Growing up, I had my fair share of “tales by moonlight” experiences. At 6pm almost everyday, my younger brother and I would sit with my dad at the back of the house as he says story after story. Even though many were repeated, they also sounded like new knowledge every time.
On one particular evening, we decided to take a walk around the neighbourhood. As we did that, we suddenly saw everyone running about screaming happily. It was as though everyone had won a lottery.
So I asked, “Daddy, why is everyone running about?” Then he said, “Abacha is dead”. As if controlled by the crowd, my three year old brother started jumping happily, saying, ” Yaay! Abacha is dead ooo!”
I looked at him surprised and the only thought that ran through my mind was, “What is he happy about? See me trying to understand why people will be happy about someone’s death and this boy is jumping like everyone else. Does he even know Abacha?”
For some reason, that experience stuck and taught me something about crowd influence. By default, we try to act like other people and let their ideals define what we do.
When the crowd goes left, we do the same because subconsciously, we feel if many people are doing something in a particular way, then it must be right.
This is why authenticity is hard for many because of the call to “be like everyone else”.
As you build and create solutions that will change the lives of many, always remember to first understand the ‘why’, before figuring out the ‘how’. This alone helps put your actions in check.
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