The Super Chicken Fallacy

A biologist at Purdue University named William Muir conducted an interesting experiment involving laying hens. He divided a flock of chickens up by egg-laying productivity. One group had average layers, and the other had really productive layers, which he called “super chickens.” He let the average group reproduce, undisturbed, for six generations. They remained healthy and continued to lay at a steady, gradually increasing rate. In the super chicken group, he selected the best layers for breeding. After six generations, only three chickens remained, and the others had been pecked to death. 

So what does all this have to do with leadership? Well, humans aren’t the same as chickens, but we aren’t completely different either. We are social animals, who have natural tendencies toward both competition and cooperation. When you put us together, the ground rules of our group culture determine which tendency will be expressed more strongly.

When you assemble a team, it’s great to look for talented, productive people, but don’t ignore culture. Building a culture around competition has far-reaching implications for the way we treat each other and the way we work together. Every team has the potential to be more than the sum of its parts, if those parts work together in harmony. 

A safe, collaborative, trust-based culture isn’t a nice adjunct to productivity--it’s the whole basket of eggs.