Gadamer (p. 317) cites this example from Tolstoy to illustrate the difference between the meaning of a great event and the question of whether the great event went according to plan:
“Tolstoy’s celebrated description of the council of war before the battle – in which all the strategic possibilities are calculated an all the plans considered, thoroughly and perceptively, while the general sits there and sleeps, but in the night before the battle goes round all the sentry posts.”
That’s leadership: Sleeping through strategy session, but encouraging the troops one-by-one.
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