article thumbnail

10 Common Thinking Errors Leaders Make

Mark Sanborn

Examples: A CEO ignores market research that suggests a new product will not be well-received because he or she firmly believes it’s a good idea. A business leader expands into new markets without sufficient research, thinking that past success will automatically translate to new ventures.

Dunning 86
article thumbnail

Why You Should Value the Nonconformist

RapidStart Leadership

The friction of ideas and concepts rubbing against each other can produce a spark of creativity that you can’t get in a consensus environment. When everyone focuses on agreeing and trying to please, you’ll soon find yourself on the Bus to Abilene , a special kind of purgatory for specialists in groupthink. Patton Click To Tweet.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

36 Lessons for Business & Life from Trillion Dollar Coach Bill Campbell

Leading Blog

He helped to build some of Silicon Valley’s greatest companies including Google, Apple, and Intuit and to create over a trillion dollars in market value. Best Idea, Not Consensus. The goal of consensus leads to “groupthink” and inferior decisions. There isn’t a head at the Round Table , but there is a throne behind it.

Consensus 236
article thumbnail

Navigating the Mental Minefield: A Guide for Leaders

Mark Sanborn

In Practice: A CFO might confidently project revenue figures while neglecting market uncertainties and potential disruptions. Groupthink: The Consensus Conundrum The Trap: The desire for group harmony can lead to unchallenged decision-making and potentially flawed outcomes.

article thumbnail

Want a Team to be Creative? Make it Diverse

Harvard Business Review

This is the opposite of groupthink, the creativity-killing phenomenon of too much agreement and too similar perspectives that often paralyzes otherwise great teams. Everyone is just like us — say, marketers or engineers. Finally, integrating divergent views to boost creativity is a natural job for marketers.

article thumbnail

How Structured Debate Helps Your Team Grow

Harvard Business Review

Many of us are familiar with the hazards of Groupthink - when teams or organizations operate on autopilot and feel a general false sense of invulnerability. In some rare cases, individuals are able to push back against team consensus and help organizations recognize and proactively respond to changes in the competitive landscape.

article thumbnail

Why You Should Have (at Least) Two Careers

Harvard Business Review

Taken together, all of us establish a “consensus” view on the markets. ” In other words, they didn’t want to hear the groupthink. When I worked on Wall Street, my professional circle was initially limited to other folks in the financial services sector: bankers, traders, analysts, economists.

Career 8