Edited by Julia Hanna and Jen McFarland Flint; illustrations by Rose Wong

If you’re not paying attention, groupthink can turn up like a cancer in the boardroom, hampering growth and innovation, says Helen Lee Bouygues (MBA 2000), founder of the Reboot Foundation, which supports education in the field of critical thinking. Just think back to the 2008 financial crisis, when a group of experts ignored the warning signs and arrived at an uncritical consensus. The consequences were disastrous, Bouygues reminds us, but the best defense is to cultivate a capacity for critical thinking for yourself and your organization.

Escape the bubble.

With more than 90 percent of our information-gathering happening online these days, we are subject to more and more confirmation bias in the information we consume. The result is de facto tunnel vision and selective thinking—and we aren’t even aware that it’s happening, Bouygues warns. To break out of our own bubbles, we need to get beyond the algorithms that decide which news to serve us, and make a more deliberate effort to hear opposing viewpoints.

Expand the network.

If your corporate board is made up of friends of the CEO, people in similar roles, or former college lacrosse teammates, you are limiting the likelihood of out-of-the-box ideas, Bouygues says. “What you want to think about is best-practice crossover across industries.” For a retail board, for example, the CEO would be expected to have the necessary industry expertise, so board members should be cross-pollinated across other sectors: digital omnichannel, supply chain, and so forth. “You want a group dynamic that allows for fluid and thought-provoking discussion, where fact-based dissent is welcomed and heard.”

Start now.

The pandemic could actually be a useful and timely catalyst for significant change given that all the paradigms have shifted, Bouygues says. From employee safety to revenue profiles, how we communicate and how we work together, no one yet knows what this will look like on the other side, all of which makes this a unique opportunity to strike down what isn’t working and start building more critical practices.

Helen Lee Bouygues is the founder of the Reboot Foundation, which aims to better integrate critical thinking into daily life. The foundation conducts research and supports that of university-affiliated scholars and develops practical tools for parents, teachers, and employers.

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