Political Work

Don't Focus Only on the "Strongest Seedling" and Forget the Balanced Growth of the Entire "Forest"

不要只盯着“最壮的苗”，却忘记了整片“树林”的均衡生长

PLA Daily (解放军报) 12 June 2026

Summary

An officer in an unidentified naval unit describes correcting a talent-management failure in which he concentrated training opportunities, demonstration missions, and skills competitions on a single high-performing conscript, Private First Class Jiang Kailong, at the expense of the broader platoon. The problem the article documents is a structural incentive in PLA unit-level training: junior leaders under pressure to produce visible standouts quickly default to concentrating resources on one soldier, which depresses collective readiness and morale. This fits a recurring pattern in PLA Daily political-work content that uses first-person officer narratives to surface and correct specific leadership failures — its value is as a record of how the institution frames the tension between individual benchmark cultivation and unit-wide development, aimed at junior officers managing new-soldier cohorts.

Translation

Leading Troops Means You Cannot Focus Only on the "Strongest Seedling"

■ Gao Yashuai, Officer of a Certain Naval Unit

Turning, hovering, passing through obstacles… with precise operation of the remote controller in hand, a drone moved fluidly and successfully completed its flight. Not long ago, the company organized a small equipment-operation competition. I was feeling satisfied with the outstanding performance of Private First Class Jiang Kailong when Squad Leader Yu Shuqiang of the Second Squad came to find me with a worried look, hoping to talk with me about Jiang Kailong.

I was somewhat puzzled. When I was reassigned to work in the platoon at the beginning of this year, I found that the new soldiers had a weak foundation and there was a shortage of training standouts. Seeing that Jiang Kailong was conscientious in his work and had a tenacious, never-say-die spirit, I cultivated him as a "seedling" (苗子): not only giving him extra individual training sessions, but also providing him as many opportunities as possible to take on important tasks. It is fair to say that Jiang Kailong was cultivated entirely by my own hand, and he did not betray my trust—his performance has consistently been praiseworthy.

"What's wrong with Xiao Jiang? I think he's in great shape—didn't he just finish second in the competition?" "You saw him finish second—but did you see his other comrades? Hong Junchan does extra training every day; Xie Wei seeks out veteran soldiers for technique tips after every training session. Both of them showed clear improvement in this competition. Did you notice?"

With my mind entirely on Jiang Kailong, I truly had not noticed the others, and for a moment I was at a loss for words. Seeing this, Yu Shuqiang sighed and continued: "Three consecutive confrontation-training exercises, and it was Xiao Jiang leading the group every time. For the demonstration mission display, he was the only conscript you sent. For skills competitions, he's also the first one you think of. What will the other comrades who have potential and want to improve think?"

Yu Shuqiang's words gave me a jolt. Initially, my reason for focusing on cultivating Jiang Kailong was twofold: first, to change as quickly as possible the situation in the platoon where there were no training standouts; second, to use this to establish a "benchmark" (标杆) in the platoon and inspire everyone's enthusiasm for training and work. But as time went on, seeing that Jiang Kailong was becoming more and more familiar with all aspects of the work, I had him take charge of every task, and had actually forgotten my original intention.

A single branch in bloom does not make spring; only when a hundred flowers bloom together is the garden full of spring. I had been focusing only on the "strongest seedling" and had forgotten the balanced growth of the entire "forest," neglecting the many other "good seedlings"—no wonder I had always felt that the atmosphere in the platoon had been dull lately.

Once I identified the cause, I convened the backbone personnel (骨干) and admitted my mistake to everyone. We then analyzed together the characteristics and development potential of every soldier in the platoon and drew up individual cultivation plans one by one. On one hand, I guided Jiang Kailong to play the role of the "lead goose" (头雁), helping and mentoring new soldiers with a weak foundation; on the other hand, I fully tapped the potential of the other soldiers and provided them with opportunities to train and develop. Before long, the training ground was no longer Jiang Kailong's "one-man show"—every soldier had the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities, each showing their strengths, and everyone's enthusiasm for training and sense of collective honor improved markedly.

In a comprehensive training exercise a few days ago, Jiang Kailong and the other backbone personnel led the new soldiers in seamless coordination and performed excellently, earning commendation from higher authorities. Looking at everyone's bright smiling faces, I reminded myself once again: cultivating standouts is certainly important, but a company's squads and platoons are a collective. "Seeing only the trees and not the forest" (只见树木不见森林) is absolutely not a long-term approach. Only when the whole is strong can a unit continuously develop upward and for the better.

(Compiled by Chen Mingyang, special correspondent for the PLA Daily)

Original Chinese

带兵不能只盯着“最壮的苗” ■海军某部干部高亚帅转向、悬停、穿过障碍……伴随手中遥控器的精准操作，一架无人机动作流畅，顺利完成飞行。不久前的一天，连队组织装备操作小竞赛，我正为上等兵蒋凯龙的出色表现感到满意，二班班长余书强却忧心忡忡地找了过来，希望和我聊聊蒋凯龙。我有些不解。今年初岗位调整，我到排里工作后发现，新兵基础薄弱、训练尖子短缺。见蒋凯龙工作认真，又有一股不服输的劲，我便将他作为“苗子”培养，不仅训练带他“开小灶”，还尽可能提供机会让他担负重要任务。可以说，蒋凯龙是我一手培养起来的，他也没有辜负我的信任，表现一直可圈可点。 “小蒋怎么了？我看他状态挺好啊，这不还在刚才的竞赛中得了第二名吗？”“您看见他得了第二名，看见其他战友了吗？洪军灿天天加练、谢伟每次训练结束都找老兵请教技巧，他们在这次竞赛中都进步明显，您注意到了吗？” 一心想着蒋凯龙，我确实没注意到其他人，一时有些语塞。见状，余书强叹了口气，接着说道：“连续3次对抗训练，都是小蒋担任小组长；示范任务展示，义务兵里您只让他去；比武竞赛，您第一个想到的也是他，其他有潜力、想进步的战友会怎么想？” 余书强的话让我一个激灵。最初，我重点培养蒋凯龙，一是想尽快改变排里没有训练尖子的现状，二是希望借此在排里立起一个“标杆”，激发大家的训练工作热情。但时间长了，见蒋凯龙对各项工作越来越熟悉，我便什么任务都让他负责，竟然忘记了自己的初衷。一枝独秀不是春，百花齐放春满园。我只盯着“最壮的苗”，却忘记了整片“树林”的均衡生长，忽视了其他更多的“好苗子”——难怪我总觉得最近排里氛围沉闷。找到原因后，我召集骨干，向大家承认错误。随后，又一起分析全排战士的特点与发展潜力，一一制订培养方案。一方面引导蒋凯龙发挥“头雁”作用，帮带基础薄弱的新兵；另一方面充分挖掘其他战士的潜力，为他们提供锻炼机会。很快，训练场上不再总是蒋凯龙的“个人秀”，每名战士都有了展示机会，大家各显其能，训练热情和集体荣誉感明显提升。在前几天的一次综合训练中，蒋凯龙与其他骨干带领新兵默契配合，表现优异，获得上级表扬。看着大家灿烂的笑脸，我再次告诫自己，培养尖子固然重要，但连队班排是一个集体，“只见树木不见森林”绝非长远之计，只有整体过硬，单位才能不断向上向好发展。（解放军报特约记者陈铭杨整理）