[November 15, 2016] If there’s ever been a group of leaders stereotyped as falling into the trap of groupthink, it’s the military. Groupthink, however, is real and is a leader’s curse to be avoided like a pestilence of locusts. The recent U.S. election is a classic case of the media, pollsters, and political experts who fell for groupthink and I would not be surprised if it is used as an example in textbooks for the next century.
When leaders try to suppress dissenting viewpoints, minimize conflict, and isolate themselves from external influence, it generates patterns of behavior that risk good decision-making. Leaders who fall for groupthink often see themselves as having an inflated view that their decisions are right; regardless of evidence to the contrary. Some say they have an illusion of invulnerability.1
Yale psychologist Irving Janis was the first to identify and publish this phenomenon. He was trying to figure out how U.S. president John F. Kennedy and his advisors, obviously very bright men with vast intelligence services, could make bad decisions that led to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. Janis studied the failures to protect Pearl Harbor and the escalation of the Vietnam War. He concluded that members of a group consider loyalty to the group the highest form of morality.
Perhaps this is why the leadership of armies has been often labeled as groupthinkers; without creativity, ignorant of reality, insulated from outsiders, suppressing outside viewpoints, etc. The recent U.S. presidential elections have brought to the surface a new level of groupthink that may have played a significant role in the defeat of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Her inner circle, for example, had been known to be fiercely loyal and protective of Clinton; isolating her from voters and their input.
Groupthink remains a danger to good leaders. Because of the foundational research by Janis and his colleagues, we are now more aware of it and the consequences. That is why, in part, that the U.S. military closely studies catastrophic military failures … where did the decisions that led up to the failure happen and why?
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