The Lemming Syndrome

Look around the internet today and you can see people blindly following a few high profile marketers, joining under them in all sorts of programs without doing any research or giving any thought to if they will make or lose money.

The lemming syndrome starts when a lead lemming decides it wants to take a swim however it hates simply dipping a toe to test the water first preferring to leap right in and get wet so instead of following the path down to the water it heads to a cliff thinking that jumping in from the top would be fun.

Seeing their leader head off for his/her swim all the other lemmings decide they had better follow after all it was a little warm and a nice swim sounds about right.

As they near the cliff top the leader begins to run to build up momentum to clear the cliff face and land safely in the water, seeing this the rest of the lemming tribe also start running, faster and faster they run until they are all rushing at a mad speed those behind pushing those in front the whole group surges forward to that cliff top.

As they approach the cliff top the leader suddenly realizes that it's too high and the tide is out theres no way to make the water so he/she changes direction heading along the cliff towards the path down to the water, those lucky enough to be in the front of the following pack see this and also manage to change their direction however those behind them realize to late and because of the pressure form the lemmings behind them get pushed over the cliff falling to their doom.

The lemmings at the back of the pack don't see that their leaders have left them they only see those in front of them going over the cliff and think well they made it so can i and don't even bother to try and avoid the fall.

This is what happens when you blindly follow someone without questioning where you are headed and what the likely consequences are going to be is this opportunity right for me or is it something you'd rather not get involved in.

We can all make mistakes but as a leader you need to take extra care and think through every decision before you lead your group into any new venture, it's up to the leaders to check every angle thoroughly never rushing into something without conducting a complete investigation, is the cliff to high ..is there enough water to land safely is taking the path a safer route to lead your group.

As a follower you have to ask yourself where am i being led do i really want to leap after the rest and suffer their fate or am i going to hang back and approach with caution.

Taking the the cautious approach can save you from becoming a lemming and taking the big drop off that high cliff to certain doom.