Beyond Groupthink: How Leaders can Overcome Tribalism to Drive Innovation and Growth

By Gustavo Gisbert

The Current Landscape

Organizations today face unprecedented challenges and opportunities. The rapid pace of change, disruption driven by AI, and the ever-increasing demand for innovation are reshaping how we work. Incremental improvements are no longer sufficient to remain competitive. Leaders must embrace transformative strategies that drive systemic change, enabling their organizations to thrive in this new reality. However, most leaders and employees today do not feel prepared to respond to those changes and lack confidence in their ability to act on them.

To succeed, organizations need leaders and teams capable of both high performance and transformation. They must adapt, evolve, reimagine new ways of working, and amplify their impact.  Korn Ferry research highlights that companies led by "Enterprise Leaders," who adopt systemic mindsets, achieve 6.74% higher EBITDA growth than average. Yet, these leaders are scarce—less than 14% of executives fit this profile. Compounding the challenge, workforce engagement data reveals that roughly 70% of employees report being somewhat disengaged and/or dissatisfied at work and less likely to feel that someone at work cares about them as a person. Many feel their leaders fail to collaborate effectively, and there is often a perceived disconnect between leaders' cultural aspirations and their actual behaviors. The risks of this disconnect are substantial.

At the core of these challenges lies another critical issue: leaders often surround themselves with like-minded individuals—those they naturally trust. While human and understandable, this tendency amplifies blind spots and limits organizational perspectives, much like driving a car without a rear-view mirror or backup camera. Even the best driver is bound to encounter problems when blind spots go unaddressed. To foster innovation and sustain growth, organizations must overcome these tendencies and cultivate environments that encourage diversity of thought, backgrounds, and experiences.

To foster innovation and sustain growth, organizations must overcome these tendencies and cultivate environments that encourage diversity of thought, backgrounds, and experiences.

Understanding Groupthink and Tribalism

Groupthink occurs when individuals prioritize group consensus over critical evaluation of alternatives or consequences, often suppressing dissent and creativity. Tribalism and groupthink thrive on a shared desire to maintain order and unity within the "In-Group."

Chances are, we all have experienced some forms of tribalism and groupthink in our professional careers—and not always in a negative way. Picture a scenario where you connected with colleagues who shared similar interests, values, or beliefs. The connections and collaboration you form with like-minded people can nurture you, ignite your motivation, increase your engagement, and support your goals. At its best, tribal behavior can provide a positive sense of belonging and engagement. When you collaborate with people who "speak your language", understanding comes effortlessly. You feel heard, you feel seen, and you can relax. This is part of our human programming—a survival mechanism that has helped us thrive in communities.

When you collaborate with people who "speak your language", understanding comes effortlessly. You feel heard, you feel seen, you can relax. 

However, tribalism’s dark side emerges when it silences divergent perspectives. Imagine yourself in a team meeting with like-minded colleagues: one of the more vocal team members proposes an idea to address a challenging situation, and everyone in the room nods. No one asks questions. Nobody voices an alternative idea. The team fails to explore potential consequences or issues with executing that idea and doesn't consider other options. Instead, everyone moves on. We’ve all experienced meetings like this and witnessed the poor outcomes they often generate. These dynamics can lead to suboptimal decisions and stifle innovation.

The Urgency of Overcoming Toxic Tribalism and Groupthink

While belonging and engagement are essential for team culture and productivity, when taken to extremes —meaning belonging and engagement only among like-minded individuals— they can foster a divisive and toxic climate, ultimately harming team productivity and performance. Research and data highlight the dangers of groupthink and the risks of silencing divergent voices:

• It leads to a group’s overestimation of its power, a demand for uniformity, and close-mindedness.
• The In-Group tends to create a polarized “us versus them” mindset in the workplace.
• It marginalizes “outsider” perspectives and out-of-the-box thinking.
• It discourages dissenters from speaking up due to a lack of psychological safety (e.g., “Why bother if I’ll be overturned anyway?”).
• It results in poor decision-making and flawed outcomes.

