Pluralistic Ignorance in Organizational Strategy

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In many large organizations, individuals privately express doubts about the coherence and effectiveness of the overall strategy, but they still acquiesce and align with it for fear of facing resistance, failure, or hindrance to their career progression. This phenomenon, known as pluralistic ignorance, occurs when everyone disagrees with the direction yet the system continues to move in that direction. This situation creates a super critical state in the organization, where a significant upheaval can occur with the right catalyst.

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Why do organizations get slower as they grow? What can organizations learn from slime molds? What are the advantages of top-down organization versus bottom-up organization, and vice versa? How can organizations encourage serendipity? What use are doorbells in jungles? Why is it so hard for organizations to set a "north star" that is at once plausible, coherent, and good?

Alex Komoroske has over a decade of experience in the tech industry as a product manager focusing on platform- and ecosystem-shaped problems. While at Google, he worked on Chrome's Web Platform PM team, Augmented Reality in Google Maps, and Ambient Computing. He's fascinated by how to navigate the emergent complexity within organizations to achieve great results. You can find some of his public writing at komoroske.com.

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