Feng Yi
The General Under the Tree
Report what happened, not what you deserve
History of the Later Han, Biography of Feng Yi
Everyone else is racing to claim the credit. You don't want to join in, and you're afraid that if you don't, nobody will remember.
What actually happened?
Feng Yi followed Liu Xiu through the campaigns north of the Yellow River. Whenever the army made camp, the generals sat down together and argued over who had done what. Feng Yi would walk off alone and stand under a tree, and the army took to calling him the General Under the Big Tree. On the road he pulled his carriage aside for other commanders. After Handan fell, Liu Xiu redistributed the troops, and the soldiers all asked to serve under the big-tree general.
The ledger is kept by the people who worked with you
At the table where merit is argued, the loudest claim wins. When troops are reassigned, the soldiers choose for themselves. Feng Yi was absent from the first and first choice in the second. The record that mattered sat with the men who had fought beside him.
A colleague presents the project as theirs in the weekly meeting. Don't grab the microphone. Watch who asks to work with you next time.
Report the sequence, not the verdict
Years later, at Xunyi, he slipped into the town first, lowered his banners and silenced his drums, then burst out when the enemy arrived. His report to the throne gave the course of the battle and, the history says, did not presume to boast.
A project report that says what broke on which day and who decided what is harder to take from you than 'I led the team through it'.
Give your defender something to hold up
After Xunyi some generals wanted a share of his credit. Liu Xiu sent them all a sealed letter: his merit was like a mountain and he still thought it not enough. Feng Yi did not argue. His emperor argued for him, using a report with no praise in it.
If you want your manager to speak up for you in the room, first hand them a document nobody there can knock down.
How do I use it today?
Where you are: you did the work, others are claiming it, and you'd rather not scramble for it but fear being forgotten.
Ask first: who actually needs to remember this, the people arguing in the meeting or the people who'll work with me next? Is what I've written down a sequence of events or a verdict about myself?
Where it goes wrong: not claiming credit turns into leaving no record at all, and then the credit really is gone. And in a place where nobody reads the record and only volume counts, you need another approach, or another place.
Lines to keep
The generals sat down to argue merit. Feng Yi stood under a tree.
His merit is like a mountain, and he thinks it not enough.
Same situation, other people are asking
I said it and not one person took it seriously.Maybe I just don't have it.I did the work and somebody else got the credit.How many people would I actually need before this pays for itself?Nobody is looking at my work · all 9 questions →If this one named what you are going through,
send it to someone who needs it, or keep it somewhere you will find it again.