Why Smart Leaders Stay Unrushed? The Leadership Wisdom of "Zhi Lin" in Approach Hexagram Six in the Fifth Place

Wonder if you’ve ever had a boss like this around you.

He’s busier than everyone else. He’s the first to arrive at the office in the morning and the last to leave at night. He attends every meeting, reviews every document, and meddles in every single matter. From the brand of a single pen to how a project should move forward, he has to personally look into everything.

You might say he’s not dedicated? But he works harder than anyone. You might say he’s incompetent? But he knows and can do everything.

Yet here’s the strange thing—the busier he is, the more chaotic the company gets; the more he controls, the weaker the team becomes. When he’s not around, no one knows what to do; the second he’s back, everyone waits for him to make the call. The whole company is propped up by him alone. If he collapses, the whole operation grinds to a halt.

What do you call this? It’s when the boss does the manager’s job, the manager does the employee’s job, and the employees are left pondering the company’s strategy. Everything is out of place.

So what does a truly great boss look like?

Wen Laoshi says you don’t judge a boss’s capability by how busy they are, but by how much free time they have. Not by how many tasks they’ve done themselves, but by whether their people can get things done.

This principle is explained most clearly by the fifth line of the Lin (Approach) Hexagram in the I Ching (Book of Changes).

「知临，大君之宜，吉」——True senior leadership relies on wisdom, not hard labor

The Line Text (Yao Ci) for the Six in the Fifth Place (六五) of the Lin Hexagram reads: 知临，大君之宜，吉 (Zhī lín, dà jūn zhī yí, jí).

“知” (zhì) is interchangeable with “智” (wisdom), meaning wisdom and sagacity. “临” (lín) means management, leadership, or facing a situation. Put together, “知临” means leading not through brute force or grinding long hours, but through wisdom.

Why does it say “大君之宜” (fit for a great ruler)? Because this is what a true leader should be. If the ruler of a great state spends every day doing the work of a county magistrate or a village chief, it’s no wonder the state falls into chaos. What should a ruler focus on? Setting the direction, selecting talent, making decisions, and walking the middle path.

The Xiang Commentary (Images) states: “大君之宜，行中之谓也。” (The fitness of the great ruler refers to his practice of the middle path.)

That’s exactly the point—why is this approach fitting for a great leader? Because he follows the middle path. He is impartial, leaning neither left nor right, grasps the core essentials, puts the right people in the right positions, and lets everyone fulfill their roles and use their talents to the full. That is truly wise leadership.

Wen Laoshi often says many people have it backwards—they think being a leader means being more capable, more diligent, and putting in more overtime than your subordinates. That’s wrong. Being a leader and being an employee require two completely different sets of skills. Employees are measured by execution; leaders are measured by judgment. Employees are measured by how many tasks they complete; leaders are measured by how many right people they choose.

As a boss, if you’re doing your employees’ work every day, no matter how well you do it, what’s the point? How much can you get done on your own? Even if you work yourself to death, the company still won’t grow.

Why is “wise leadership” (知临) superior to “leading by being there in person” (身临)?

The six lines of the Lin Hexagram, from the Nine at the Beginning (初九) to the Six at the Top (上六), represent ascending levels of leadership. The first line is starting with sincerity, the second is advancing with sincerity, the third is letting pleasure derail duties, the fourth is being present on-site in person, and by the fifth line, it’s wisdom-based management.

The “至临” (zhì lín, perfect approach through personal presence) of the Six in the Fourth Place (六四) means getting personally involved, which is already quite good—far better than those who sit in the office all day. But there’s a problem with “至临”: no matter how much you run around, how much you observe, how much you do yourself, your energy is limited. A company has so many people and so many matters—can you possibly cover everything on your own? If you do everything personally, can you really handle it all?

You can’t. That’s why at the fifth line, you have to level up—from “doing it yourself” to “using wisdom to get others to do it for you.”

What does that mean? It means you don’t have to handle every detail yourself. As long as you put the right people in place, set up the right systems, and hold the direction steady, the people below will naturally get things done well. You may seem like you’re not doing any specific work, but everything is under your control.

That’s the power of “知临”—you don’t have to be present at every site, but every site operates according to your vision; you don’t have to do every task with your own hands, but every task moves forward in the direction you want.

Put simply, it’s working with your brain, not your physical strength.

