If the developers do not respect the management,
they will find an employer they do respect.

Do not reduce the size of their cubicles,
and do not cut their compensation:
it is only because you do not burden them
that they do not become tired of you.

Therefore, the Consultant
knows himself, but does not make himself known;
loves himself, but does not think himself high and mighty.
Thus, by avoiding the one, he chooses the other.

 

chapter notes:

The first verse has been converted from a warning of political failure to a practical note on employee retention. Otherwise, translation into the modern context has left the sense of this chapter remarkably unaltered.