28 大过 Excessive – Bold Transformation
This hexagram has the Lakes trigram on top of the Wind trigram. The meaning of the words 大过 is ‘great’ ‘over’ or overly excessive. Wind trigram also represents wood. The lake trigram contains water and hence the picture of the hexagram is water covering the woods or tree-tops – it is too much and is dangerous. It has 4 yang-strong lines in the middle packaged by yin-soft lines on the top and bottom. Strong interior but soft exterior. There is no need to think that excessive is no good. Such a crisis creates great opportunities and needs trend-breaking actions. Typical of I-Ching philosophy, good or bad depends on the situation and we shall see how this works.
Description:
- 栋桡: ridgepole is bent
- 利有攸往: it is good to make a move
- 亨: it shall be smooth flowing – success.
Textual Commentary：
彖曰：大过，大者过也。栋桡，本末弱也。 刚过而中，巽而说行，利有攸往，乃亨。 大 过之时义大矣哉！
It is overly strong. The ridgepole is bent. This the because the ends are weak. The center portion is excessively strong. Flow with the wind and enjoy the ride. This is good for making a move. It will be smooth flowing. The time and meaning of this hexagram are great. (大过，大者过也。 栋桡，本末弱也。 刚过而中，巽而说行，利有攸往，乃亨。 大过之时义大矣哉！)
Pictorial Commentary:
象曰：泽灭木，大过；君子以独立不惧，（辶豚）世无闷。
Lakes cover the woods. This is called ‘28 大过 Excessive”. A wise man (or virtuous man) has no fear when standing alone. Even after leaving their social life, he is not discouraged. (泽灭木，大过；君子以独立不惧，遯世无闷。)
Moral Teachings:
- When the situation is not right, when things are getting crooked, it is time to be courageous and take a stand. It is time to move and take action.
- Making a stand against the tide may be lonely. But be not discouraged and press on with doing the right things.
- Be soft on the outside but strong within. Package your hard transformation program with love on the outside.
(e.g. See the transformation of Xerox in 2000 by Anne Mulcahy. Do a Google on it. For example, see “Mulcahy Took a No-Nonsense Approach to Turn Xerox Around“
Stage 1 Being Six: using white thatch grass has no blame. 初六：藉用白茅，无咎。
The pictorial commentary explains that the use of white thatches is to make sure softness is at the bottom. 象曰： 藉用白茅，柔在下也。
We first lay a soft foundation first before we put precious and easily breakable things on top. In the present situation of ‘bent ridgepole’, and ‘lakes water overflowing tree-tops”, we need to exercise special care in the actions we want to take. The greater and tougher the changes we want to make in the corporation, the greater the care and softness in the approach we need to take. Otherwise, we will be easily overflowed by the tides of time.
Stage 2 Second Nine: A drying-up poplar sprouts new buds. The old man has a young wife. Every attempt leads to success. 九二：枯杨生稊，老夫得其女妻，无不利。
The pictorial commentary explains that an old man with a young wife, even though the man is older, can find the wife that suits him. 象曰：老夫女妻，过以相与也。
A good example at this present time is the Nobel laureate Yang Chen Ling 82 marrying a young wife Weng Fan 28 in 2004-Dec. Yang, now 88 claimed that his present health was the result of the good care of his wife. The principle we can learn from here is that in pushing out our change program, we need to get the support of the younger staff as well. If you have support, especially from the younger staff, then every attempt at change will lead to success.
“You live between your ears. You can’t turn back the clock, but you can rewind it.” — Art Linkletter on the secret of his longevity.
Stage 3 Third Nine: The ridgepole is bent. It spells danger. 九三：栋桡，凶。
The pictorial commentary explains that the bending of the roof beam is due to the rejection of support. 象曰：栋桡之凶，不可以有辅也。
The strength of one person is limited no matter how talented one is. The beam is bent because the weight of the roof is too much for the beam to carry. Overloading work and stress will burn out a person. We must know how to delegate our work to able and faithful colleagues to carry them out. This is one key way of de-stressing as well. This stage line tells the unfortunate incident of one smart Alex who thinks too highly of himself and even rejects the suggestions and support of other people. He is deemed to fail.
Stage 4 Fourth Nine: Reinforced ridgepole. It is good. But there could be blame if you have it. 九四：栋隆，吉；有它吝。
The pictorial commentary explains that the fortune of reinforced ridgepole is due to not bending those at the bottom. 象曰：栋隆之吉，不桡乎下也。
The pictorial commentary helps explain the ‘it’ that causes the danger. It is the lack of support from the bottom mass of our staff when we ill-treat them. We can see good fortune and the reinforcement comes from the bottom, the front-line staff. In the management courses that I reach, I ask the students who are the most important people in the organization. I think the correct answer is the front-line staff – the receptionists, the front-line sales staff, the telephone or call center operators, the field repair technicians — the staff that directly serves the customers. Their behavior and attitudes represent the company to the customers. They are the one that determines whether our customers have a good experience with our company. The ones that truly determine our company's brand. Serve your subordinates to serve the customers that pay you. Hence, these front-line staff must be supported by the top management in the execution of their work in serving the customers better. There must be supportive systems, proper delegation of authority, the needed resources, the hearing and implementation of good suggestions, and a mutually supportive environment and values, namely, the culture, to support such employees.
Stage 5 Fifth Nine: A withered polar gives forth flowers and an old lady marries a young husband. There is no blame and no honor. 九五：枯杨生华，老妇得士夫，无咎无誉。
The pictorial commentary explains that the flowers from a withered tree will not last. Old wives and young husbands can also be ugly. 象曰：枯杨生华，何可久也。 老妇士夫，亦可丑也。
Using all the remaining energy to put out a nice and bold exterior could not last long. For a short while, all may look on the exterior. Eventually, unless there is true internal transformation and revitalization as in stage 6, the ugliness will show. We need to do both, making external(the PR, Marketing, offerings) impressions and true inner transformation to buy time till the transformed offerings are ready. Don’t waste all the energy for one last glorious but fleeting moment.
Stage 6 Top Six: Crossing the river with water covering the top is dangerous. But no blame.上六：过涉灭顶，凶，无咎。
The pictorial commentary explains that crossing the deep river even though dangerous has no fault. 象曰：过涉之凶，不可咎也。
This is the last stage. It calls for courage to take big calculated risks. To go forward or to die. There is no safety in staying. This does not mean we just move off fool-heartedly. We plan and analyze the risks. We work out the strategies to overcome them. We get information, do trials to test, and validate our assumptions to minimize the risks. But eventually, we must do it. Steve Jobs returned to Apple to save Apple with the introduction of computers with colorful, unusually styled, and translucent exteriors. Computer as decorative furniture – a high-tech product delivered in a soft artistic exterior, was unheard of in the high-tech industry then. We now looked back and said he was right on. But in those days, it was a trend-breaking move. You need guts to execute it. Hard tech interior covered with a soft artistic exterior is actually the picture of this hexagram 大过！
Summary:
- Watch the development of the situation. When things are not right, make a stand and initiate a transformation.
- Be not discouraged even when you are alone.
- Be soft on the outside but strong within. Package your hard transformation program with love on the outside.
Wisdom from the stage lines teaches you how to build support and act:
- To make great change, we need a softer approach at the start.
- Get support from the younger staff.
- Don’t overload yourself. Delegate your work.
- The most important people in the company are your staff, especially the front-line staff that serve the customers. Serve your staff first to serve customers.
- Don’t just cover up by betting everything for a last show of glory. Balanced external and internal. Have true inner transformation at the same time.
- Take the bold move despite the danger. Manage and minimize the risks. But GO!
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