How to Read “Only after knowing how to serve others can one lead others”
Hito ni tsukōru wo shiru mono nishite shikaru nochi ni motte hito wo tsukaubeshi
Meaning of “Only after knowing how to serve others can one lead others”
This proverb teaches that before you can lead people, you must first experience serving under others.
People who have never worked as subordinates or apprentices cannot understand how it feels to receive orders. They don’t know which words encourage and which attitudes hurt people. You can’t learn these things from theory alone.
Only after experiencing the position of being led can you give appropriate guidance that considers the other person’s perspective.
People use this proverb when talking to managers or those who guide juniors. It carries the expectation: “You had your own time starting from the bottom, so use that experience to become a good leader.”
Even today, this idea remains important in organizational management. This proverb teaches a universal truth: true leadership comes not from power or position, but from the empathy to understand others’ feelings.
Origin and Etymology
This proverb likely comes from ancient Chinese philosophy, especially Confucian teachings. The formal classical Chinese style of the phrase reveals this origin.
Confucianism emphasizes the importance of self-cultivation to build ideal human relationships and social order. The phrase “cultivate yourself, regulate your family, govern the state, bring peace to the world” represents this step-by-step path of growth.
“Serving others” means working in the position of a subordinate or apprentice. Through this experience, you learn firsthand how it feels to receive instructions, what struggles exist, and what makes good or bad guidance.
After reaching Japan, this idea connected with the samurai spirit and became valued as a teaching about the essence of leadership. The belief that leaders must first gain experience serving below became a basic principle deeply rooted in Japanese society.
This saying contains more than just a sequence of steps. It asks a deeper question: what qualifies someone to lead others?
Usage Examples
- I want to treat my subordinates with the spirit of “Only after knowing how to serve others can one lead others,” never forgetting my struggles as a newcomer
- He has extensive experience starting from the bottom, so he’s a boss who embodies “Only after knowing how to serve others can one lead others”
Universal Wisdom
In human society, gaining power and position is relatively easy. But using that power correctly is surprisingly difficult. Why? Because the power to move people and the power to understand people’s hearts are completely different things.
Looking back at history, most excellent leaders experienced times of hardship. This didn’t happen by chance. They were placed in difficult positions, followed someone’s instructions, sometimes received unfair treatment, and deeply learned about human pain and joy.
That experience later became the wisdom to guide others.
This proverb has been passed down because humans have a weakness: “attitudes change when positions change.” The moment people gain power, they forget what they once suffered and become arrogant.
Our ancestors saw through this human nature.
True strength isn’t having power. It’s remaining humble when you have power. The experience of serving may be the only school that nurtures that humility.
The qualification to lead others is never an inborn talent. It’s a crystallization of sweat and tears that only those who learned from below can obtain.
When AI Hears This
In communication engineering, there’s a principle: no matter how perfect a message the sender creates, if they don’t understand the receiver’s characteristics, the information won’t arrive correctly.
For example, if you send 1000 characters to someone who can only process 100 characters per second, 90 percent will be lost. This is the limit of “channel capacity.”
The same thing happens when leading people. Subordinate A is strong with visual information—written instructions achieve 95 percent understanding, but verbal drops to 60 percent. Subordinate B is the opposite.
If a boss only gives instructions in their preferred method, information loss inevitably occurs. In other words, they haven’t measured the characteristics of the “communication channel” called their subordinate.
What’s interesting is that people who have served under others have processed instructions from various bosses as “receivers” themselves. They experientially know the variations in human channel characteristics.
Morning people have high information processing ability in the morning. Anxious people have error rates that spike with vague instructions. They’ve accumulated “optimal patterns for transmission protocols.”
This proverb shows a perspective that views leadership as “encoding design matched to the other person’s information processing characteristics.” To reliably transmit the information called commands, you must first experience diverse receiving environments and learn the optimal transmission method for each channel.
Lessons for Today
In modern society, opportunities to become a manager young or start a business and hire people are increasing. But this proverb reminds us of something important: the qualification to lead people can only grow through experience.
If you’re currently working under someone, that time is never wasted. The unreasonableness you feel now and the struggles you’re learning all become future assets.
Learn from good bosses. Learn from bad bosses as negative examples. Each one becomes a compass for when you lead people.
If you’re already in a position guiding others, remember your own time starting from the bottom. How would your past self feel about your current guidance? This question will guide you to become a better leader.
Standing above others is not a privilege but a responsibility. And the best preparation for fulfilling that responsibility is humbly gaining experience serving others.
Your experience will surely support someone.
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