HEXAGRAM 58: ORIGINAL, INTERPRETATION AND CASES

HEXAGRAM 58 – Tui - The Joyous, Lake

Above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE

Below TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE

· This hexagram,

· like Sun,

is one of the eight formed by doubling of a trigram.

The trigram Tui denotes the youngest daughter;

it is symbolized by the smiling lake, and

its attribute is joyousness.

Contrary to appearances,

· it is not the yielding quality of the top line that accounts for joy here.

· The attribute of the yielding or dark principle is

o not joy

o but melancholy.

However,

JOY is indicated by the fact that

there are two strong lines within,

expressing themselves through the medium of gentleness.

True joy, therefore,

· rests on firmness and strength within,

· manifesting itself outwardly as yielding and gentle.

THE JUDGMENT

THE JOYOUS.

Success.

Perseverance is favorable.

The joyous mood

· is infectious

and therefore

· brings success.

But

· joy must be based on steadfastness

· it is not to degenerate into uncontrolled mirth.

· Truth and strength must dwell in the heart,

while

· gentleness reveals itself in social intercourse.

· In this way

one

· assumes the right attitude toward God and man and

· achieves something.

Under certain conditions,

intimidation without gentleness may achieve something

· momentarily,

· but not for all time.

When, on the other hand,

the hearts of men are won by friendliness,

they are

· led to take all hardships upon themselves willingly,

and if need be

· will not shun death itself,

so great is the power of joy over men.

THE IMAGE

Lakes resting one on the other: The image of THE JOYOUS.

Thus the superior man joins with his friends

For

· discussion and

· practice.

· A lake evaporates upward

and thus

· gradually dries up;

but when

two lakes are joined

· they do not dry up so readily,

· for one replenishes the other.

It is the same in the field of knowledge.

Knowledge should be a refreshing and vitalizing force.

It becomes so only through stimulating intercourse

· with congenial friends

· with whom one

o holds discussion and

o practices application of the truths of life.

In this way

learning

· becomes many-sided and

· takes on a cheerful lightness,

whereas

· there is always something ponderous and one-sided about

· the learning of the self-taught.

THE LINES

Nine at the beginning means:

Contented joyousness.

Good fortune.

· quiet,

· wordless,

· self-contained

joy,

· desiring nothing from without and

· resting content with everything,

remains free of all egotistic

· likes and

· dislikes.

In this freedom lies good fortune, because

it harbors the quiet security of a heart fortified within itself.

Nine in the second place means:

Sincere joyousness.

Good fortune.

Remorse disappears.

· We often find ourselves associating with inferior people in whose company

· we are tempted by pleasures that are inappropriate for the superior man.

To participate in such pleasures would certainly bring remorse,

for

· a superior man can find no real satisfaction in low pleasures.

When, recognizing this,

· a man does not permit his will to swerve,

so that

· he does not find such ways agreeable,

o not even dubious companions will venture to proffer any base pleasures,

because

· he would not enjoy them.

Thus every cause for regret is removed.

Six in the third place means:

Coming joyousness.

Misfortune.

True joy must spring from within.

· But if

one

· is empty within and

· wholly given over to the world,

idle pleasures come streaming in from without.

This is what many people welcome as diversion.

Those who

· lack inner stability and therefore

· need amusement,

will always find opportunity of indulgence.

They attract external pleasures

by the emptiness of their natures.

Thus

they lose themselves more and more,

which of course has bad results.

Nine in the fourth place means:

Joyousness that is weighed is not at peace.

After ridding himself of mistakes a man has joy.

Often

a man finds himself weighing the choice between various kinds of pleasures,

and so long as

· he has not decided which kind he will choose,

o the higher or

o the lower,

· he has no inner peace.

Only when

· clearly recognizes that passion brings suffering,

· can he make up his mind

o to turn away from the lower pleasures and

o to strive for the higher.

Once this decision is sealed,

· he finds true joy and peace, and

· inner conflict is overcome.

Nine in the fifth place means:

Sincerity toward disintegrating influences is dangerous.

Dangerous elements approach even the best of men.

If a man permits himself to have anything to do with them,

· their disintegrating influence

o acts slowly but surely, and inevitably

o brings dangers in its train.

But

if he recognizes the situation and can comprehend the danger,

· he

o knows how to protect himself and

o remains unharmed.

Six at the top means:

Seductive joyousness.

