Whose son is suspected

A wealthy man in the state of Song had a wall that rain had damaged. His son said: if you don't repair it, thieves will come. The old man next door said the same thing.

That night the thieves came and took a great deal.

The family praised the son's insight and suspected the neighbour of the theft.

Han Feizi uses this to talk about the difficulty of advising a ruler. What interests me is that both advisers gave identical information, and the difference in outcome had nothing to do with the information.

Every organisation runs on this. The same criticism from someone inside the circle gets thanked. From someone outside, it becomes a question of motive. The fact that the outsider might have been watching the same wall for the same reason doesn't enter the calculation.

Two things follow, and they're both practical.

If you're giving advice, know where you stand in the room. The content will be read through that, not in front of it.

If you're receiving it, notice which of your advisors you've already decided deserves a hearing. The neighbour might be a thief. He might also be the only person who noticed the wall.

I've been on both sides and the second one is harder to see from the inside. The person you don't like is sometimes right, and your dislike is not evidence about the wall.

MOJOWAY's report returns the client's own words in a different frame, which is the cheapest way to give someone the outside view without the outside person.