Liu Bang understood this principle very well. He once said: “In devising strategies within the tent and winning battles a thousand li away, I am not as good as Zhang Liang. In stabilizing the state, comforting the people, providing supplies, and keeping the grain routes open, I am not as good as Xiao He. In leading a million-strong army, winning every battle and taking every city attacked, I am not as good as Han Xin. These three men are heroes among men, but I can employ them—and that is why I won the empire.”

You see, a truly great boss isn’t necessarily the best at fighting battles, the best at crunching numbers, or the best at coming up with ideas. But they are definitely the best at employing people, the best at delegating authority, and the best at making judgments. They don’t rely on their own two hands, but on the minds of a whole team of people.

How to practice “知临”? Three things to get right

It’s easier said than done. Many bosses want to let go and let their people take charge, but they just can’t bring themselves to do it—they’re afraid others won’t do a good job, afraid things will go wrong, afraid they’ll lose control.

How to break through? Remember three rules.

First, focus on the big picture and let go of the small details—don’t try to control everything.

What counts as “big”? Direction, strategy, personnel, and systems. These are the things you must hold onto. What counts as “small”? How to do specific tasks, what methods to use, what processes to follow. These are things your people should figure out.

If you fixate on trivial details every day, you’ll have no time to think about the big issues; if you spend all your time on small matters, no one will be minding the big ones. In the end, the small things get done perfectly, but the big things are a total mess. Is it worth it?

So a boss’s core ability isn’t knowing everything—it’s knowing what matters and what doesn’t. Cling tight to what’s important, and completely let go of what’s not. Your time should be spent on the most valuable things.

Second, trust the people you use, and give them room to work.

Many bosses talk about delegation, but it’s fake delegation—they hand you the task, but they check in every day, push you every day, and meddle with every step. The moment you start moving, they say it’s wrong and tell you to do it this way or that. In the end, they still call the shots, and you’re just an executor.

What kind of delegation is that? That’s just tormenting people.

True delegation means you assign the task to someone, give them full responsibility, and give them full authority too. Don’t micromanage how they do their work. As long as the results are on track, don’t interfere. If they succeed, the credit is theirs; if they mess up, you take responsibility too.

Only then will your people dare to take initiative, use their brains, and grow. And you’ll have time to do the work you’re supposed to do.

Third, walk the middle path—don’t go to extremes.

What does walking the middle path mean? It means leaning neither left nor right, neither overdoing nor falling short. You can’t control too tightly, nor can you let things go too loose; you can’t only focus on the present, nor can you only focus on the long term; you can’t only rely on personal connections, nor can you only rely on rules.

Why does the Xiang Commentary say “行中之谓也” (it refers to practicing the middle path)? Because the most brilliant management is finding that most appropriate balance. Tighten when you need to tighten, loosen when you need to loosen; be close when you need to be close, keep distance when you need to keep distance. No extremes, no偏执 (stubbornness), no single-track mind.

How do you find that balance? There’s no standard answer—it all depends on your wisdom and experience. But the direction is right: if you lean toward the middle path, you won’t make big mistakes.

The essence of “知临” is trusting that others can succeed

At the end of the day, why can’t many bosses practice “知临”?

It’s not a problem of ability—it’s a problem of mindset. They don’t believe others can do a better job than them, they don’t feel comfortable handing over tasks, they think only they can do things reliably.

But think about it—if you do everything yourself, your team will never grow; if your team never grows, you’ll always have to do everything yourself. It’s a vicious cycle.

How to break the cycle? You have to dare to let go, dare to let others try, dare to give them room to make mistakes. Mistakes don’t matter—fixing them is progress. You can’t protect them forever, and they can’t hide under your wing forever either.

Wen Laoshi says every single boss has to go through a process—from doing everything themselves, to gradually letting others do it, to finally only handling the most important matters. The earlier you complete this process, the earlier you’ll be free, and the earlier your company will grow.

Otherwise, you’ll be the biggest bottleneck of the company. However strong your ability is, that’s how low the company’s ceiling will be. If you work yourself to death, the company is done for too.

Is it worth it?

One final thought

“知临，大君之宜，吉。”

Seven characters that capture the core of high-level leadership. Don’t always treat busyness as a skill, don’t always treat diligence as a medal. Truly great bosses never look busy—because their brain is busy, not their hands; their team is doing the work, not just them alone.

When it comes to management, at the end of the day, it’s not about physical strength—it’s about wisdom. The better you are at employing people, the easier your job will be; the better you are at delegating authority, the stronger your team will become.

The day you shift from “I’ll do it” to “You do it, and I’ll take responsibility”—that’s when you’ve truly gotten the hang of it.