Situations we are in and dealing with OCCUR in some way. The dog running towards us occurs for us in some way. Such as friendly or menacing. Our actions and way of being are immediately correlated (in-a-dance-with) how that dog occurs. The wagging tail or bared teeth provide a context. That is the way our brain makes sense of the situation with which we are dealing.
AND IT HAPPENS UP TO 10 SECONDS BEFORE WE BECOME AWARE OF IT! (reminder: the neuroscience research again here)
Other examples of context are provided in the slide deck textbook (course materials) which can be found at the link in the reference below. Erhard et al (2009).
There is a context for everything wether at the moment we are aware if it or not. Rarely are we aware of the contexts at play. Regardless, our actions have been automatically predetermined. It is the way our brain works to ensure our survival.
Later we will use this phenomena to create a context so situations occur as leadership opportunities, but first it is essential that we grasp the nature and function of a context to determine our actions and ways of being (internal state).
Again considerable time is spent in the Being A Leader Course so we can actually discover this for ourselves and it thus becomes part of who we are, our natural self-expression. Rather than exist for us as a mere concept.
Erhard, Werner and Jensen, Michael C. and Zaffron, Steve and Echeverria, Jeronima, Course Materials for: ‘Being a Leader and the Effective Exercise of Leadership: An Ontological/Phenomenological Model’ (October 4, 2022). Harvard Business School NOM Working Paper No. 09-038, Simon School Working Paper No. 08-03, Barbados Group Working Paper No. 08-02, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1263835 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1263835