Self-Cultivation Focus
The junzi focuses on improving themselves rather than criticizing others.
The junzi directs attention inward to their own development rather than outward to others' faults. Self-improvement is within one's control; changing others is not.
The junzi seeks within themselves; the small person seeks from others.
Focus on what is within one's control - oneself.
Analects
Written about in
- What Confucianism says about leading others
The junzi seeks within himself; the small person seeks from others. Applied to leading, the first move when a team fails is to audit your own conduct rather than theirs — a rule that is useful and also easily turned into private self-flagellation that helps no one.