To be a Te lead means to exist in a perpetual state of evaluating something or someone's objective utility. I don't care if it's a toaster, a schedule, an app, an accountant or a Basketball player, I'm always asking "to what extent do you effectively fulfill your raison d'etre?" and "how can I best utilize this to some end?" 4D Ne allows LIEs to see an object's potential utility and the plethora of ways in which it can be applied. Yes, put together, this sounds rather cold, impersonal and exploitative, but we're hardwired to see the world through a utilitarian lens--that's simply the nature of the beast.

Quote Originally Posted by Emily View Post
They hosted a Japanese foreign exchange student last summer. I said, "Oh, that's cool of you." He was like "yeah, we've both wanted to visit Japan, so now we have a connection there in case we need a free place to stay." Haha.
lol Yes. I'm always scanning and mining for the valuable stone (read: utility and its potential for application) buried beneath one's soiled, sooty surface. And once they are sufficiently refined and polished, they become resplendent jewelry that can be readily worn or stashed away for the right occasion. Throughout my life, rarely have I taken the time to help someone realize their potential and not reaped a benefit in some way, whether I intended for that or not. The thing is, I can't help but be generous with this ability; I'm compelled to not only see potential and opportunity everywhere and in everyone, but to speak to it, and if possible, actualize it. It's not as intentionally predatory (in the sociopathic sense) as Strat would have you believe.

LIEs don't require immediate returns on the resources (including energy and effort) we've invested because our Ni allows us to play the long term game. I've literally helped people "gratis," not seen or heard from them in years, only for them to reemerge at the opportune moment with some "payback" they felt obliged to offer because of my previously showcased "generosity of spirit." In that way, it's hard to feel like I ever truly lose or am down for the count, because I've cumulatively devoted so much time to spreading and sowing seeds that somehow blossom and produce fruits when I've needed them. That's the practical, realistic way that "karma" has manifested in my life. I see how LIEs might be great leaders and generals in the sense that we can go throughout life building an army of sorts, a network of people willing to follow us into war, whether out of appreciation/gratitude, debt or potential gain, and usually because we were able to open them up to their hidden potentialities (or of some endeavor) they might not have otherwise seen. It should go without saying that Ne PoLR types are probably the most susceptible to this approach, whether that be to their benefit or their demise.