It was a normal Wednesday. I went to work, dressed in dress shoes, slacks and a button-down shirt.
One by one, my colleagues entered the office, all sporting a decidedly more casual look. (My employer doesn’t mandate a dress code, and many of my co-workers seem to be on a daily mission to take full advantage of this liberty.)
After a few minutes, one of my colleagues walked by my cubicle in order to grab coffee from the break room. Noting what I was wearing, she hit me with eight words that cut like a knife.
What are you trying to prove to us?
Then she walked away, without a clue as to how badly she had offended me.
There’s a simple reason I was so rankled by this encounter. The values I extol were being thrown in my face.
You see, I often speak of the benefits of coming together. The virtues of unity. The power of community.
The premise of all this is that people unite for a common good. Yet, practice doesn’t always make perfect.
Sometimes the dominant voice in the room isn’t a tide to lift all boats. Sometimes it serves as an anchor instead.
Psychologists have a name for this behavior: Groupthink.
And while the name sounds innocent enough, it can pack a more destructive punch than a wrecking ball.
Why? Because Groupthink promotes the status quo. But it does so though underhanded threats and coercion against anyone who deviates from this path.
This means underachievers are thrown under the bus. And overachievers are held back.
If you don’t fit in, you’re cast out. It’s a real-life version of “On Wednesdays, we wear pink.”
Groupthink tells us how to style our hair. How to design our homes. What cars to buy. And yes, what clothes to wear to work.
Throughout it all, one message remains supreme.
Better is scary. Good enough is good enough.
Are these the ideals we want to teach our children? God, I hope not.
We live in a world with air travel and supercomputers in our pockets. A world marked by advances in innovation that were spearheaded by those who refused to give in to groupthink.
Do you think Steve Jobs or the Wright Brothers worried about their appearance when they were changing the world as we know it? Do you think they cared about what others perceived about what they were doing?
Not a chance.
Yet, we insist on holding back. On sacrificing what’s possible for what’s popular.
The only thing we secure with this thinking is our own demise.
Let’s chart a new path.
Let’s aspire to be better every day. To challenge our own notions of what’s possible, and then unite around that ideal.
Let’s remember that following leaders who push us forward is better than gravitating toward the pack. After all, no one wins a bicycle race by staying in the Peloton.
Most of all, let’s recognize that Groupthink is a real danger hiding in plain sight. One that we must eradicate to move forward.
Because, to answer my colleague’s question, we all must prove to each other that the status quo isn’t the best we can do. That we have more to contribute by forging ahead then by lagging behind.
Let’s get to it.