There is nothing challenging in being part of a herd of goats. All goats do the same thing, over and over again. What makes life interesting is the courage to stand out from the crowd.
Those who dare to differ are willing to take risks. When we 'take a risk', we are deviating from a set of time-tested 'safe' actions. A time-tested safe action is perhaps the one that has yielded the same (desirable) result every time it was taken by different individuals. When an action cannot be classified as 'safe' it is possibly 'risky'. Over time, the 'risky' action may be included in the set of 'safe' actions.
Also, the percentage of people who want to 'be different' seems to be less..I am unable to come up with an accurate numerical value but by and large there is a greater tendency to follow 'usual practices' (May be thats why they become 'usual practices'!!). This may be attributed to the fact that humans, being social animals, value stability more.
There is a fine line that divides 'being different' and overdoing it. When the whole world wears cotton in summer and if you decide to be different and choose to wear wool...you are clearly crossing the limits of 'daring to differ'! On the other hand, when all students in your class want to do an MBA (whether they like it or not) and you put your foot down and say you want to be a Professor, you are definitely a 'different' soul! In this case, going by what you like (your instincts!!?) lends that 'different' shade to you!
Does everyone have a 'different' shade?! May be yes... But whether they end up being 'different' or not depends on their ability to recognize the 'different' shade and their willingness to take that risk!
1 comment:
im not sure what prompted you to write this one. But what im reminded when i hear herd mentality is the Stock Market. Stocks are pulled up to great heights or dumped to the pits just based on herd mentality. You have brached the subject at the surface level, probably just scratched it. But going deeper in here will open up a gold mine for stock market players. I guess that applies to any field. Being able to understand the market and preempt what it expects, is the key success factor.
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