Be Flexible when majority against you
There was a story of an eye doctor who been sent to one of rural villages to treat its people as they all blinds. when he reached there, he tried to investigate what was the cause of the problem and found that there is a holy polluted river that the locals daily wash their faces with its water and cause a severe infection that lead to blindness … so the doctor, advised the people to stop doing that and because the river have a religious value to those people, they turned against him and threatened to kill him as he advised them to do something against their religion and spiritual believe.
A new doctor arrived and asked the old doctor what is going on, so the doctor explained … as the new doctor become aware with the bigger problem which is the people resistance to accept any negative comment about their holy river, the doctor started to prepare a medicine that treat the effect of washing the eyes with the polluted river water … when the locals started to use the eye drops that the new doctor prescribed for them and started to see they thanked the new doctor and he become the hero for them.
Although the old doctor was telling the truth but he didn’t have the emotional intelligence to understand the limitation of understanding for the locals and even if there were some people who accept the doctor advice and stopped washing their faces from the polluted water, they will be treated badly from their peers as there is a stronger believe govern the locals, the new doctor realized that and gave them the treatment that will minimize the damage and help solving the problem partially until one day the local understand.
It is important to respect the influence of the majority even if you don’t agree with them, being flexible to adjust with their needs will allow you to guide and lead them.