BEWARE Of Groupthink!
“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody is not thinking.”
George S. Patton
I watched this 3.5 minute Ted Talk the other day, and it got me thinking about groupthink. The premise was on how to start a movement. Still, my thought is that movement, when followed blindly and unquestioned, leads people to follow an idea blindly and not question the group’s underlying assumptions.
The definition of groupthink as defined by the Cambridge dictionary is this: the process in which bad decisions are made by group because its members do not want to express opinions, suggest new ideas, etc. that others may disagree with:
Most of us thought the product wouldn’t sell, but nobody told the boss – that’s the danger of groupthink.
In essence, a set of assumptions, best practices, and language are adopted by the group and unquestioned moving forward based on the fact that the group perpetuates these things through its discourse, speech, and actions.
Groupthink can be dangerous enough within a small group or a company. Still, when it expands to an industry, such as insurance, real issues, such as commoditization and distrust by those outside the industry, can quickly become a reality.
