Rediscovering the I Ching
Most of us who are familiar with the I CHING have almost always used it as an oracle. We have asked the I CHING’s help in making decisions and in its generosity the I CHING has always been willing to comply. But few of us have ever stopped to think of the I CHING as more than an oracle. We can gain wisdom if we do so.
There is a wonderful story about a monk who was walking down a road. He found a beggar, stopped, handed him over a diamond, all the wealth the monk possessed, and continued on his journey. After a while, the monk heard the voice of someone calling him. As he turned, he discovered it was the beggar who was asking him to exchange the diamond for something the monk possessed. The surprised monk told the beggar he had nothing else to give him. But the beggar insisted saying he wanted from the monk “whatever it was” that made him hand out the only possession he had.
The I CHING as an oracle can make us rich if we ask of it to give us information about the future of the best growth and value stocks. But the I CHING can make us wise or Superior Men if we ask of it to give us “whatever it is” that made it hand out the only possession it had.
· The I CHING as a Book of Virtues
Think of the I CHING as a book of virtues or the ultimate self-help book. The I CHING wants you to transform yourself into a Superior Man by exercising virtues. It can help you become a better manager or CEO or investor or leader or politician or parent or anything you would like to be but first and foremost it will help you to become a better person. However, you must first embrace the idea of practicing the virtues it preaches if you want to become a better CEO and a better investor.
There are sixty-four Hexagrams and each Hexagram has 6 lines. In each line the I CHING has a lesson to teach the CEO as well as the investor. Virtues such as humility, patience, courage, honor, duty, faith and hope (the I CHING even ends on a hopeful note in Hexagram 64 by hoping that after the long winter, we will soon reach spring), are crucial for becoming better CEOs as well as better investors. The I CHING also warns us about pride and arrogance as the main reason for the CEOs’ and the investors’ fall.
Motivators like Covey and Robbins have already mentioned many of these virtues. What is interesting is that the I CHING already extolled these virtues over three thousand years ago.
· The I CHING as the Ultimate Coach
Think of the I CHING as a coach. It will coach you mostly on attitude, on taking the right attitude for each circumstance you will encounter. It will coach you on how to become a better man, or a Superior Man as it calls the man who attains ultimate wisdom and knowledge, or the man it would like us to be. For each Hexagram as well as for almost each line within each Hexagram, the I CHING has the proper attitude for the CEO as well as for the investor.
When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, I asked the I CHING about the outcome of such event. I was interested in knowing the effect the invasion would have on the world’s oil supply and its future’s prices. The I CHING called his action that of the Wanderer or Hexagram 56, advising me his stay would be short. It also made it quite clear that he would behave brutally and do lots of damage.
- The I CHING said in line three: “the wanderer’s inn burns down. He loses the steadfastness of his young servant. Danger. A truculent stranger does not know how to behave properly. He meddles in affairs and controversies that do not concern him; thus he loses his resting place. He treats his servant with aloofness and arrogance; thus he loses the man’s loyalty. When a stranger in a strange land has no one left on whom he can rely, the situation becomes very dangerous”.
In this line, the I CHING describes a brutal man meddling in affairs that are not his business and loosing the support of the very same people he wants to win over to his cause. Had Saddam Hussein asked the I CHING about the ultimate outcome of his invasion plans, the I CHING would have advised Saddam Hussein not to invade to start with. But even if had he invaded and asked the I CHING on the proper conduct to follow, the I CHING would have advised him to behave diplomatically because that is the way a Superior Man would have behaved if he were in a Wandering position. The proper attitude or code of conduct would have saved him.
Anyone can consult the I CHING and understand the basics of decision-making because it is an open system; however, as you become a better man by following its coaching you will get a richer meaning from its readings. It is said that a good man will use a good tool with good results, but an evil man will use a good tool with evil results. The I CHING wants us to become Superior Men and tells us how to do it. We must behave properly if we want to be good CEOs and lead our corporations on the right path. We also must behave properly if we want to be good investors to manage our portfolios profitably.
· The I CHING as a the Ultimate Portal
Think of the I CHING as the ultimate portal, or the PORTAL of Portals to the ultimate Web, the WEB of Webs and the SERVER of servers. A Web where all the information in the Universe is stored including information about the past, the present, and, what is even more important for CEOs and investors, information about the future.
Life is change as well as choice. And the I CHING is here to help us make the correct choice. Indeed it is the perfect tool for decision-making. The Universe is constantly changing and we want to know about the outcome of those future changes. The I CHING or the Book of Changes was specifically designed for such task. It has been doing so for thousands of years. When we consult the I CHING, it will connect us with the universal web, and will describe, warn and prepare us for change. But the choice is always ours. The role of the CEO and the investor is not to avoid change but to profit from it. And I believe based on my personal experience as a financial consultant that it works.
But in the end it is a matter of change and choice and of choice and change. You must first accept change, then you must look for each possible outcome of each possible change and then you must choose based on the I CHING’s advice and your own experience.