A vain nature

· invites diverting pleasures and

· must suffer accordingly (cf. the six in the third place).

a man is unstable within,

· the pleasures of the world that he does not shun

have so powerful an influence that

· he is swept along by them.

Here

· it is no longer a question

o of danger,

o of good fortune or misfortune.

· He has given up direction of his own life, and

· what becomes of him depends upon

o chance and

o external influences.

58 THE JOYOUS

MANAGERIAL ISSUE:

The CEO – managing to lead the employees with enthusiasm to create the joyous corporation.

Hexagram 58 refers to a CEO who builds a successful corporation through joy, happiness and enthusiasm. Corporate joy means highly motivated employees, superb quality products, strong revenues, high income, and excellent employee rewards. This, in turn, motivates the employees to make even better products to generate greater revenues and so on. A happy corporation builds its happiness from within.

The Superior CEO creates the Joyous corporation by:

· Gathering the best brains in the industry.

· Establishing the best compensation system. And

· Developing a strong corporate discipline in a relaxed atmosphere.

MANAGERIAL LESSON

The Superior CEO knows that to create the Joyous corporation, he must realize that:

1) All men want to be joyous (happy). The Greek philosophers recognized it as man’s principal objective and so did the founding fathers when they called it one of man’s inalienable rights. The corporate world is similar. Customers and employees want to be happy. The CEO who recognizes this need and fulfills such need is well on his way to success.

2) Joy must be unwavering and balanced so that corporate happiness is not confused with buffoonery, lacking managerial discipline or rules. The I Ching says: “joy must be based on steadfastness if it is not to degenerate into uncontrolled mirth.”

3) Clients want happiness rather than products. This is reflected in the concept of “sell the sizzle not the steak”. Happiness means selling the clients the visuals of cooking the steak and all the smells and taste associated with it rather than selling the raw bloody meat. That is why Kodak used to sell “happy moments” rather than film or cameras, or Procter sells happy coffee breaks rather than the actual coffee, or the airlines sell comfortable transportation rather than flights, or the car industry sells prestige or luxury or economy rather than cars. All corporations sell the benefits rather than the product because it is the benefits that make us happy. This is the best marketing rule and the I Ching mentioned it over 2,500 years ago.

4) Happiness is contagious. That is important in creating referrals and repeated business. The joy of holding an iPod or an iPhone or an iPad is contagious. The customer wants to share his happiness with his friends and that is why he recommends it.

5) For the corporation to provide true happiness to its customers there must be value behind the product. The happy corporation must take seriously the truth in advertising concept. The Superior CEO knows that he is answerable first to Heaven and then to man.

Applying Abe Lincoln’s famous advice, we could say that:

a) The CEO can fool some of the customers with its products some of the time but he cannot fool all of the customers all of the time. And,

b) For the CEO to win a customer to his cause or product he must first prove to the customer that he is his true friend. The I Ching says: “When, on the other hand, the hearts of men are won by friendliness, they are led to take all hardships upon themselves willingly, and if need be, will not shun death itself, so great is the power of joy over men”.

6) A corporation can sell a client a faulty product or force him to accept a poor service because of temporary monopolistic circumstances but, in the end, competitors will sense the corporation’s weakness and provide customers with a better alternative. The clients will always choose the better alternative. Now that it is fashionable to WAO the client or to turn him into a raving fan, it is interesting to note that the I Ching has been advising people rightly for so long on this issue – that in essence, all customers want happiness.

7) For the CEO, the issue of happiness must also hold true for his employees. The CEO must sell the employees the benefits of fulfilling the corporation’s mission rather than selling them just a job. Every employee must have a mission, not a job. The Superior CEO knows his prime managerial goal is to recognize the employee’s merits, and reward them accordingly. Rewards, however, should include both:

a) Tangible items such as pay, incentives for performance such as bonuses and stock options plans based on direct and measurable performance, and other benefits such as insurance and home loans. And

b) Intangible items such as a proper working environment and even a sense of pride in their corporation and teamwork.

Google, following the example of Microsoft, has been very successful at creating such working conditions and turning Google into a formidable working team. This should be considered the essence of management - a CEO who proves to the employees that he is their true and fair friend.

8) A corporation’s product must have a social and moral basis for its existence, otherwise society will perceive it is a dangerous product and eventually will do away with it. All companies should make sure their products meet the moral law of God, and should be sold for the known benefit of mankind.

