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Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Basketball "Groupthink"

Upper echelon organizations thrive because of leadership, talent, and quality decisions. Seek superior decision-makers with inputs favoring organizational dominance or at least better performance. 

Background

Making judgments via the collective has multiple possible outcomes:

  • "The Wisdom of Crowds" 
  • Groupthink suboptimal decision-making
  • Leader overwhelms crowd recommendation
A delicate dance exists within organizations (education, sports, politics, medicine, the military, judiciary). More voices don't equal optimal outcomes. 

Competing Forces Guide Decisions


Table from Microsoft Copilot 

Where does our organization stand? The "hierarchical leader" (Jerry Jones?) dominates input across multiple dimensions. How has that worked out? 

Collaboration Is Competitive Advantage

Collaboration fuels the NBA. With financial boundaries, draft and develop needs, and large staffs (coaching, video, strength and conditioning, sports psychology) and elite athletes, excavate the Wisdom of Crowds. 

There can be a tendency in some fields for management to bring in consultants, form a plan, and "sell it" to the organization, creating a false consensus. 

Putting It All Together: A Simple Partitioning Tool

Each dimension from 0–3:

DimensionScore 0Score 3
Independence Highly influenced  Fully independent
Diversity Homogeneous  Highly diverse
Psychological Safety Low  High
Hierarchy / Dominance Strong  Minimal
Synchrony Live discussion  Asynchronous

How Does Our Organization Function?

High independence + high diversity + low hierarchy -> Wisdom of crowds dominates

Low safety + high cohesion -> Groupthink dominates

High hierarchy + synchronous discussion -> Loud‑voice override dominates

Openness and curiosity broaden the possibilities. 

What Long-term Decisions Arise?
  • Program philosophy and style of play
  • Player acquisition 
  • Player development 
  • Game planning
  • Career development 
In practice, win with shared ideas, and better process. 

Lagniappe. Paid by the dribble or by scoring? 



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