IN our culture, most Filipinos are afraid to speak up and stand up for their convictions. In an environment where conformists are often rewarded more than reformists, objectors or those who challenge the status quo seem to be going the way of endangered species. However, conformists do not necessarily change their core beliefs; they simply exhibit behavior to align with the contradictory yet majority belief of people in the community where they live or in the organization where they work.
In psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort experienced by a person who acts one way but believes another. Conformists suffer from some kind of cognitive dissonance whenever their words or deeds oppose their own beliefs. As belief is not reflective of the action, they tend to go with the flow just to be part of the group, out of fear of reprisal or alienation.
In the Army, soldiers follow orders, even those that go against their personal convictions, save for a few conscientious objectors who manage to stay true to their principles. Military discipline dictates obedience to the fullest. Depicted in the movie Hacksaw Ridge, US Army Private Desmond Doss managed to participate in World War II despite his sincere belief in the commandment of “thou shall not kill.” Raised as a Christian and compounded by his childhood experience of almost killing a family member, Doss refused to carry a rifle during training. He almost never made it out of basic training and was close to being dismissed from the service for insubordination. Eventually, he served as a combat medic in an Army unit that saw action in several battles in the Pacific. But it was in the Battle of Okinawa where Doss, staying true to his core belief, earned the highest military recognition, the Medal of Honor. In the case of Doss, he suffered no form of cognitive dissonance but, in the process of standing out, he encountered physical hardships as he chose not to conform to the expectations of being a soldier.
In the corporate world, cognitive dissonance can be prevalent in workers who tow the company line despite being against it. Even within management, some will understandably have different perspectives than the rest. Unfortunately, most will choose to conform and simply not object. Those who object will nonetheless act in conformity with the company direction despite their objection. The resulting mental discomfort can, however, be reduced by either rationalizing one’s action to somehow be in harmony with one’s belief or changing the belief altogether. With built-in biases and preferences brought about by educational and professional experiences, a good leader should not easily dismiss these objectors’ opinions, should these objectors choose to speak up.
A servant leader, knowing the needs of his people, refuses to just go about business as usual. He will create environments that foster all kinds of criticism and radical ideas. Leadership author Andy Stanley said good leaders will always have the courage to challenge the what is with “what could be,” despite the resistance coming from the usual environment that discourages contrary positions. Stanley further said that expressions of courage, as in challenging the what is, can be taken as arrogance at times. When people stand up to object just for the sake of being different and being in the limelight it does not make them leaders. Objectors must genuinely find the intersecting point between courage and humility before daring to speak out against the status quo. These objectors will then be able to influence all stakeholders to act on and believe in their “daring destination,” using the words of former Popeye’s Chicken CEO and revolutionary leader Cheryl Bachelder. Implicitly, Bachelder’s option to reduce if not eliminate cognitive dissonance in the corporate world is not to rationalize one’s action to conform to the current belief or idea. In her best-selling book, Dare to Serve, Bachelder’s solution was to change the belief itself and have all actions align with that different and daring belief.
At Popeyes, Bachelder created a culture based on the “Popeyes Purpose: to inspire servant leaders to achieve superior results.” As a result of this change in the mind-set of the people within and behind the organization, in eight years, Popeyes’s system-wide revenues reached $3.1 billion generated by over 2,539 restaurants operated by 360 franchisees and more than 60,000 restaurant employees. Aside from this revenue boost, her drastic change in leadership mind-set led to a 50 percent increase in market share! When she took over, she simply stuck to her core belief and did not accept the “what is” in Popeyes.
Similarly, but in a spiritual setting, the journeys of faith of Abraham exhibit some form of cognitive dissonance. For instance, while God promised Abraham to be a father of many nations, Abraham still decided to accede to the request of his wife Sarah to procreate a child together with Sarah’s servant, Hagar. While he was fully convinced that he will be blessed, Abraham wavered in faith and exhibited human frailties in the process. His actions were not aligned with his belief. We have to be mindful of the fact that our core beliefs will always be challenged by external factors. In the case of Abraham, his wife Sarah influenced him to go against his faith in God.
Whenever our actions, whether personal or professional, are about to go against our core beliefs, let’s try to be a Desmond Doss and conscientiously stick to what we believe in. And, in the alternative, let’s adopt Bachelder’s suggestion of changing the belief itself with the hope of realigning our actions to it. Raising objections is an indication of courageous or transformational leadership. In either case, we should never be afraid to say “I object” and to challenge business as usual. While it takes unusual courage to dare and do things differently, it is worth trying it.
For questions and comments, please e-mail me at sbmison@gmail.com.