In many ways, Phillip Morris is the opposite of what this Hexagram represents. Like all products, the “happiness” Phillip Morris provides their clients with their tobacco products must have some very strong moral basis and not just legalistic basis. Is it possible for a corporation to avoid the moral basis for its product and rely only on the strict interpretation of the law? Can Phillip Morris get away from its social responsibilities by just hiring a very powerful group of lawyers to fight its legal battles all the way to the Supreme Court? The I Ching would strongly advise its CEO against it.

If in the early stages of the cigarettes product-life cycle no one knew it to be harmful to mankind’s health then, even though the corporation could be held legally accountable for their product, perhaps no one really was to blame. However, if at a later stage of the product cycle, every scientist in its payroll knew it to be harmful, then it was the CEO’s moral responsibility to stop it even before the law would force him to. What did they do? they created farms to develop an extremely addictive tobacco. What sense of pride can any employee feel knowing that his labor will contribute to someone’s death? Phillip Morris can use any legal tactics, but eventually if it fails to conquer the good will of its customers, employees and society, if it fails to prove to be their true friend, it will have failed miserably.

How could Phillip Morris deal with this situation? The I Ching advises the CEO he must:

First, admit it is indeed a harmful addictive product. Launch a public campaign to prevent people from taking up the habit. Change the thinking mode to a real unwillingness to produce it as well as to sell it. Tell their clients that only their addiction will force the corporation to produce it and sell it.

Second, repair the damage done by both setting up a fund for those who already have suffered the consequences of smoking tobacco products, and by helping smokers in their struggle to find a way out of their habits - such as running seminars to help people quit their addiction. This should be done in partnership with the government for all the taxes they collected from the tobacco products. And,

Third, join with its friends, meaning Phillip Morris should join with its competitors, lobbies and Congress, to extend a hand to its customers who have been made ill because of their addiction. This is a time to heal, to reconcile, to both be seen as well as to be perceived as a corporation that is doing its best to be socially and morally responsible. People will never perceive Phillip Morris as socially responsible if it settles with State governments by giving back part of its profits earned by raising the price of cigarettes.

INVESTMENT ADVICE:

For the investor, the Joyous represents in general terms an unfavorable Time-Space to invest.

By itself (no lines) the Joyous Time-Space points to success provided the CEO controls it.

THE JOYOUS.

Success.

Perseverance is favorable.

The joyous mood is infectious and therefore brings success. But joy must be based on steadfastness if it is not to degenerate into uncontrolled mirth. Truth and strength must dwell in the heart, while gentleness reveals itself in social intercourse. In this way one assumes the right attitude toward God and man and achieves something. Under certain conditions, intimidation without gentleness may achieve something momentarily, but not for all time. When, on the other hand, the hearts of men are won by friendliness, they are led to take all hardships upon themselves willingly, and if need be will not shun death itself, so great is the power of joy over men.

The lines include only two possibilities of Good Fortune (in the first and second places), one real negative (in the third place) and three semi - negatives.

The following are cases of corporations under the Joyous Time-Space.

· Marvell Technology Group Ltd. MRVL under CEO Sehat Sutardja

(Read at the end of the Hexagram)

THE LINES

NINE IN THE FIRST PLACE

Managerial Issue: The CEO – managing to lead men with enthusiasm to create the Joyous corporation – succeeding.

Managerial Lesson: Be content.

Managerial Warning: At the first stage of the Joyous Time-Space, the CEO has the proper attitude to succeed.

Managerial Advice: The Superior CEO knows that to be successful he must:

· Be happy with himself, with his corporation, with his performance, with his products, and with his mission.

· Not envy another corporation’s products.

· Not fix what is not broken. Keep on producing more happiness for his clients and more happiness for his employees. The danger lies in penny-pinching or in trying to become a star at the expense of the customers and the employees. The Superior CEO would not dare to cut corners with his customers or with his employees.

Investment advice: Invest.

NINE IN THE SECOND PLACE

Managerial Issue: The CEO – managing to lead men with enthusiasm to create the joyous corporation – dealing with an unhappy corporation with inferior products and employees.

Managerial Lesson: Be firm.

Managerial Warning: At the second stage of the Joyous Time-Space, the CEO is tempted to associate with the wrong employees, products or partnerships.

