How hard it is to step outside my social network. Am I brave enough to “say what I need to say?” (mmm … thank you John Mayer). What if …
I’m rejected?
Reviled?
Made fun of?
Is that worse than pretending to be what I’m not?
What if I no longer want to “fit in” and quietly effect change? What if I want to MAKE NOISE! “Make a ruckus!” (Yes! … thank you Seth Godin).
Still, I’m scared.
I’m a chicken shit.
It’s so comfortable to be quiet and wrapped in my blanket of social acceptance. If I speak up I could be stripped naked and left shivering.
In his book Persuadable; How Great Leaders Change Their Minds to Change the World, Al Pittampalli references Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point. Social change starts with “innovators” – the ones who have “a very high risk tolerance.” They’re followed by “early adopters” with “a relatively high risk tolerance.” The “early majority” … “are less visionary and more practical” with a “far lower risk tolerance.” Then come the “late majority” with “an even lower risk tolerance,” and finally the “laggards” who are often “actively avoidant of new ideas.” 
Pittamapalli points out a “Catch-22” … a “chasm” between the “early adopters” and the “early majority.” The early majority have a dilemma. They need “a reference” point – one of their peers to step up first before they take the leap. If one person steps up they can be a champion and “help an innovation cross the chasm” by being a reference to their peers.
What stops this “early majority champion?” CONFORMITY.
“… people retain a certain position in order to conform to the social norm, even if they believe the social norm is wrong.”
The famous “Asch conformity experiments” demonstrated that when fellow (pretend) participants “supported the wrong answer”
“Seventy-five percent of the participants conformed and gave the wrong answer at least once over 12 trials. Participants were ‘going along to get along.’” BUT …
“… when just one dissenting confederate was put inside the room, the likelihood of the participant conforming to the majority opinion diminished … they in fact … became four times more likely to dissent and give the correct answer. All it took was one dissenter to … effectively give the person permission to defy the norm.”
WE … the scared, wannabe brave chickens can make a difference. Maybe The difference.
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Glee – Defying Gravity (My introduction to this song – that continues to inspire me to defy my own personal gravity):
Defying Gravity – Wicked (For the purists – truth and consequences):
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