This presentation offers an explanation of why meetings go chaotic leading to making wrong decisions. The presentation offers a creative and logical approach to make meetings more fruitful and to come up with the right decisions and serves as a guide for leaders to conduct rewarding meeting.

1. Creative Thoughts
on Groupthink
Unequal Opposites
Ali Anani, PhD

2. We talk about balancing of
opposites, but not much so
on opposites inequality

3. If there are no clouds
then there shall be
no rain
The opposite
is unequal
If cloudy it
could rain
or not

4. #Humility is not thinking
less of yourself, but thinking
of yourself less.
~ CS Lewis

5. If we add hot sulfuric acid to
water gradually it is safe.
The opposite is very risky

6. In brainstorming sessions if we
add “cold” members to a hot
discussion the brainstorming
session shall turn chaos

7. If we add “hot” members to a
cold session the meeting shall
be more productive.

8. How to minimize the risk of
brainstorming sessions?
How to minimize the risk of
brainstorming sessions?

9. How to help leaders take
the right decisions?

10. I call for the idea of
Gradual groupthink (GGT)

11. Like we add acid to water
gradually, we add group
members gradually

12. There is always
the risk of groupthink

13. Everyone in a group goes along
with a decision without
consideration for alternative
solutions or ideas.

14. The craving for conformity
is to keep the atmosphere
calm and cold.

15. Under the calm atmosphere there
are hidden feelings.
These include, but aren’t limited to:
• Fear of isolation of
non-conformers
• Tendency to overlook negatives
• Snaky assumptions that the
group has a better eye always than
the individual

16. Applying the Blue Ocean Strategy to groupthink
Eliminate risks of groupthink
Raise ideas-sharing
Reduce of groupthink
Create new ways of performing groupthink

17. Type of People in meeting
• Majority go along
with groupthink
• Hard nuts who
will disagree
Trueyes

18. How to get people move out
from the circle of groupthink to
the consensus of going in the
same direction?
Charles Cullinane
Circle of
groupthink
Unified direction
of consensus

19. Using the metaphor of adding
the slow addition of hot acid to
cold water to optimize
groupthink

20. Let two or few people
brainstorm and then come to
an agreement.
This is a cool situation-
agreement is prevailing

21. Now invite a member reputed
for being true yes to the
meeting.
If in accordance then you
know that whatever opinion
decision you made is based
on true yes.

22. It is time to invite a hard
nut to the meeting. He/she
is the hot acid that we add
to cold water.
It is time to invite a hard
nut to the meeting. He/she
is the hot acid that we add
to cold water.

23. The hard nut shall heat up
the session and splash
some acidic ideas

24. Chaos shall eventually
reorganize and change of
direction may result

25. To avoid groupthink
remember that there is
unequal opposite

26. Avoid adding cold members to a
heated discussion.
Add hot heads to a cool session
where agreement is prevailing