The toxic side of tribalism can have a devastating impact on individuals, teams, and organizations. It heightens fear and hostility toward those who don’t belong to the In-Group. It also creates tension, disconnection, and defensiveness, fostering a harmful dynamic for both the In-Group and those outside. 

The toxic side of tribalism can have a devastating impact on individuals, teams, and organizations.

Breaking the Cycle: Tackling Polarization

In the current landscape —regardless of your political affiliation or views—we are experiencing several symptoms of polarization and groupthink in our own eco chambers. Whether it is navigating our workplace or social media, we often find ourselves drawn to groups that affirm our beliefs, values, and worldviews. We seek comfort in like-mindedness and tend to avoid or harshly judge those who think differently.

Leaders must break this pattern if they want to achieve higher levels of productivity, engagement, innovation, and growth. They need to actively seek out and engage with diverse perspectives. And let’s be clear here: diversity is all of us, not only underrepresented groups. This is not easy—it requires courage to balance stakeholders in tension and collaborate with people who speak different languages, hold different interests, and challenge our assumptions. It demands extra effort to ensure mutual understanding and a willingness to step outside our comfort zones.

diversity is all of us, not only underrepresented groups.

Challenging groupthink is critical to unlocking creativity and innovation. This means encouraging dissent, fostering diverse perspectives, and embracing the discomfort of collaboration across differences.

What Can Organizations Do? Leveraging The Power of All

In an era where DE&I initiatives face political and legal scrutiny, their relevance remains undeniable.

In an era where DE&I initiatives face political and legal scrutiny, their relevance remains undeniable.

Decades of research from McKinsey confirm that DE&I today matters even more, highlighting the positive impact of DE&I on productivity, innovation, and other key performance indicators. Moreover, most employees report that DE&I initiatives improve workplace culture, confirming that 56% of workers believe DE&I is a good thing not only for the companies but also for them.

While some leaders in the private sector may consider scaling back or shutting down DE&I programs in response to the new administration’s executive orders and activist investors, doing so would be a grave mistake. Compliance with the law is, of course, essential—but overreacting or overcomplying is unnecessary. Most DE&I efforts remain legally permissible and are critical for reducing bias and fostering inclusivity for all. DE&I programs that do not confer preferential treatment to certain groups are likely to remain legally sound. In fact, nearly all corporate DE&I programs are specifically designed to eliminate bias and favoritism to certain groups, ensuring a true meritocracy where everyone can do their best work.

These efforts include:

• Auditing evaluation and promotion processes.
• Mitigating or eliminating favoritism and nepotism.
• Expanding outreach to broaden candidate pools.
• Adopting structured interview processes.
• Supporting ERGs that are open to all to foster collaboration and innovation.
• Creating mentorship and coaching programs.
• Conducting employee training and education.

Now more than ever DE&I departments can add significant value and offer important solutions to these complex challenges. However, to maximize their impact, DE&I teams must evolve—integrating more deeply across business functions and adopting innovative approaches that align with organizational goals. They may need to update their strategies to address organizational groupthink dynamics, rapid change, disruption, productivity, and engagement. Additionally, DE&I practitioners may require new capabilities and success profiles to effectively engage with diverse perspectives.

Engaging with those who think differently may create turbulence—but when managed well, that turbulence drives better ideas, better products, better services, and better solutions for all.  

Now more than ever DE&I departments can add significant value and offer important solutions to these complex challenges.

