How Seeking Popularity Destroys Rational Decision Making.

Most of us, if we are quizzed about how we make decisions - particularly decisions under pressure - will say we make decisions based on our Values.

Our core values, those strongly held beliefs, the guiding principles to our lives.

And it’s true: over time our core values strongly shape our habits, behaviours, and subconscious biases.

We see core-value decisions in the jobs we take (or the careers we stay within), the charities we donate toward, and our responses to various injustices.

Any - probably every - psychologist will tell us “Values drive behaviour.”

We all have a desire - hidden below the surface - which overrides our rational thinking.

An invisible switch that interrupts our brains.
A short-circuit beyond our strongly held beliefs.

Approval.

The euphoria of short-term popularity. The head-nod. The smile of a colleague. The inner satisfaction of being part of the in-crowd.

Facebook has made billions of dollars through hijacking our dopamine receptors by getting us to “Like” what our friends are doing (and in the process, we’ve been left questioning our own seemingly less-than-normal existences).

An approval-seeking hidden desire hijacks our core belief values.

Euphoria. Acceptance. Popularity.

Just for a moment, we want to fit in. And we make some terrible decisions in the process.

Too many times, I observe smart people make dumb decisions in the face of ‘popular’ opportunism.

Let’s face it, in the midst of the immediate, in the press of the moment, we want to be popular (at least in Public) more than we want to stay true to our values.

I’ve watched good CEO’s tolerate bad managers because the manager was ‘recommended’ by someone with high-status. Someone whose approval mattered to the CEO.

I’ve seen a group of leaders make sexist/racist/classist jokes, and no one speaks up (even though I am certain that each person present has high moral standards and great core values). Approval in the moment - the head-nod, the in-joke - destroyed their rational decision-making.

Influence has become a marketable quality in the last decade. Social media. Sales. Endorsements. Promotional equity.

But selling does not mean selling-out.

Hold to your core values. Do whatever it takes to remind yourself of your present reality. Of the reality you hold to when no one is looking. Set mental triggers to help yourself not make dumb decisions in the midst of the immediate.

What steps can you take to pre-wire your brain to make good decisions?

What are some of your core values?

Write them down somewhere you will see them regularly as a reminder (so you don’t keep choosing approval). It may be something simple like “Customers First” or “Always be Kind” or it might be something more specific.

Train your brain to make good decisions.

Remember, in order to lead the orchestra, you have to turn your back on the crowd.