Today's post, To Lead, You Must Stand Up was originally published on 29 December 2007. A summary (taken from the LW wiki):

 

By attempting to take a leadership role, you really have to get people's attention first. This is often harder than it seems. If what you attempt to do fails, or if people don't follow you, you risk embarrassment. Deal with it.


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I'm surprised to find that a Google search for the phrase "crowd mentality" (until now) has no results. I'd think its a fascinating aspect of human behavior. Tiny groups of three to five people chit chatting are private individuals, too important to be bothered with any damn petty conference venue flunky blinking lights on and off. But when addressed by a single speaker in a loud, bold voice, they become an audience, and -- if they are entertained -- they love to be told to clap their hands in unison, or to shout the same phrase, or (as here) march out the damn door when it's time to go, for no better reason than they're being led...TO FREEDOM!

I'm surprised to find that a Google search for the phrase "crowd mentality" (until now) has no results.

I'm confused. I get 5.6 million results for "crowd mentality" (and only 1.2 million for "mob mentality", which is the phrase I've heard used more often). I'm reasonably confident that those 5.6 million haven't shown up in the last 5 hours.

Drat! I meant to say Google search from site lesswrong.com.