What Can Leaders and Teams Do? Expanding Perspectives

To thrive in a rapidly changing world, leaders and teams must reshape how they connect, contribute, and innovate. Key strategies include:

1. Reduce Reactivity: Embrace Uncertainty and Complexity Differentiate between when to move quickly and when to pause, pivot, and transform. Balancing performance and transformation requires agility and a willingness to let go of “what we know” or “the way we do things around here”.
2. Reset Your Mindset: Cultivate Curiosity, Empathy, and Trust In a business landscape focused on outcomes and KPIs, we often overlook the transformative power of asking questions to seek understanding, opening our minds to see other perspectives, and connecting with others around us on a deeper level.  What if the key to innovation and growth wasn’t only about working harder or having more certificates/degrees but about embracing curiosity, empathy, and building trusting relationships? Those aren’t just “soft” traits, those traits keep leaders ahead of the curve. Curiosity, in particular, fuels discovery and is the basis for innovation. By asking questions, seeking new perspectives, and building trust —particularly with others different from us—, leaders can foster environments where creativity flourishes.  
3. Break Free from Dogmas: Think Without a Banister Philosopher Hannah Arendt’s concept of “thinking without a banister” emphasizes independent thought.  When we think without handrails (banister), we don’t rely on “preconceived categories,” which is the main basis of independent thinking. If we dare to leave our biases or preferences behind, we open ourselves up to new ideas.  Leaders must challenge preconceived notions and explore diverse viewpoints, even when it’s uncomfortable. Fresh ideas and innovation arise when we consider perspectives different from our own and those that are often overlooked.

Conclusion

As we navigate this era of rapid change, leaders have a unique opportunity to break down silos, challenge groupthink, and leverage the collective power of diverse perspectives. By embracing curiosity, empathy, and trust, leaders can foster environments where innovation thrives, enabling their organizations to adapt, evolve, and succeed.

leaders have a unique opportunity to break down silos, challenge groupthink, and leverage the collective power of diverse perspectives.

If we fail to do so and instead conform to groupthink and the toxic elements of tribalism, we risk what Hannah Arendt called “the banality of evil.” This concept suggests that acts of evil can be carried out by seemingly ordinary people—not because they are inherently malicious, but because they mindlessly “follow orders” and conform to a system without considering the impact of their actions.

Instead, we can counter this by intentionally practicing “the banality of good.” Heroism is not reserved for extraordinary individuals; rather, it can be demonstrated by anyone when the situation demands it. Each of us has the potential to be a hero when circumstances compel us to move from inaction to action.

A well-known Cherokee tale illustrates this idea: An elder tells a young boy, “Inside each of us are two wolves—one representing joy, empathy, curiosity, love, and kindness; the other representing anger, greed, ego, hate, and arrogance.” The curious boy asks, “Which wolf wins?” The elder replies, “The one you feed.”

Leaders, teams, and organizations must ask themselves: Which wolf are we feeding?

References

Arendt, H (2021) Thinking Without a Banister: Essays in Understanding 1953-1975.

Blystone, S (2024) Dangers of Groupthink and the Internet. Retrieved at  https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/dangers-of-groupthink-and-the-internet#:~:text=It%20described%20several%20symptoms%20of,even%20children%2C%20with%20different%20beliefs.

Coleman, P 2021. “The way out: how to overcome toxic polarization”

Harvard Business Review July-August 2019 issue “The wrong ways to Strengthen Culture”. Retrieved at https://hbr.org/2019/07/the-wrong-ways-to-strengthen-culture

Janis, I.L. 1982. “Groupthink: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes”

Kahneman, D. 2011. “Thinking Fast and Slow”

Pew Research Center, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace, 2023. Retrieved at https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/05/17/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-in-the-workplace/#dei-measures-and-their-impact

Singh, D (2022) Four Dangers of Groupthink (and How to Avoid them). Retrieved at https://www.deannasingh.com/blog/4-dangers-of-groupthink

Zimbardo, P. (2007). “The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil”  

Zucker, R. & Rowell, D. (2021) Harvard Business Review “Decision Making and Problem Solving: 6 Strategies for Leading Through Uncertainty”. Retrieved at https://hbr.org/2021/04/6-strategies-for-leading-through-uncertainty