Experience to Lead

FEBRUARY 21, 2025

Executives and decision-makers now operate in an increasingly complex world, where variables, competing priorities and uncertainties constantly intertwine. One way to better manage complexity and avoid impulsive errors is to gain a solid familiarity with the organizational and decision-making systems you operate in.

Strategy 52

Strategy System How To Uncertainty 52

The Horizons Tracker

JANUARY 27, 2022

These findings illustrate the importance of creating the right environment and culture for diverse teams to operate in. Research from the University of Bath argues that a culture of “constructive disagreement” is key. “Cognitively balanced teams take less time to solve problems,” the researchers explain.

Diversity 117

Diversity Committee Construction Groupthink 117

Chartered Management Institute

DECEMBER 5, 2023

We’ve seen toxic cultures allowed to flourish in large and high-profile organisations, erratic leadership behaviours, groupthink and boardrooms struggling to maintain control. Scroll for more Shortcut to start of content The public expects institutions and big businesses to show high standards of leadership and management.

Learning-by-Doing 105

Learning-by-Doing Leadership Styles Education Training 105

Innovation Excellence

MAY 4, 2020

Ironically, most ideation workshops are structured in ways that lead mostly to superficial problem solving and groupthink. To fully understand the context in which you operate, and the constraints therein, you need to dig deep. However, you also need to understand the problem, and the context in which it is, deeply. Dig deeper.

Innovation 53

Innovation Constraint Competitive Advantage Creativity 53

Harvard Business Review

MAY 24, 2011

In business, this is a sure recipe for groupthink. A good example of operating in this box is discussing politics with someone who agrees with you: easy, pleasant, and rewarding in an opiate sort of way, but not much of a way to learn, grow, or move the world forward. A colleague of mine, Rob Mathias who runs our D.C.

Hotels 16

Hotels Groupthink Creativity Long-term 16

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 22, 2013

Eighteen months earlier, he’d made arguably the worst decision he ever made, to support an ill-conceived covert operation to unseat Fidel Castro, known today as the Bay of Pigs fiasco. The idea of instilling candid debate to avoid groupthink has become a guiding principle in many business school classrooms and boardrooms.

Groupthink 11

Groupthink Janis Consensus After Action Review 11

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 10, 2015

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. One strategy that can significantly help teams avoid the dangers of Groupthink and successfully respond to emerging threats and opportunities is to create structured debates.

Groupthink 8

Groupthink Team Consensus Christensen 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 19, 2017

You can get trapped in a version of groupthink, with a single set of shared relationships. If you’re feeling forced to function too much as a trusted sidekick and not enough as a whole person, it may be time to consider looking for a new opportunity, one where you can operate more independently and succeed through your own efforts.

Groupthink 15

Groupthink Video Learning-by-Doing Career 15

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

To best leverage worldwide creative talent, Reliance MediaWorks operates a global network of creative centers located in Burbank, San Francisco, London, Tokyo, and across India. Polycentric innovation won't work in organizations that promote groupthink. You can't run your global R&D operations from headquarters in Mumbai.

Globalization 11

Globalization Innovation Decentralization Chemicals 11

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 17, 2013

He was convinced that this otherwise entirely pleasant socializing and socialization led invariably to a kind of groupthink among the community of experts. Yet how do you actually do it, when life and livelihood generally depend on operating inside a box? We all prize it.

Groupthink 11

Groupthink Learning-by-Doing Emotional Intelligence Hedge 11

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 28, 2015

Without cohesion, there is no common purpose, but without diversity groupthink will set in and eventually that purpose will lose relevance. So you need a healthy amount of both in order to be able to both operate efficiently and adapt to new information in the marketplace. A study of Broadway plays shows this in action.

Groupthink 8

Groupthink Agility Diversity Information 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 17, 2015

” Some are huge project teams, like the 600 Apple engineers who successfully developed the revolutionary OS X operating system in just two years (compared with the five years it took 10,000 Microsoft engineers to develop, and eventually retract, Microsoft’s Windows Vista). You and Your Team. Leading Teams.

Team 8

Team How To Efficiency Groupthink 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 27, 2015

And in operations, where decisions are made almost daily, the result was, in effect, continuous improvement. However, as anyone who has ever seen groupthink in action knows, any number of otherwise intelligent people can come to agree on nonsense. Conversely, autocratic leaders can simply impose their will.

Organization 8

Organization Uncertainty Proposal Quality 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 26, 2012

Today's armed forces confront circumstances of enormous ambiguity — theatres of operation with many different kinds of actors — NGOs, civilians, partners, media organizations, civilian leaders, refugees, and insurgents alike are mixed together, without a "front line."

Banking 8

Banking Crisis System Hedge 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 4, 2014

Pepsi Refresh failed because it had no relevance to the brand’s operations or heritage. Given AmEx’s operations, consumer base, and resources, it’s well positioned to do so. Without cohesion, there is no common purpose, but without diversity groupthink will set in and eventually that purpose will lose relevance. Let me explain.

Media 10

Media Marketing Strategy Groupthink Kaplan 10

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

This change first developed inside the special operations community whose leaders faced the reality of being out-paced by a new type of networked challenger in Al Qaeda, and therefore focused on building the density and diversity of their own friendly network. Conformity creates groupthink, stifling innovation and organizational resilience.

Agility 17

Agility Diversity Groupthink Efficiency 17

N2Growth Blog

JANUARY 16, 2025

This persistent reliance on like-minded candidates creates a governance structure that lacks the cognitive range needed to thrive in complex operating environments. Traditional recruitment protocols often rely on legacy networks and narrowly defined criteria, inadvertently limiting access to underrepresented but highly qualified leaders.

Diversity 195

Diversity Groupthink McKinsey Committee 195