Herd Mentality: What We Can Learn About Leadership From Ancient Americans

In the days before they had horses and rifles, ancient Americans successfully hunted the enormous and dangerous American Bison in a surprising way. By taking advantage of its herd mentality, a few bold warriors were able to manipulate the actions of hundreds of buffalo. As social animals ourselves, we can learn a lot from their tactics to help make us better leaders today.

Notes and Resources:

• Prefer to read? Here’s the full post: Herd Mentality: What We Can Learn About Leadership From Ancient Americans
• Find Robert Cialdini’s excellent Influence – the Psychology of Persuasion on Amazon
• Traits that make the American Bison vulnerable: Eyes on the sides of their heads, heads low to the ground, strong herd instinct

Quotable:

“In general, when we are unsure of ourselves, when the situation is unclear or ambiguous, when uncertainty reigns, we are most likely to look to and accept the actions of others as correct.” - Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D.

“Social proof isn’t really proof at all.” - Ken Downer

“In the end, it’s not really leading if all we’re doing is imitating those around us so that others will imitate us.” - Ken Downer

Related posts:

Visionary Leadership: When Social Proof Fails

Restoring Faith in Humanity One Act at a Time

Leaders Go First: The Surprising Impact of Making the First Move

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Thanks for listening, and Lead On!