The Leadership I Ching

Book excerpt: The Leadership I Ching is a scholarly yet practical edition of the I Ching both for beginners and seasoned practitioners. The special focus of this divination guide is upon leadership, self-leadership and leading others. The central concern of the author is to help the reader to understand the I Ching from a point of view of decision-making, and as an aid to decision-making. In this sense, the 'oracle book' becomes an effective guide for taking action, which can mean bold action, nonaction or retreat. The wisdom is to arrive at right action, in whatever form it has to be carried out. The difference between the Eastern approach and the Western leadership approach to leadership is obvious. In the West, only going forward with a project is considered as the correct action to take. Notions such as nonaction or retreat are easily connoted with character weakness or procrastination. However, such a limited approach can lead one into an impasse and can even potentially be dangerous. This is why the integrated approach developed from timeless wisdom makes much more sense, for it engages one to develop a flexible attitude. The book comes with a practical guideline how to easily make divinations, it explains the base structure of the I Ching and why it works, and it includes a complete interpretation of all 64 hexagrams.