Why I hate Groupthink

Have you ever been in a conversation and you just know whatever your friends, family or coworkers are saying is 100% wrong? Have you ever challenged them on it? Nine times out of ten you haven't because you didn't want to seem different. Welcome to Groupthink, population of WAY TOO FREAKIN' MANY. I mentioned my hatred of groupthink in my opening post. Before we dive in deeper on my hatred of groupthink I'll drop this quote of Thomas Watson, Jr:

Thinking things through is hard work and sometimes seems safer to follow the crowd. That blind adherence to such group thinking is, in the long run, far more dangerous than independently thinking things through.

Why do I hate groupthink? Did it piss in my Cheerios, did it steal my girlfriend, did it spoiler next week's episode of Game of Thrones because it's an asshole that doesn't want me to be happy? No to all of those but it does have a devastating effect on all of us. That effect is simple, it causes us to stop being creative. Have you ever asked why a task is done this way and you get the stock response "Well, we've always done it this way." Of course you have, then you probably whisper some expletive under your breath and sigh at the stupidity you've encountered yet again.

Better yet, what happens when you propose a solution to a boring, drawn out task that radically simplifies the issue? People are usually shocked. They start to think of you as some kind of genius. They ask for autographs, they want you to kiss their baby, they build bronze freakin' statues in your name. Ok maybe none of those things really happen but they do think of you as some higher conscious being that's capable of great thought.

Don't limit yourself to basic, everyday conventional wisdom. You'll be buried into an oblivion of nothingness and lack of creativity. Don't stifle your creativity, continue challenging the conventional wisdom. It's the only way we Millenials can start impacting the change we want to see in the world. Let's continue challenging the conventional wisdom and live in a world we envision, not one laid out for us from previous generations. 

I'll be posting every week on Tuesdays. In my next post, I'll be sharing a few major topics that I'm definitely against the grain on. You'll want to stay tuned for that post!

Please feel free to share these posts and also to comment below.I look forward to hearing from you!