Mencius stresses self-exemplification. If one fails to live by the moral Way, even his spouse and children won’t follow it; commanding others against the Way makes one’s orders unheeded at home, proving self-cultivation is the root of leadership.
What is meant by “regulating the family depends on cultivating the self” is this:People become biased toward those they love,biased against those they despise,biased in favor of those they revere,biased out of pity for those they feel sorry for,and biased in disdain toward those they look down upon or neglect.