There exists the following opinion as well: Rather than determining things independently, Ieyasu held meetings and made his retainers discuss them, and made decisions after they reached conclusions, and therefore, he was only an organizer of discussions or the representative of policy-executing staffs (there is also a viewpoint that he was good at using subordinates), and he could unify the nation because he happened to live a long life and actually was only an ordinary person.
家康は、独断で物事を決するよりは、専ら評定を開いては家臣だけで議論をさせ、家臣たちが結論を出したところで決断をするところから、あくまでその議論のまとめ役や政策実行の代表者に過ぎない（部下の使い方がうまいという見方もある）、たまたま長生きしたために天下を取ることができた凡人に過ぎないとする意見もある。