A teacher teaching maths to a six-year-old asked him, “If I give you one apple and one apple and one apple, how many apples will you have?” Within a few seconds the boy replied confidently, “Four!”

The dismayed teacher was expecting an effortless correct answer (three). She was disappointed. “Maybe the child did not listen properly,” she thought. She repeated, “Please listen carefully. It is very simple. You will be able to do it right if you listen carefully. If I give you one apple and one apple and one apple, how many apples will you have?”

The boy had seen the disappointment on his teacher’s face. He calculated again on his fingers. But within him he was also searching for the answer that will make his teacher happy. This time hesitatingly he replied, “Four…”. The disappointment stayed on teacher’s face.

She remembered that the boy loves strawberries. She thought maybe he doesn’t like apples and that is making him lose focus. This time, with exaggerated excitement and twinkling eyes, the teacher asked “If I give you one strawberry and one strawberry and one strawberry, then how many will you have?”

Seeing the teacher happy, the young boy calculated on his fingers again. There was no pressure on him, but a little on the teacher. She wanted her new approach to succeed. With a hesitating smile, the young boy replied, “Three?”.

The teacher now had a victorious smile. Her approach had succeeded. She wanted to congratulate herself. But one last thing remained. Once again, she asked him, “Now if I give you one apple and one apple and one more apple how many will you have?”

Promptly the boy answered “Four!” The teacher was aghast. “How…. tell me, how?” she demanded in a stern and irritated voice. In a voice that was low and hesitating young boy replied, “Because I already have one apple in my bag.”

GET CURIOUS – the teacher was so caught up in her worldview of maths, that she was blind to anything but the answer of ‘three’ – she was blind to her blindness. Perhaps one of the most powerful remedies to our ‘blind’ moments as leaders – when some challenges our worldview — is to simply suspend judgement and get curious … for example, ask the boy upfront … ‘What makes you say that (i.e. four)?’