The following case study discusses an incident Abraham Lincoln faced with one of his Cabinet members. It exemplifies the shrewd use of the Sun Tzu Way. (The excerpt below is from Lincoln on Leadership by Donald T. Phillips):

"One famous case in point involved the presidents adept handling of Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase's attempts to discredit William Seward in late 1862. Chase was jealous of Seward's influence with the president and of their close friendship. He felt that it was he who should be the chief adviser in the cabinet; in fact, in 1864 he worked behind the scenes in an attempt to wrest the Republican nomination from Lincoln. Chase had complained to influential Republican senators that Seward exerted undue influence on the president, that he was inept at handling foreign affairs, and that he was the cause of all the problems at the executive level of the government.
 
After the Confederate victory over General Burnside at Fredericksburg, Virginia, the senators were overly distraught and subsequently met in caucuses to discuss Seward's position in the cabinet. They decided to send a delegation of nine to the White House to urge Lincoln to dismiss the secretary of state and reorganize the cabinet. At their meeting, on December 18, 1862, they accused Seward of endless wrongdoing and told Lincoln that they had it on good authority that the president often failed to consult all members of his cabinet when important decisions were made. Lincoln asked them to return the following night. Until then he would consider their concerns and demands...

The next evening, he summoned his cabinet to a special session where he explained all that had happened the night before. When the senators returned to the White House for their scheduled meeting, Lincoln assembled everyone in the same room and asked that all matters of dispute be resolved before anyone left. All the participants were caught off guard. The senators did not know that the cabinet was going to be present, nor did the cabinet realize what Lincoln had secretly planned. Chase was especially distressed. If he were to support what the senators had asserted, his cabinet colleagues and the president were sure to realize that he was the catalyst to all the dissent. Chase was forced to agree that Lincoln had consulted the cabinet on every important decision, that they were generally in agreement, and that Seward acted properly and honestly in the administration of his duties as secretary of state.
 
As a result of this meeting, organized and run exclusively by Lincoln, the Republican senators and Chase were thoroughly embarrassed and humiliated. Chase was exposed as a fraud never to be trusted again, and all charges against Seward were dropped. Lincoln obtained the results he wanted while seeming to be almost naïve in his actions."
- Donald T. Phillips, Lincoln on Leadership, Chapter 9, pgs. 100-102

ANALYSIS
Lincoln's handling of this situation displays his adeptness at the art of winning without battle, a key precept of Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Let's see how he does it.

From his first conversation with the senators, he knew, from how ambitious his Secretary of Treasury was, that Chase was at the source of all this trouble. He surmised that it was Chase who was complaining to the Senators, trying to stir up discontent so that he could advance in Lincoln's cabinet.

However, Lincoln was in a dilemma. If he confronted Chase, then Chase would simply deny it. Confronting the Senators would also not work, as they too would deny Chase had any involvement. And if he simply refused the Senators' demands, he would look as if he was inflexible or incapable of taking feedback, which could have huge repercussions with gaining the Senators' much-needed support in the future, given how horribly the Civil War was going so far.

But Lincoln realized that there was one weakness in Chase's plan: Chase's anonymity. If the rest of the cabinet knew what Chase was up to, none of them would trust Chase. Chase knew that he couldn't be seen as a dissenter. And it was this forced anonymity that Lincoln could exploit.

Catching everyone off-guard by putting them in the same room and having each cabinet member speak to Seward's good character and conduct in front of the Senators, Chase was forced to agree with his fellow cabinet members in order to hide his anonymity, making himself look like a fraud in front of the Senators. At the same time, it prevented Lincoln from having to defend Seward to the Senators - rather, he let his own cabinet members do the defending for him. With Chase seen as a fraud and with unanimous support for Seward from the cabinet, the Senators had no choice but to drop their demands.

Lincoln's approach displays the five main qualities of a winning strategy (profitable, protected, easy, quick, and surprising), allowing him to achieve quan sheng (total victory) in this situation. Let's break down these qualities in detail:

1. Profitable. Lincoln had a lot to gain by letting his cabinet speak to the Republican senators. If successful, it would get them to back off and potentially have them lose trust in Chase.
2. Protected. Lincoln was well-protected with this strategy. Because he didn't have to defend himself (he let the cabinet do the defending), he could give the appearance of working with the Senators, and thereby not losing face with them.
3. Easy. Lincoln's strategy required very little work other than gathering the Senators and the cabinet members into one room.
4. Quick. Lincoln was able to execute the strategy very quickly (the next day). All it took was gathering everyone together - no real preparation was needed.
5. Surprising. By putting Chase in the same room as the senators and the cabinet members, he was able to catch Chase off-guard and use his anonymity against him, forcing him to publicly agree with his cabinet members and thereby immobilizing him.

As a result of this strategy, Lincoln was able to achieve his overall objectives (keep Seward as Secretary of State and not lose face with the Senators), while at the same time weakening Chase's ability to build on his alliance with the Senators in the future.​

"The skilled warriors of the past..."
- Sun Tzu

The Sun Tzu Way is a philosophy that has been practiced by shrewd warriors of life, across nations and cultures, for thousands of years. Its principles, though articulated most concretely in Sun Tzu's text, are timeless and universal. For this reason, periodically, I will be sharing case studies of figures throughout history who demonstrate the practical and effective use of Sun Tzu's philosophy.