As a financial advisor I have had the unique opportunity to follow CEOs’ and investors’ decisions. It is amazing how many mistakes they both would have avoided had they consulted the I CHING before making their decisions. One of the classic cases where consulting the I CHING would have made a difference was AT&T’s purchase of NCR. In my reading, the I CHING referred to the deal as the Fellowship with Men (Hexagram 13), a positive reading but also a warning –
- the I CHING says: “true fellowship among men must be based upon a concern that is universal”.
It sounds so basic but why did AT&T’s CEO not realize at the time of the takeover that a telephone and a computer companies might not have much of “a concern that was universal”?
But the line I drew in the Hexagram should have kept even the most optimistic CEO away from such take over. It was a six in the second line.
- The I CHING says: fellowship with men in the clan. Humiliation. There is danger here of formation of a separate faction on the basis of personal and egotistic interests. Such factions, which are exclusive and, instead of welcoming all men, must condemn one group in order to unite with others, originate from low motives and therefore lead in the course of time to humiliation”.
The I CHING has a strict protocol for bringing people together and AT&T’s CEO went against it. How much waste of assets could AT&T have avoided if its CEO had asked the I CHING to answer a simple yet fundamental question, should I buy NCR?
What made it worse was the fact I had investors interested in buying AT&T with the hope of participating in one of the “greatest corporations of the future”. Who would have believed me if I had told investors to keep away from AT&T based on the I CHING’s advice? People stayed with this loosing corporation for many years instead of moving on to ones with a much superior readings such as Citicorp, American International Group, Microsoft, or so many others that had positive readings at that time, even though later these corporations went through their Yin Time-Spaces – from the 7 fat cows to the 7 thin cows.
The I CHING would contend the CEO is ultimately responsible for the well being of the corporation. No doubt corporations are teams requiring a common effort for its success, but in the final analysis the market recognizes the CEO as the one who can either make or break the corporation. Three thousand years ago the question was asked if the Emperor had the mandate of Heaven. Now we should ask if the CEO has the mandate from Heaven. The CEO is the Emperor. There is no figure closer to an Emperor than the all-powerful American CEO. Anyone who has worked for a large multinational will certainly agree with me. I wish to present the I CHING to the CEOs of the world by establishing a relationship between the language of the I CHING and the language of management. The I CHING is a wise counselor. I strongly believe CEOs can be very successful if they apply the wisdom of the I CHING to the actual management of the corporation.
The I CHING would also contend the investor is ultimately responsible for the success of his portfolio. He should not let everything in the hands of the mutual fund or portfolio manager. It is up to him to keep the discipline of buying at the end of the YIN and selling at the end of the YANG. I wish to present the I CHING to the investors as an alternative amongst all the methods in choosing their investments. Most investors use fundamental or technical analysis. Some would throw darts at the Wall Street Journal and rely on the Random Walk Theory. I believe the I CHING combines most theories into one but as an investor you must keep an open mind and be willing to try new methods without prejudices.
Every individual is an investor. He might invest his time, perhaps the most important of assets, his capital, his energy or any other means of wealth; but he will always be an investor – a good or a bad one. All investments, on the other hand, inevitably require investors make a basic decision. Should I or should I not invest? If the answer is yes, then we must continue to make other basic decisions such as the amount and the timing. If the answer is not, then we must look for other investment alternatives. The I CHING is an ideal tool for decision making because it works on the basis of yes or no answers or the YANG and YIN answers corresponding to each side of the coin.
I am sure no one will argue about the I CHING’s valuable advice for the CEOs with every Hexagram describing a particular situation telling the CEO how to best deal with it. But I am aware of the criticism many will have on the notion an investor can choose a good investment by throwing coins. Believe me; you can, especially if you combine it with good, independent research. All you have to do is keep an open mind and be patient.
On this issue, it is my greatest desire that every investor with an open mind, who is willing to try this method of investing, be willing to contribute to create a complete volume with actual experiences specifically directed to the I CHING and the world of investments.
I wish to offer CEO’s and investors an operational manual. The purpose is to coach them on how to use the “mysterious” language of the I CHING to apply it to the decision making process of the managerial and the investment world. Once this is accomplished, they will begin to learn the philosophy behind the I CHING. While the I CHING teaches CEOs and investors about managing and investing, it also teaches them to become Superior Men.
My word of advice to CEOs and investors is to start using the I CHING and avoid arguments about its validity with people who do not know the I CHING. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Also keep away from arguing over the accuracy of the interpretations with those who are already familiar with the I CHING. Such arguments are useless. No one has surpassed its creators’ or Confucius’ judgments and interpretations of the original text and no one has been able to match the Wilhelm/Bayne translation. I strongly recommend that anyone who wants to become a serious student of the I CHING should first buy the Wilhelm/Bayne translation of the I CHING. I would also recommend the reader to start first with the Wilhelm/Bayne translation to understand the I CHING on a general level before applying this book to the investment and managerial levels.