Managerial Advice: The Superior CEO knows that to create the Joyous Corporation he must associate himself as well as the corporation with the best. He will accept nothing inferior such as inferior employees, products or partnerships. Whatever he finds to be inferior, he cuts off at once, lest in the end they corrupt him as well as the rest of the other employees. An inferior product will take away precious resources from the superior products, including the most precious of them all: managerial time,. An inferior employee, who undeservingly receives the same pay as those who do deserve it, will demoralize the entire corporation. The Superior CEO knows that by creating such strict standards, no one will dare approach him with poor recommendations.

Investment advice: Invest.

SIX IN THE THIRD PLACE

Managerial Issue: The CEO – managing to lead men with enthusiasm to create the joyous corporation - dealing with an unhappy corporation, one with low product research and development and with poor employee creativity.

Managerial Lesson: Be inner stable.

Managerial Warning: At the third stage of the Joyous Time-Space, the CEO lacks “inner stability and therefore needs amusement indulging himself in diversion. He attracts external pleasures by the emptiness of his nature”.

Managerial Advice: The Superior CEO knows that a corporation which lacks R&D and whose employees have no creativity, will end up copying from truly creative corporations. When you have nothing to offer from within, then you are bound to offer from without (someone else’s ideas). This is the beginning of the end.

Investment advice: Do not invest.

NINE IN THE FOURTH PLACE

Managerial Issue: The CEO – managing to lead men with enthusiasm to create the joyous corporation – dealing with an unhappy corporation - choosing between poor products and poor employees.

Managerial Lesson: Be decisive.

Managerial Warning: At the fourth stage of the Joyous Time-Space, the CEO is tempted to make the wrong choice.

Managerial Advice: The Superior CEO knows that he may choose between the Yang and the Yin – that is, between good and bad quality of products or between good or bad employees, but never between the degrees of Yin, that is between poor products or between poor employees, because the degrees of Yin have no place in the corporation. Proper focus brings happiness to the CEO. Making the right choice always brings happiness.

Investment advice: Do not invest.

NINE IN THE FIFTH PLACE

Managerial Issue: The CEO – managing to lead men with enthusiasm to create the joyous corporation – dealing with an unhappy corporation - flirting with incompetence.

Managerial Lesson: Be prudent.

Managerial Warning: At the fifth stage of the Joyous Time-Space, the CEO risks listening to the “dangerous elements that approach” him.

Managerial Advice: The Superior CEO knows:

· He must fight against the temptation to develop a poor product out of a personal whim or to indulge in nepotism.

· Such actions will always, (with no exceptions), do harm to both the CEO and his corporation.

· There is still time to correct this situation if he realizes and corrects his position.

Investment advice: Do not invest.

SIX IN THE SIXTH PLACE

Managerial Issue: The CEO – managing to lead men with enthusiasm to create the joyous corporation – vanity and lack of humility create the wrong kind of happiness.

Managerial Lesson: Be hopeful.

Managerial Warning: At the sixth stage of the Joyous Time-Space, the CEO risks giving up in despair: “He has given up direction of his own life, and what becomes of him depends upon chance and external influences”.

Managerial Advice: The Superior CEO is always hopeful and of good cheer - that is one of his key traits. He would never give up in despair. He knows where despair comes from – lack of character that creates enthusiasm for the wrong things. The Superior CEO knows:

· Lack of character will always end up in pride and in the wrong kind of happiness for the corporation.

· Enthusiasm for the wrong kind of things will eventually affect both the CEO’s as well as the corporation’s spirits and it will be reflected in the creation of poor products and poorly motivated employees. He is no longer in charge

Investment advice: Do not invest.

MANAGERIAL CASES

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. MRVL under CEO Sehat Sutardja

Sehat Sutardja’s Performance: ROI= 7.44% Annualized Return= 0.64%

SPY’s Performance: ROI= (17.61%) Annualized Return= (1.70%)

Sehat Sutardja is one of the original founders of Marvell Technology. He became its CEO in 1995.

Since June of 2000, he has been able to outperform the SPY but his performance has been basically flat.

Because he has been CEO for almost two decades, we asked the Oracle once more about his future. His new hexagram is The Joyous.

Since the beginning of 2011, his performance has been below the SPY’s, thus he needs to change his strategy.

