The "groupthink" myth and the real reasons many teams make bad decisions

Issue 12: On revisiting the origins of groupthink; debunking the role of groupthink in the UK's pandemic response; how identities affect perceptions of science; and the power of ritual and revelry

The Twitter account belonging to the Central Intelligence Agency recently tweeted a photo of a curious artifact. A small silver coin depicts a man, knife in his belt and brandishing a rifle, striding past the dead body of an enemy lying prostrate on the sand. It bears the slogan: “No habra mas fin que la victoria”—there will be no end but victory.

The coin, we learn, was minted to commemorate what the CIA Twitter account dryly described as “an anticipated (but never realized) Bay of Pigs victory”.

Never realized, indeed. This military action, undertaken in 1961, was not only a foreign policy disaster for the United States, but become synonymous with “groupthink”.