The Best Ruler, the People Barely Know
The Text
太上，下知有之；其次，亲而誉之；其次，畏之；其次，侮之。信不足焉，有不信焉。悠兮其贵言。功成事遂，百姓皆谓：我自然。
The best ruler: the people barely know he exists. The next: they love and praise him. The next: they fear him. The next: they insult him. One who does not trust enough will not be trusted. Hesitant, sparing of words — when the work is done and matters settled, the people say: we did this ourselves.
Reading it
A four-rung ladder, and the interesting rung is the second one. Being loved and praised is already a step down: it means the person has become part of the story. The first rung is management as absence — outcomes good enough to look self-made.
四级阶梯，有意思的是第二级：被爱被赞已是退步——人成了故事的一部分。第一级是「缺席的管理」：好到像自己长成的。
Complete one piece of joint work so smoothly that nobody thanks you. That is the rung.
把一件合作的事做得顺畅到没有人谢你。那就是那一阶。