the last 500 years, these traits were admired but were often considered to be non-essential — or “soft” leadership skills. Of more value and importance were charisma, vision, decisiveness, boldness — big personalities with big ideas. Yet, it’s those leaders with these treasures that often had the most impact — where their actual contribution was…
