You don’t have to treat yourself like a human, but you must treat others with respect.

If a leader has no foundation, can't secure additional resources from superiors, and only maintains a strictly transactional relationship with subordinates—who exactly can they command?

If you have rice, the chickens will follow you. But if you don't? Even the chickens won't follow you.

First, rice is used to lure chickens in—meaning it's how you control them. Rice is the chicken's weakness.

Second, since you know rice is the chicken's weakness, you cannot have such a weakness yourself.

Every lack of restraint is a vulnerability—a flaw others can exploit.

My ability to help him win is my value; my absence causing him to lose is equally my value. As long as there's value, prices can be negotiated.

People with many preferences have more vulnerabilities, so their "price" is lower. Conversely, if you can practice self-management and eliminate personal preferences, others won't be able to read you. Then they'll have to pay more—they'll only offer the highest price they can accept.