Encouraging Soldiers

The principle of using troops is this: use ranks and titles to honor talent, use wealth and goods to support talent, and then there will be no one of talent and virtue who does not come to serve; treat people with courtesy and encourage them with trustworthiness, and then there will be no soldier who does not fight to the death; continuously bestow kindness without growing weary, and enforce the law as uniformly and clearly as a drawn line, and then there will be no soldier who does not submit wholeheartedly; put oneself first and others after, and then there will be no soldier who is not brave; record even the smallest good deed and reward even the smallest merit, and then there will be no soldier who does not encourage himself and strive upward. Modern Application:This chapter and the earlier chapter “Mourning the Dead” form a mirror pair. “Mourning the Dead” dealt with the leader’s ordering of behavior at moments of danger and distribution; this chapter breaks motivation down into a set of institutional combinations that act simultaneously at different levels.......