The 50th Law (with 50 Cent)

Understand: We will tend to imagine that this story is an extreme
example that has little relevance to our own lives and the groups we
belong to. After all, we navigate through worlds full of sophisticated
people in high-tech offices, where everyone is seemingly so polite and
civilized. We see ourselves in a similar way: we have our progressive
ideals and our independent thinking. But much of this is an illusion. If
we looked at ourselves closely and honestly, we would have to admit
that the moment we enter our workspace or any group, we undergo a
change. We easily slip into more primitive modes of thinking and
behaving, without realizing it.
Around others, we naturally tend to feel insecure as to what they
think of us. We feel pressure to fit in, and to do so, we begin to shape
our thoughts and beliefs to the group orthodoxies. We unconsciously
imitate others in the group—in appearances, verbal expressions, and
ideas. We tend to worry a lot about our status and where we rank in the
hierarchy: “Am I getting as much respect as my colleagues?” This is the
primate part of our nature, as we share this obsession with status with
our chimpanzee relatives. Depending on patterns from early
childhood, in the group setting we become more passive or more
aggressive than usual, revealing the less developed sides of our
character.
When it comes to leaders, we generally don’t see them as ordinary
people. We tend to feel somewhat awed and intimidated in their
presence, as if they possessed some mythical extra powers. When we
contemplate our group’s main rival or enemy, we can’t help but get a
little heated and angry and exaggerate any negative qualities. If others
in the group are feeling anxious or outraged by something, we often get
swept up in the group mood. All of these are subtle indications that we
are under the influence of the group. If we are experiencing the above
transformations, we can be sure the same is going on with our
colleagues.

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Now imagine some outside threat to our group’s well-being or
stability, a crisis of sorts. All of the above reactions would be
intensified by the stress, and our apparently civilized, sophisticated
group could become quite volatile. We would feel greater pressure to
prove our loyalty and go along with anything the group advocated. Our
thinking about the rival/enemy would become even more simplistic
and heated. We would be subject to more powerful waves of viral
emotions, including panic or hatred or grandiosity. Our group could
split up into factions with tribal dynamics. Charismatic leaders could
easily emerge to exploit this volatility. If pushed far enough, the
potential for aggression lies under the surface of almost any group. But
even if we hold back from overt violence, the primitive dynamic that
takes over can have grave consequences, as the group overreacts and
makes decisions based on exaggerated fears or uncontrollable
excitement.
To resist this downward pull that groups inevitably exert on us, we
must conduct a very different experiment in human nature from
Mao’s, with a simple goal in mind—to develop the ability to detach
ourselves from the group and create some mental space for true
independent thinking. We begin this experiment by accepting the
reality of the powerful effect that the group has on us. We are brutally
honest with ourselves, aware of how our need to fit in can shape and
warp our thinking. Does that anxiety or sense of outrage that we feel
come completely from within, or is it inspired by the group? We must
observe our tendency to demonize the enemy and control it. We must
train ourselves to not blindly venerate our leaders; we respect them for
their accomplishments without feeling the need to deify them. We
must be especially careful around those who have charismatic appeal,
and try to demystify and pull them down to earth. With such
awareness, we can begin to resist and detach.
As part of this experiment we must not only accept human nature
but work with what we have to make it productive. We inevitably feel
the need for status and recognition, so let’s not deny it. Instead, let’s
cultivate such status and recognition through our excellent work. We
must accept our need to belong to the group and prove our loyalty, but
let’s do it in more positive ways—by questioning group decisions that
will harm it in the long run, by supplying divergent opinions, by
steering the group in a more rational direction, gently and
strategically. Let’s use the viral nature of emotions in the group but

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play on a different set of emotions: by staying calm and patient, by
focusing on results and cooperating with others to get practical things
done, we can begin to spread this spirit throughout the group. And by
slowly mastering the primitive part of our character within the heated
environment of the group, we can emerge as individuals who are truly
independent and rational—the end point of our experiment.
When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.
—Eric Hoffer