Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes a fiasco provides an excellent learning opportunity as we can study the group dynamics that led smart people to a stupid place. Then again, the fiasco may just be yet another example of stupidity.

“That’s fascinating!” That may be a nice way of saying, “How could a group of such smart people do such a stupid thing?”

Groups of smart people do stupid things. Some people call that “groupthink.” I call it “negative synergy.” Other people call it “all of us are dumber than some of us.”

People have studied these situations. Sometimes the results are fascinating in how a little pressure here and there (sometimes real, often imagined) led people to err in this way and that. The lessons are available for all groups in the future.

Then again, most of the situations lead me to ask, “How could a group of smart, mature people do such a stupid thing?”

“Well,” the answer usually begins, “you have to understand …”

No, I don’t have to understand. You knew about group dynamics; you knew about groupthink, and you knew about all those other things as well. You did something stupid. Stop it.