A couple years ago I read Colin Powell’s It Worked For Me: In Life and Leadership. The book is essentially an elaboration of 13 rules pertaining to life and leadership. A bare bones version originally appeared in Parade magazine. It’s a very good book and I’ve now read it twice.
One of the stories he tells had to do with an expression called “the Bus to Abilene.” It’s about how groups can sometimes go down a wrong path when individuals in the group think everyone else wants to go that way and they fail to speak up because they don’t want to be out of step or the one to be a naysayer.
It’s an intriguing problem and I’ve recognized how this can sometimes happen. But how do you stop it? Colin Powell says that in the army it’s possible to simply stop and ask, “Are we on the bus to Abilene?” Everyone would know what this meant. Good leaders who sense this is happening will dare to take the same gamble and ask.
The book I am currently reading is called Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. It’s another really good book that I would recommend to everyone, introvert and extrovert alike, especially leaders. Interestingly the author Susan Cain while talking about group dynamics brings up the bus to Abilene story as well. So I thought I might be useful to share it here.
