Zheng He's Art of Collaboration: Understanding the Legendary Chinese Admiral from a Management Perspective

1. Introducing Zheng He from the Management Perspective: Why Pay Attention to this Fifteenth-Century Chinese Eunuch?

 Chapter 1 INTRODUCING ZHENG HE FROM THE MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE Why Pay Attention to this Fifteenth-Century Chinese Eunuch? INTRODUCTION With the rise of Asia and China economically, much interest has been put on learning about doing business and practising management in this part of the world. And while much writing have focused on the current realities and issues that businesses are grappling with, there is also significant attention paid to learning about these realities through the writings of ancient wisdom, especially when such wisdom may be embedded in lesser known texts and sages from the Far East. In this context, learning about doing business from the classic Chinese writings of Sun Zi and Confucius have been most popular. The classic Art of War as articulated by fourth-century-BC Sun Zi, for example, has long been translated into English and expounded by a whole host of modern-day authors seeking to draw inspiration  Zheng He’s Art of Collaboration and applications from it for modern-day business practices.1 More recently, Yu Dan’s 10-million-copy bestseller Confucius from the Heart has been translated into English to make the wisdom of sixth-century-BC Confucius even more widely available.2 In this book, we follow this trend by introducing to the modern world the fifteen-century-AD-Chinese-eunuch-Muslimadmiral Zheng He, also variously known as Cheng Ho or Ma He. But who is this person and why should we pay attention to him? Sure, he is no ancient-early-century-BC eastern sage of the order of Sun Zi or Confucius; he had also not penned his thoughts and practices for the benefit of posterity; writings about him in English have been limited; and outside of China, he is hardly known. Surprisingly, in Southeast Asia (especially in Malacca), South Asia (India and Sri Lanka), the Middle East (Saudi Arabia and the surrounding Muslim states), and Eastern Africa (Somalia and Kenya), Zheng He’s legacy exists even today. Within China itself, Zheng He is now being regarded as a national hero and is held up as the trailblazer of the modern open-door policies that have brought China to today’s world stage.3 In the mass media, Zheng He’s emperor-decreed early-fifteen-century-AD exploits in his seven grand voyages across the uncharted waters from China to Africa have been dramatized as an epic forty-episode TV drama serial that has gained a wide popular following throughout this region.4 While the writings in English on Zheng He have been limited, there is much literature on him in the Chinese language, including some original official materials from the days of the Ming Court which Zheng He served as a warrior and ambassador. Most, if not all of such writings about Zheng He, has been from the historical, maritime, diplomatic and cultural perspectives. Accordingly, Zheng He has been referred to as a great navigator, Introducing Zheng He from the Management Perspective  a global explorer, a diplomat, a warrior, an East-West trading network builder, a cultural disseminator, an adventurer and a Muslim eunuch in the Ming Court.5 Little has been explored and written about Zheng He from the management perspective. Yet Zheng He, in leading the world’s largest ocean-going fleet in the early fifteen century, surpassing his western counterparts in terms of distance and duration of voyages, size and number of ships, and number of crew members, had clearly demonstrated much capability in the realm of effective management and leadership that can be relevant to today’s business managers and leaders. With the increasingly competitive business environment, effective management can provide businesses with a source of sustained competitive advantage. Accordingly, this chapter draws on historical sources on Zheng He’s background and introduces him from a management perspective. The analysis of his management and leadership practices can be translated as insights to effective management for the benefit of all. This chapter is organized as follows. The next section will provide an introduction of the young Ma He, followed by an introduction of the adult Zheng He. We will then present a brief historical background of China during the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties; in particular, we will highlight Zheng He’s emperor-decreed mission and the associated maritime voyages to the West. We will then explicitly highlight Zheng He’s prominence and claim to fame, and explain therefore why he deserves our...