Points the investor should consider:

1) THE HEXAGRAM

HEXAGRAM 58 – Tui - The Joyous, Lake

This hexagram, like Sun, is one of the eight formed by doubling of a trigram. The trigram Tui denotes the youngest daughter; it is symbolized by the smiling lake, and its attribute is joyousness. Contrary to appearances, it is not the yielding quality of the top line that accounts for joy here. The attribute of the yielding or dark principle is not joy but melancholy. However, JOY is indicated by the fact that there are two strong lines within, expressing themselves through the medium of gentleness.

True joy, therefore, rests on firmness and strength within, manifesting itself outwardly as yielding and gentle.

THE JUDGMENT

THE JOYOUS.

Success.

Perseverance is favorable.

2) THE ADVICE

Lakes resting one on the other: The image of THE JOYOUS.

Thus the superior man joins with his friends

For discussion and practice.

A lake evaporates upward and thus gradually dries up; but when two lakes are joined they do not dry up so readily, for one replenishes the other. It is the same in the field of knowledge. Knowledge should be a refreshing and vitalizing force. It becomes so only through stimulating intercourse with congenial friends with whom one holds discussion and practices application of the truths of life. In this way learning becomes many-sided and takes on a cheerful lightness, whereas there is always something ponderous and one-sided about the learning of the self-taught.

3) THE LINES:

Nine at the beginning means:

Contented joyousness.

Good fortune.

A quiet, wordless, self-contained joy, desiring nothing from without and resting content with everything, remains free of all egotistic likes and dislikes. In this freedom lies good fortune, because it harbors the quiet security of a heart fortified within itself.

Nine in the fourth place means:

Joyousness that is weighed is not at peace.

After ridding himself of mistakes a man has joy.

Often a man finds himself weighing the choice between various kinds of pleasures, and so long as he has not decided which kind he will choose, the higher or the lower, he has no inner peace. Only when he clearly recognizes that passion brings suffering, can he make up his mind to turn away from the lower pleasures and to strive for the higher. Once this decision is sealed, he finds true joy and peace, and inner conflict is overcome.

4) THE MOVING HEXAGRAM

HEXAGRAM 29 - K'an - The Abysmal (Water)

This hexagram consists of a doubling of the trigram K'an. It is one of the eight hexagrams in which doubling occurs. The trigram K'an means a plunging in. A yang line has plunged in between two yin lines and is closed in by them like water in a ravine. The trigram K'an is also the middle son. The Receptive has obtained the middle line of the Creative, and thus K'an develops. As an image it represents water, the water that comes from above and is in motion on earth in streams and rivers, giving rise to all life on earth.

In man's world K'an represents the heart, the soul locked up within the body, the principle of light inclosed in the dark - that is, reason. The name of the hexagram, because the trigram is doubled, has the additional meaning, "repetition of danger." Thus the hexagram is intended to designate an objective situation to which one must become accustomed, not a subjective attitude. For danger due to a subjective attitude means either foolhardiness or guile. Hence too a ravine is used to symbolize danger; it is a situation in which a man is in the same pass as the water in a ravine, and, like the water, he can escape if he behaves correctly.

THE JUDGMENT

The Abysmal repeated.

If you are sincere, you have success in your heart,

And whatever you do succeeds.

Through repetition of danger we grow accustomed to it. Water sets the example for the right conduct under such circumstances. It flows on and on, and merely fills up all the places through which it flows; it does not shrink from any dangerous spot nor from any plunge, and nothing can make it lose its own essential nature. It remains true to itself under all conditions. Thus likewise, if one is sincere when confronted with difficulties, the heart can penetrate the meaning of the situation. And once we have gained inner mastery of a problem, it will come about naturally that the action we take will succeed. In danger all that counts is really carrying out all that has to be done – thoroughness - and going forward, in order not to perish through tarrying in the danger.

Properly used, danger can have an important meaning as a protective measure. Thus heaven has its perilous height protecting it against every attempt at invasion, and earth has its mountains and bodies of water, separating countries by their dangers. Thus also rulers make use of danger to protect themselves against attacks from without and against turmoil within.

THE IMAGE

Water flows on uninterruptedly and reaches its goal: The image of the Abysmal repeated.

Thus the superior man walks in lasting virtue

And carries on the business of teaching.

Water reaches its goal by flowing continually. It fills up every depression before it flows on. The superior man follows its example; he is concerned that goodness should be an established attribute of character rather than an accidental and isolated occurrence. So likewise in teaching others everything depends on consistency, for it is only through repetition that the pupil makes the material his own.