Don't Take the Crackers!

Everybody Practically everyone loves great food. I’ve almost never heard a conversation among my friends about events at the Elliott School of International Affairs without someone asking, “Will there be free ?” If yes, the energy shifts with more enthusiastic affirmations of attendance. The only thing better than having great food is sharing great food with loved ones.

It was a cold winter evening, and the rumbling in my tummy echoed my need to get to the food that would be served at the event I was about to attend. Cocooned in my study pod, I was speeding through what was left of my day’s work, oblivious that everyone else had left the graduate student lounge. I soon found myself slipping into an empty seat, nursing my irritation at having missed the first half of the panel discussion. After this session would be a mixer where everyone chattered with half-full mouths and a glass of red wine in hand. At least, I didn’t miss out on the food, I thought in honest contemplation of what value I was really deriving from being there.

As soon as the Q&As were done, I marched right to the food bar and got busy. Quite frankly, I didn’t care much for the spread before me, but I filled my plate with some fruit, cheese, bologna sausage, and multigrain crackers. At this point, I just need to feed myself. The rest of the night, which was filled with upbeat conversations with friends and colleagues, rolled to a pleasant end. Since many of my friends were coordinators of the event, I stayed back with a couple of others to hang out and help with the winding down. So much food was left, and each of us was offered a tray to take some home. Lacking enthusiasm for the menu, I really didn’t care for the offer. However, everyone was excitedly packing full trays and buzzing over how we’d all be stocked up on snacks for the next couple of days. Perhaps that was reason enough to jump in on the fest. I might feel like some cheese and crackers, later on, I thought, even though I knew that I really disliked the crackers. Soon, I had myself a tray containing a variety of options, although all I cared about were one cheese type and the crostini. Over the next couple of days, I managed to eat up some of it and toss the rest, except for the multigrain crackers. I developed neither an acquired taste nor a random craving for it, but couldn’t discard it because I had taken so much and couldn’t imagine wasting good food. It’s been three months, and it still sits in a sealed bag in my kitchen.

In many situations, many of us are me in this story, surrendering to groupthink rather than upholding independent thinking when we are inundated by popular opinion or subliminal pressure. Wikipedia defines groupthink as “a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome”. It has dawned on me, since the event with the crackers, how often we fail to recognize that we make vital decisions to contribute to harmony in our circles, at the expense of optimal results. We need to begin interrogating the motivations behind our decisions and actions. It is important to be objective with ourselves when evaluating our own predispositions and character. It is vital to be aware of the energies we operate with and to discern which are intrinsic and which are extrinsic.

In our personal lives, groupthink may erode our sense of responsibility, problem-solving capacity, and strategic thinking. Professionally, it stifles innovation, diversity, and healthy competition. Either way, we are responsible for developing our own independence of thought. We are responsible for representing our own truth and protecting ourselves from influences that deviate from it. We are responsible for living our values, beliefs, and vision, regardless of popular opinion and stereotypes. It is not in our place to protect the false sense of unity that groupthink creates. It is also not for us to use it as a tool to manipulate people into furthering our own interests.

While groupthink may sometimes be used positively to inspire confidence in teams, we need to be discerning about when it is at play and the influences it exerts on us and those around us. Thus, to extricate ourselves from groupthink, we must anticipate it, encourage debate, engage others with open-mindedness, foster diversity, apply rigor to decision-making, and embrace integrity. We have to have the courage to stick out and to express opposing opinions when the need arises. We have to have the sense to know that “for some reason” is not reason enough. We need to be able to say to ourselves, “Don’t take the crackers!”

I figured that Day 5 should be short and to the point, and I hope you find the courage to STAND OUT when the need arises.

Cheers!