50 posts 50 rules: tom peters on leadership 27

27. Leaders love rainbows — for totally pragmatic reasons.Group think. Ever heard of it? I wrote a while back about a Fed EX ground video that I love. It is essentially the story of what can happen when a group gets too tight and clique-ish or when everyone just agrees with the boss. Either way you end up with a less than effective team. No, do not fall victim to the disease of surrounding yourself with people just like you. It is seriously bad for business. My guess is that if you are like most other organizations you already don’t spend enough time looking at the external environment. A lack of diverse opinions on your team is a very real risk to your ability to make wise decisions that consider multiple points of view. Challenge: Think back to the last time someone on your team actually disagreed with you. What was the source of the disagreement? Was it values related, strategy, tactics? Did you know where they were coming from or did they make no sense to you in a frustrating way?