The Expanded and Annotated My Life and Work

THE EMPLOYER AND THE MANDATE OF HEAVEN
This book has already introduced the Chinese leadership concept of the 
Mandate of Heaven, which says simply that a person derives his or her 
right to lead from service to the organization’s stakeholders. Ford and 
Crowther (1930, p. 64) discuss the underlying concept very explicitly: “The 
leaders of a business are as responsible for the welfare of the people as the 
generals of an army are responsible for the welfare of the soldiers.” The fol-
lowing discussion exemplifies this concept in business and industry; the 
rightful leader is the one who keeps the pay envelopes coming.
* * *
The employer is but a man like his employees and is subject to all the limita-
tions of humanity. He is justified in holding his job only as he can fill it. If he 

---

Democracy and Industry  •  237
can steer the business straight, if his men can trust him to run his end of the 
work properly and without endangering their security, then he is filling his 
place. Otherwise he is no more fit for his position than would be an infant. 
The employer, like everyone else, is to be judged solely by his ability. He may 
be but a name to the men—a name on a signboard. But there is the busi-
ness—it is more than a name. It produces the living—and a living is a pretty 
tangible thing. The business is a reality. It does things. It is a going concern. 
The evidence of its fitness is that the pay envelopes keep coming.