Session 7: Open to interpretation...

I was not present in this session. So I had to talk to my fellow classmates and ask them what DC taught in this session. 

A leader, in sir's definition, transforms the conventional assumption of space-time. He challenges the mental module. DC talked about the procedure to deal with a new environment. The attitude must be to listen first. Decode the culture. This is the usual stuff - when you are in Rome, first learn what the Romans do and then decode it. Increase your appreciative index and decrease your critical index. This point made no sense to me - if I don't like a particular culture, why should I be appreciative of it. I can be tolerant of it, but why should I appreciate it? Second, if the same culture doesn't appreciate my culture, why should I appreciate the other culture? After all, life is a give and take. I am no Gandhi. If I don't like it, I won't do it. 

But yes, leaders can do it, because they are destined for greatness. They are committed towards transformation. People start from being a implementer, to a driver, to a facilitator right to being a transformer. But a leader starts directly from the "transformer" stage.

He talked about change being a value addition. Leaders bring about a change to add value to the existing system. This is true in most cases. But consider this: A person who leads an army into battle (like Alexander) for the purpose of conquering the world. Is there is any value addition here? For Alexander, yes. For the world, perhaps not. Alexander wanted to conquer the whole world and transform all lands as a part of his kingdom. He planned well, and acted accordingly. But the only value addition was to him. Perhaps the great Alexander felt that conquering the world would add more value to it. But logically, it won't add any value, because it would be tougher to rule, more problems will arise and it is very difficult to manage. So according to me, the change and "value addition" is what the leader perceives it to be. It may or may not be what the followers or the affected people think.