Ask your subordinates about matters you don't understand or don't know, and to do not lightly express your approval or disapproval. We should never pretend to know what we don't know, we should "not feel ashamed to ask and learn from people below" and we should listen carefully to the views of the cadres at the lower levels. Be a pupil before you become a teacher; learn from the cadres at the lower levels before you issue orders. What the cadres at the lower levels say may or may not be correct; after hearing it, we must analyze it. We must heed the correct views and act upon them. Listen also to the mistaken views from below; it is wrong no to listen to them at all. Such views, however, are not to be acted upon but to be criticized.

"Fewer and better troops and simpler administration." Talks, speeches, articles and resolutions should be concise and to the point. Meetings also should not go on too long.