Seeing People via the Library

By Liu Yong

I have a friend who is very influential in the political community and is known for being particularly good at discovering talented people and finding them suitable positions. One day, I asked him how he chose the right person for the right job. He told me frankly.

“My information about personnel comes half from the personnel files in office and half from the library. Just as our unit was established, I first decided to set up a mini library to meet the needs of my colleagues for some necessary dictionaries and series of books, and then I asked every employee to recommend five books they wanted to read every year for public procurement. From their recommendations and borrowing records, I get to know everyone better.”

“If a staff member who recommends five books himself never borrows them but picks out such things as movie magazines, will this person be honest and motivated? On the contrary, if a person finishes the books they recommend and borrows many good books recommended by others, I will certainly be impressed.”

“A person can be judged by the books he reads, because they will seldom borrow books they aren't interested in. If you are more attentive, you can analyze an employee's psychology and know their working style from the types and frequency of books they borrow. For example, if they borrow many reference books of the same topic in a particular period, it means they are engaging deeply in this field. If a person who used to borrow academic books suddenly switched to novels and pictorials, they might be experiencing some changes in life and in their psychological state. Often paying attention to the staff's reading habits helps superiors know their subordinates well. Whenever I talked to a staff member after noticing a big change in their borrowing habits, problems related to themselves or work were often solved in a timely fashion.”

“Furthermore, from the nature and categories of the books they read, I can discover their strong points and assign them special tasks accordingly. For example, for someone who often borrows books about foreign languages, I tend to assign them jobs related to foreign languages； for someone who usually borrows literature and history books, I ask them to do the writing work； for someone who frequently borrows art books, I consult them on artistic design. I find that this is much more effective than relying solely on information in their personnel files, which is my secret for managing human resources.”

(From Words of Firefly Window, Jieli Publishing House. Translation: Chen Jiani)

我有一位在政界非常得意的朋友以知人善任聞名。某日，我向他請教用人的方法。他跟我說了這番話。

“我的人事資料一半在人事室，一半在圖書館。這個單位剛成立時，我就決定設立圖書館。而為了配合同仁的需要，除了一些必要的字典、文庫之外，我要求每位職員每年推薦五本他想讀的書，由公家采購。從推薦的書單和借書的資料當中，我能對每個人有較深的認識。

“你想，一個職員推薦了五本書，卻從來不去借，專挑些電影畫報之類看，他會是個誠信、進取的人嗎？相反，如果一個人不僅讀完了自己推薦的書，還借出不少別人推薦的好書，你當然會對他刮目相看。

“通過一個人看的書可以了解這個人，因為不是他喜歡的書，他不會去借；不是他感興趣的東西，他不會去研究。如果你細細觀察，可以從職員借書的類別和次數分析出他的心理和工作情況。譬如他同時借許多同性質的工具書，顯示他正從事那方面的研究；一個向來都借學術性書籍的人突然對小說、畫報感興趣，可能他在生活和心理上有所改變。常常注意職員讀書的情況，有助于長官對部屬的了解。每當我發現某位職員的借書習慣有了大改變而找他們談話時，常能及時解決許多與他們自身或公事有關的問題。

“此外，從讀書的性質和類別也可以看出他們的特長而加以任用。譬如常借外文書的人，我試著給他提供有關外文的工作；常借文史書籍的人，我讓他擬寫文稿；常借藝術圖書的人，我則向他請教美術設計方面的問題。我發現這樣做要比全憑人事室資料準確得多，這也就是我用人的秘訣了。”

（摘自《螢窗小語》接力出版社）