**Spoiler alert for Episode 4, Season 7**
Being an avid fan of Game of Thrones, I constantly review the situations and how it relates to leadership and strategy. Daenerys Targaryen took a decision and attacked the Lannister army against the counsel of Tyrion and Varys. Is this the right decision? Let us review the context in which the decision was made. Euron attacked Greyjoy fleet and the took away the Sand Snakes destroying her entire naval fleet. Jaime attacked High Garden and took the Gold and food back to King’s landing. The victory of Grey Worm attacking Casterly Rock was useless as the Lannisters removed everything from the castle and left skeletal army to defend it.
She could have listened to Tyrion and followed the approach he recommended. This would have been a conservative move. She was seething with rage and had to take an action. Here is where her leadership shines. She listened to the wise men but not satisfied with the strategy and came up with her own plan. As leaders we encounter such situations where we listen to the team for guidance but make our own decisions. This is critically important to establish yourself as a leader.
You may encounter a setback while executing the decision similar to how the dragon gets injured by the arrow. We need to anticipate such failures but they need to be few and far in between, otherwise you risk getting fired from your position. While it is easy to conform to the decision of bosses, peers and team members, there are situations where you may have to make your own decisions. Daenerys has altruistic intentions for ruling the seven kingdoms. As a result she listened to Tyrion and did not attack King’s landing and raze it to ground with her dragons. However she felt that such inaction has costed her naval fleet and food supplies from High Garden. Therefore she took the dragon and dothrakis and destroyed Lannister. Viewers got satisfaction in punishing the evil Lannisters.
As leaders, we need to get as much information about the situation through data, wise counsels and/or AI to evaluate but make decisions that would benefit the organization. With that said, in a mature organizations decisions are made collectively and stakeholders may disagree but commit to the common goal.
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