It’s 1949. As Mao’s communist army closes in on Shanghai, a family boards the last commercial flight out of China.

Chin-Ning Chu, three years old, has been born into a world of affluence. When the family land in Taiwan, they must start all over again.

She grows up a Catholic but is also immersed in Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian teachings.

In her early 20s Chu moves to the United States. Two books accompany her: Sun Tzu’s ancient The Art of War, and a more obscure 1911 tome by Lee Zhong Wu, Thick Black Theory.

There’s something in the second book she knows is important.

Chu describes it as a “frank discussion of the uses of ruthlessness and hypocrisy” that was such a challenge to the powerful that it was quickly banned.

After she becomes a successful businesswoman, Chu writes own classic book, “Thick Face, Black Heart”.

There’s the Asian concept of ‘face’ (i.e. saving face) and the Western concept of a thick skin.

Chin-Ning Chu combines the two. ‘Thick Face’ is a self-image that allows you to brush off criticism. If you are willing to have people not like you, you will go far.

If we exude self-confidence, people will naturally want to let us succeed. Self-doubt suggests incompetence.

In the Iran-Contra affair, Colonel Oliver North never doubted his actions were those of a patriot and not a criminal… and the public and the courts eventually believed him.

“The world has a tendency to accept our own judgement of ourselves” – Chu