In this post, we'll look at a famous encounter between Benjamin Franklin, our founding father, and a colleague of his who gave him serious trouble in Franklin's early political career.
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SKILLED WARRIOR CASE STUDY: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND ISAAC NORRIS

"He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged."
 - Ben Franklin

In 1736, the wealthy and charismatic merchant Isaac Norris received, out-of-the-blue, a polite note from a colleague of his – Benjamin Franklin.  At the time, both men served as members of the colonial legislature for Pennsylvania.

The appearance of the note must have seemed strange, since only a short time before Norris had strongly opposed Franklin’s reappointment to the position of clerk for the legislature.  Although Franklin, after a much heated debate, eventually won the reappointment, the opposition from Norris must have been unwelcome.  Norris himself was not too fond of Franklin, perhaps due to envy towards Franklin’s own popularity and achievements.

The note to Norris, however, had nothing to do with politics.  Apparently, Franklin had ascertained that Norris owned an extensive library of rare books, and that there was one book in particular, which just so happened to be a favorite of Norris’, that had caught Franklin’s interest.  He would be incredibly grateful, Franklin told Norris, if he might be able to borrow the book for a few days.

Taking the opportunity to showcase his eminence as a scholar and wealthy businessman, Norris sent the book to Franklin right away.  Within a week, Franklin returned the book, along with another note expressing his immense gratitude to Norris for the favor.

Immediately, doubt started creeping in Norris’ mind.  Franklin not only shared the same interest in rare books, but he (Franklin) acted the perfect gentleman, returning the book as promised and demonstrating humble gratitude for the favor.  How could Norris continue to hold ill-will towards a man who acted so respectably?  And what would that say about himself, who loaned Franklin the book?

At the next meeting of the legislature, Norris approached Franklin and engaged him in friendly conversation, something he had never done before.  From then on, Norris became one of Franklin’s strongest political allies, a relationship lasting until Norris’ death in 1766.

ANALYSIS
The opposition that Isaac Norris had first shown Benjamin Franklin in the colonial legislature had deeply worried Franklin.  Norris was wealthy, well-educated, and ambitious, “with talents,” Franklin tells us, “that were likely to give him, in time, great influence” over the other members of legislature.  Although Franklin was able to win the vote for reappointment, he could perceive the potential problem of having Norris as an adversary in the legislature.

In resolving this predicament, Franklin showed expert use of the Sun Tzu Way to enact his own success.  Let’s examine how.

First, Franklin examined his situation.  Franklin knew that if he became openly more antagonistic towards Norris, confronting him publicly at legislature meetings, he would only strengthen Norris’ negative feelings towards Franklin.

On the other hand, Franklin also did not wish to gain Norris’ “favor by paying any servile respect to him.”  What Franklin wanted was the ability to push forward his career unopposed and, hopefully, with Norris’ respect and support.

Articulating what he wanted to achieve, Franklin moved on to gathering some intelligence about Norris.  Observing Norris closely at legislature meetings and using insiders to accrue information, Franklin was able to glean two important facts about Norris:

1. Norris courted attention and sought to be liked and admired by everyone in the legislature.  This is most likely the reason he envied Franklin (who was very well-liked and admired) and opposed him.
2. Because of his wealth and education, Norris had accrued a large collection of rare books, of which Norris was very proud.  Having such a collection helped to promote an image of eminence in his community.

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​Using this intelligence, Franklin was able to craft a simple plan to influence Norris indirectly. He decided he would ask if he could borrow a book (Norris’ favorite) from this special library, and then return the book and show extreme gratitude for the loan.  Such a plan had three key elements.

First, by requesting something completely irrelevant to politics, Franklin was able to lower any suspicions Norris may have had regarding Franklin trying to win political favor.

Second, by honing in on Norris’ prized library, which represented Norris’ deep rooted need for being seen as noble and preeminent in society, Franklin appealed to Norris’ vanity.  In addition, Franklin was also able to establish common interest with Norris, making Norris more open to liking Franklin since they shared apparent similarities.

Third, by requesting a favor with which Norris, due to his vanity and lowered suspicions, was almost sure to comply, Franklin was able to instill doubt in his colleague.  Norris’ opinion of Franklin would have to change, or else he wouldn’t be able to justify to himself why he had lent Franklin the book in the first place.

In this way, Norris’ opinion of Franklin changed and he was able to see Franklin as someone whom he could support, not oppose.  Using this simple, yet shrewd strategy, Franklin was able to secure Norris’ respect and support and enjoy an alliance that helped push him forward politically.

We can see here how Franklin integrates the four qualities of a winning strategy (profitable, easy, quick, and surprising), allowing him to overcome the obstacle he was facing and achieve a better position than he was in before (quan sheng). Let's look in greater detail at how he did this:

1. Profitable. Franklin's strategy would be profitable. If successful, it would help him win an ally or at least reduce Norris' opposition to him in the legislature.
2. Protected. Franklin's plan had little downside. If it failed (i.e. if Norris simply refused to lend him the book), then it would have no real cost to Franklin.
   
3. Easy. Franklin's plan was very simple to execute: ask to borrow the book and return it. There was nothing complicated about the approach.
4. Quick. In addition, Franklin's plan, being uncomplicated, could be implemented quickly.
5. Surprising. The effect on Norris was surprising, catching him off-guard and forcing Norris (subconsciously) to look at Franklin in a more positive light.

The result? Benjamin Franklin wins an important ally who is able to strengthen his positioning in the colonial legislature - a quintessential example of quan sheng (total victory) that defines Sun Tzu's ideal outcome when facing challenges.