The 50th Law (with 50 Cent)

The Reality Group
When a group of people fails in some enterprise, we often see the
following dynamic play itself out: The first reaction is to look at the
actors involved and affix blame. Perhaps it was the overambitious
leader who led the group into failure, or the incompetent lieutenant, or
the very shrewd adversary. Perhaps some bad luck was involved as

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well. The leader or lieutenant may be fired and a new team brought in.
Leadership learns a few lessons from the experience, and these are
shared. Everyone in the group feels satisfied and ready to move on.
Then, a few years down the line, nearly the same problem and the
same type of failure recurs, and the same tired solutions are recycled.
The reason for this common pattern is simple: what is really at fault
is the dysfunctional dynamic of the group, which tends to produce
incompetent lieutenants and grandiose leaders. And unless it is fixed,
the problems keep recurring with different faces.
In a dysfunctional culture, the members are often confused about
their roles and the overall direction of the group. Amid such confusion,
people start to think more of their own interests and agendas, and they
form factions. Worried more about their status than the health of the
group, their egos become touchy, and they obsess over who’s getting
more. In this contentious atmosphere, the bad apples—the Stirrers, the
men and women of low character—find numerous ways to stir trouble
and promote themselves. Those who excel at schmoozing and playing
politics but little else often thrive, rise to the top, and become
lieutenants. Mediocrity is preferred and rewarded.
Leaders find themselves dragged down by all the internal
dissension and gamesmanship. Feeling vulnerable, they surround
themselves with courtiers who tell them what they want to hear. Inside
this court cocoon, leaders hatch ill-conceived and grandiose plans,
which are encouraged by the spineless courtiers. Firing the leader or
lieutenants won’t change anything. The next ones will simply find
themselves infected and transformed by the dysfunctional culture.
What we must do to avoid this trap is to alter our perspective:
instead of instantly focusing on individuals and the drama of the failed
action, we must focus on the overall group dynamic. Fix the dynamic,
create a productive culture, and not only will we avoid all of the above
evils but we will trigger a much different, upward pull within the
group.
What creates a functional, healthy dynamic is the ability of the
group to maintain a tight relationship to reality. The reality for a group
is as follows: It exists in order to get things done, to make things, to
solve problems. It has certain resources it can draw upon—the labor
and strengths of its members, its finances. It operates in a particular
environment that is almost always highly competitive and constantly

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changing. The healthy group puts primary emphasis on the work itself,
on getting the most out of its resources and adapting to all of the
inevitable changes. Not wasting time on endless political games, such a
group can accomplish ten times more than the dysfunctional variety. It
brings out the best in human nature—people’s empathy, their ability to
work with others on a high level. It remains the ideal for all of us. We
shall call this ideal the reality group.
Certainly, a true reality group is a rare occurrence in history—to
some degree we saw it in action with the famed battalions of Napoleon
Bonaparte, or the early years of IBM under Thomas Watson, or the
initial cabinet Franklin Roosevelt formed, or the film team assembled
by the great director John Ford that worked with him for decades, or
the Chicago Bulls under basketball coach Phil Jackson. From these
examples, and others, we can learn some valuable lessons about the
components of the reality group and how leaders can shape one.
The following are five key strategies for achieving this, all of which
should be put into practice. Keep in mind that if you inherit a culture
that is firmly set and dysfunctional, your job is harder and it will take
more time. You need to be resolute in the changes you want to effect
and have patience, being careful that the culture does not slowly
assimilate you. Think of it as war, and the enemy is not individuals but
the dysfunctional group dynamic.