In Defense of Troublemakers

In Defense of Troublemakers

In Defense of Troublemakers. I love the title. Who doesn't want to be a troublemaker? Charlan Nemeth is a professor at Berkeley of Psychology. She's studied the role of dissent in group decision-making and written this book on the topic. It's a critical part of a functioning team.

Here's what I learned from the book:

The minority, dissenting opinion in an argument is essential to ensure we make the best decisions.

When we are exposed to dissent, our thinking does not narrow as it does when we are exposed to consensus. In fact, dissent broadens our thinking.

This is because dissenters often share a critical perspective or data point that the majority didn't know or hasn't considered. That "one piece of unique information could change the whole picture and the final decision"

Importantly, dissenting opinions don't have to be correct to improve the decision. Dissent breaks the blind following of the consensus and dissent stimulates thought that is more divergent. By exploring a problem space more broadly, a group makes a better decision.

But dissent in a room must be genuine. Tools like playing Devil's Advocate work only if the person playing Satan's lawyer genuinely believes in the dissenting view or genuinely wants to explore the other argument.

Creating a culture that actively encourages dissent is one of the hardest managerial challenges. Teammates must trust each other to be able to argue a minority position, and to feel confident enough to explore new angles, share new data points, and take the time to debate an issue, rather than simply agreeing with the majority.

If you're curious about the research and findings on dissent, and the techniques to foster more dissent within your team, this is a good book.

Drew Oros

Google Cloud Account Executive | AI Infrastructure & Compute

6 年

??????

回复
René Andreas Baron

IT-driven Innovations

6 年

There is dissent and SMART dissent. SMART might trigger all the swarm to change direction. Non-smart just hurts. The difference is called experience.?

要查看或添加评论,请登录

Tomasz Tunguz的更多文章

  • The Third UI : The Rise & Fall of the Keyboard

    The Third UI : The Rise & Fall of the Keyboard

    I remember the day I received it : my first Blackberry. A few weeks later I lost it in the back of a taxi cab in Paris.

    16 条评论
  • The Implications of the Wiz/Google Deal

    The Implications of the Wiz/Google Deal

    Is tech M&A back? Google announced its intention to buy Wiz for $32b today. If approved by regulators, it would be the…

    6 条评论
  • Halving R&D with AI & the Impact to Valuation

    Halving R&D with AI & the Impact to Valuation

    Engineering teams within AI application startups are much smaller than a classic software company - maybe half the size…

    8 条评论
  • The Mirage in the Software Clouds

    The Mirage in the Software Clouds

    Public SaaS companies’ growth rates have halved since 2023, as David Spitz pointed, from 36% to 17%. Why? There are…

    12 条评论
  • This Analysis Cost 27 Cents

    This Analysis Cost 27 Cents

    Monday’s analysis cost about 27 cents to produce. This little screenshot is of Claude Code, the product I use now to…

    9 条评论
  • Positioning Startups in the Age of AI

    Positioning Startups in the Age of AI

    How do you position and scale an AI company in a rapidly evolving market? Join us for an in-person Office Hours session…

    6 条评论
  • How Much Is A Venture Firm Worth?

    How Much Is A Venture Firm Worth?

    A small spin-out from a publicly traded behemoth launched with the ambitious vision of transforming their entire…

    5 条评论
  • Why War & Peace Is Killing Your Data Budget

    Why War & Peace Is Killing Your Data Budget

    Imagine if every time you edited a document, the word processor forced you to retype everything that had been written…

    3 条评论
  • A Founder's Guide: Essential Management Advice for Startups

    A Founder's Guide: Essential Management Advice for Startups

    As startups scale, effective management becomes the difference between chaotic growth and sustainable success. After…

    10 条评论
  • Lopsided AI Revenues

    Lopsided AI Revenues

    Which is the best business in AI at the moment? I analyzed Q4 revenue data from publicly traded companies across…

    8 条评论

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了