Do not follow a crowd
The law against the crowd
Tucked into Israel's civil law is a line that cuts against one of the strongest forces in human nature: you shall not follow a crowd to do evil. Even in court, it warns, do not side with the majority just because it is the majority, if the majority is wrong. The number of people doing a thing has never made it right.
The crowd has a gravity. It is easier to go along, to assume that if everyone is moving this way the way must be acceptable, to let the majority be your conscience. But God explicitly forbids outsourcing your judgment to the multitude. A leader is regularly the one person who must say no when everyone else is saying yes — not for the sake of contrarianism, but because numbers do not determine truth. Sometimes courage looks like simply refusing to be carried by the crowd.
“As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
— Joshua, to Israel — Joshua 24:15 (WEB)
The majority is not the measure of right. Courage often means refusing to be carried by the crowd and saying no when everyone else says yes.
“You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice.”
The law forbids outsourcing conscience to the multitude. A leader formed here keeps his judgment his own, resisting the gravity of the crowd. The inner work is the independence to disagree with the many when the many are wrong.
Test decisions against what is right, not against how many favor them. Protect your team from confusing consensus with truth. Be willing to be the lone no in a room full of yeses when the crowd is moving toward wrong.
Leaders let the momentum of a crowd stand in for moral judgment, assuming that what everyone is doing must be acceptable. The blind spot is mistaking numbers for rightness.
Spot one place you are going along with a crowd against your better judgment. This week, decline to be carried, and decide on the merits.
The crowd has a gravity, and it is easy to let the majority become your conscience. But numbers have never determined truth — and a leader is often the one who must say no when everyone else says yes.
Where are you being carried along by a crowd toward something you would not choose if you were standing alone?