One Word Weighs Nine Tripods
Updated 2026-08-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
A Chinese idiom originating with the diplomat Mao Sui, whose single persuasive word was said to carry more weight than nine ceremonial tripods. As a thinking model it holds that credibility is an accumulated asset whose marginal value rises with each kept promise, so a highly trusted speaker can move outcomes with a fraction of the words others need. The limiting condition is that the weight belongs to the track record, not the phrasing; without a history of delivery, brevity reads as vagueness.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Credit ledger: track promises kept versus broken to see how much weight your word carries. - Minimum speech: in high-stakes moments, state only the commitment you can guarantee. - Record check: before demanding trust, ask what evidence your past delivery provides.
Anchor fast decisions
Every fulfilled commitment deposits evidence that future statements can be trusted, and observers update their belief about the speaker rather than about the sentence. Because listeners economize on verification, high-credibility speakers need fewer words and less proof per decision, so the same utterance produces a far larger behavioral response.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
account_treeGenealogyexpand_more
menu_bookReferencesexpand_more
Source support: Explicit
- zdic.nethttps://zdic.net/hans/%E4%B8%80%E8%A8%80%E4%B9%9D%E9%BC%8Everified
PRIVATE NOTES · Only visible to you
SAVED Q&A
ENTRY Q&A · Private saving available
Ask with a clear boundary
thinkingmodels answers from published entry context only.
Your question is sent to thinkingmodels. The answer uses public entry context only.
RELATED MODELS