Leadership Lessons from Ptahhotep and Ma'at: A Guide for Managers

Who was Ptahhotep, and what is his Instruction?

The Instruction of Ptahhotep, also called the Maxims of Ptahhotep, is traditionally attributed to Ptahhotep, a vizier (the king's chief official) under King Isesi of the Fifth Dynasty in Egypt's Old Kingdom. Britannica places him around 2400 BCE. The text we have is later: the only complete copy, Papyrus Prisse, was written in the Middle Kingdom, about 1900 BCE, and is held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Many scholars think the text itself was composed in the Middle Kingdom and set in the earlier age.

It is written as an ageing official asking leave to teach his successor, followed by short sections of advice on how to argue with a superior, a peer and a junior, how to hear petitions, when to speak, how to avoid greed and how to lead many people. Britannica notes it was written for young men from influential families about to take on high office: in other words, new managers.

Be careful with popular claims. Battiscombe Gunn's 1906 English translation was subtitled 'the oldest books in the world', using dates that Egyptologists have since revised. It is safer to call it one of the earliest substantial works of Egyptian wisdom literature known today.

What is Ma'at, and how can a manager use it every day?

Ma'at is the Egyptian idea of truth, justice, balance and right order. Britannica describes it as the order established at creation and renewed by each king, who was expected to uphold it. In Egyptian religion Ma'at was also personified as a goddess, and in the judgement scenes of funerary papyri the heart is weighed against her, often shown as a feather.

You do not need any of the religious setting to use the idea at work. Ma'at gives a manager a simple daily question: at the end of today, are things more true, more fair and more in their proper place than this morning? Ptahhotep ties it to leadership directly. In Gunn's translation: "If thou be a leader, as one directing the conduct of the multitude, endeavour always to be gracious, that thine own conduct be without defect."

The image the Egyptians used for Ma'at was a balance, and the hope in the judgement scenes was not to outweigh it but to match it. That is a humane standard for a working day: nobody gets through one without tipping something, so the useful question is whether you notice and put it right while it is small.

Each evening, before you log off, write one thing you set right today, specifically ('fixed the changeover schedule', not 'productive day'), and one thing you tipped out of balance. A good prompt for the second is: who left a conversation with me feeling smaller, cheated, unheard or misled? Score the four weights above from 1 to 5. For anything tipped, write one small repair and make it before noon tomorrow: an apology, a correction, a missed thank-you, a promise kept late. Then stop. The check is for learning, not for keeping you awake, and if the 'tipped' list keeps growing, write one thing you handled well and close the page.

After two weeks, look for your lightest weight. For many managers it is hearing, and it dips at predictable times: the morning review, the end of a long day, the meeting where they arrive with their own fix already decided.

• Truth: did I say and report what is true today?
• Fairness: did I treat people justly and the same way?
• Restraint: did I hold back from grasping, heat and gossip?
• Hearing: did I let people finish?

What does Ptahhotep say about humility?

His very first lesson is about the danger of expertise: "Be not proud because thou art learned; but discourse with the ignorant man, as with the sage." He follows it with the reason: no one ever masters a craft completely. Then comes a line that cuts against the rigid ranks of his own society: "Fair speech is more rare than the emerald that is found by slave-maidens on the pebbles."

For a modern manager this is a practical warning. Experience makes you fast and also makes you deaf. The support agent four months into the job often sees what the founder no longer can. A simple weekly habit helps: every Friday, write down whose idea you learned from that week, compare their rank with yours, and check they got the credit. In meetings, ask the least senior person for their view first.

How should a leader hear complaints and requests?

Section 17 of the Instruction is advice for a leader hearing a petition, and it could be pinned above any service desk: "Let him not hesitate to deliver himself of that which he hath thought to tell thee; but be desirous of removing his injury." The leader's aim is not just to answer but to get the person's problem solved, and that requires hearing all of it.

Turned into a modern protocol, it has five steps. It works for requests and complaints from your team, peers, customers and your own manager.

When should a leader speak, and when stay silent?

Ptahhotep values restraint in speech: "Silence is more profitable unto thee than abundance of speech." Speaking on every subject, he adds, invites experts to test your words. But he does not ask for a silent leader. In the same section on power he writes: "Be not silent, but beware of interruption and of answering words with heat."

A useful rule for hard meetings: decide your one point in advance, decide what you will not speak on, and invite the person who knows most. Break silence at once when something untrue or harmful goes unchallenged; Ptahhotep says plainly that when a peer says something wrong you should not keep quiet. If you feel heat rising, slow the meeting down rather than answering at speed.

What can a modern team learn from the 'negative confession'?

Chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead, a collection of funerary texts compiled in the New Kingdom, includes a long list of wrongs the speaker declares they have not done. Gunn thought it would be better named 'the Declaration of Innocence'. Read as historical evidence, much of it is practical: "I have not added to the weights of the scales. I have not misread the pointer of the scales." Others include not stealing, not lying, not causing pain and not turning a deaf ear.

A team can turn these values into a short ethics code in its own words. Tampered scales become a forecast nudged into 'committed'; a short measure becomes a service level that quietly shrinks. Keep the code to six to nine 'We...' lines about specific behaviour, have everyone sign it, and once a month ask each person to score each line from 1 to 5. Discuss the lowest line and agree one change.

How should leaders treat superiors, peers and juniors?

Sections 2, 3 and 4 of the Instruction form a set. Each begins with someone arguing, then changes who that person is: a better-informed superior, a peer who says something wrong, and someone with less power. The advice moves from restraint upward, to speaking up across, to no scorn downward: "be not scornful toward him because he is lowly." Section 15 adds honest reporting to your own superior.

Section 10 covers a situation every organisation knows: someone you remember from humbler days is promoted. Ptahhotep's advice is to respect the role they now hold rather than what you know about their past. In practice, back a promoted former peer in public during their first month, and keep any disagreements private and specific.

What do Ptahhotep and Ma'at not mean for leaders today?

Some of the Instruction reflects a strict hierarchy. One section praises obedience to a father as the highest good, another advises beating a disobedient son, and several treat women in ways no modern workplace should copy. Use the method, not the social order. Disagreeing upward without heat is not blind obedience, and keeping silent is never a reason to ignore wrongdoing or safety.

Be wary of quotations too. Many lines circulating online as 'Ptahhotep' or 'the 42 laws of Ma'at' come from modern books and websites, not from the ancient texts. If you quote, use a public-domain translation and cite the section. And treat the tradition with respect: it is heritage and philosophy for leadership, not a religion lesson for colleagues.

How can you start practising this week?

Start with two habits. Tonight, before you log off, write one thing you set right and one thing you tipped out of balance, score yourself on truth, fairness, restraint and hearing, and plan one small repair. Tomorrow, use the five-step protocol on the first request or complaint that reaches you. On Friday, add the humility question.

If you want a baseline, AssessAll's Workplace Listening Assessment can show where your listening stands before and after. Jobulary's guide to building a measured individual development plan helps you turn your lightest weight into a goal. And if you want the whole system ready to use, the Ma'at and Ptahhotep kit from Bodhih Training includes the e-book, two workbooks, fillable forms, a team ethics code template, a 52-card deck and a 12-week programme calendar.