How Your Blindspots Quietly Multiply

It feels good when the team nods, the ideas flow easily, and meetings are fast because “we’re all on the same page.” For many founders, especially early on, that kind of unity feels like progress.

But over the last 35 years working with ambitious professionals, I’ve seen a different reality play out:

When everyone starts thinking like you, the business usually stops growing.

Not because you're wrong. But because you're no longer being challenged.

Echo Chambers Don’t Scale

Here’s the trap:

You build a team.
You train them, influence them, shape how they operate.
They start making decisions that sound like you.
And you think: “Perfect—they get it.”

But then you stop getting pushback.
You stop getting fresh insight.
And your blind spots multiply—quietly.

Soon, you’re solving problems with the same mental model that created them.
Everyone is rowing, but the boat isn’t moving.

That’s not alignment.
That’s stagnation.

Growth Requires Difference

I’ve watched companies stall—not because of a market failure or a talent issue—but because the culture quietly rewarded sameness.

Innovation didn’t die because people stopped trying.
It died because no one thought differently enough to see the next move.

This happens in:

• Leadership teams where everyone shares the same personality or background
• Startups that scale too fast without functional diversity
• Founders who hire for trust over tension—people who agree, rather than those who challenge

The moment different becomes uncomfortable, you lose the very thing that sparks transformation.

Diversity Isn’t Just a Value—It’s a Lever

We hear a lot about diversity in business today. And rightfully so.

But I’m not just talking about demographics. I’m talking about diversity of thought, behavior, and approach—specifically in how people transact.

At Influential U, we teach that personality shapes how people engage in transactions:

• Some ideate.
• Some sell.
• Some act.
• Some scrutinize.

If your team leans too heavily toward one type, you’ll move fast in one direction—and miss all the others.

And if you're always the one driving, selling, and solving, you’re not leading a team.
You're managing clones.

What to Look for (and Listen For)

Ask yourself:

• When was the last time someone strongly disagreed with me… and was right?
• Do I feel more comfortable with agreement than challenge?
• Have we confused alignment with compliance?
• Are we making fast decisions… or just easy ones?

If the people around you are just versions of you—smarter, younger, cheaper—you’ve built a mirror, not a team.
And that mirror eventually cracks.

The Hard Truth

Most of us aren’t stuck because we’re not smart. We’re stuck because we’ve surrounded ourselves with familiar thinking.

In the early days, that familiarity felt efficient. Later on, it becomes expensive.

So if everything is running smoothly but nothing’s truly moving—pause and ask:
Who’s pushing back?
Who sees what I don’t?
Who fills in where I fall short?

If you’re the smartest person in the room—or worse, if you’ve built a room where everyone thinks like you—it’s time to rethink the room.

Because difference doesn’t slow you down.
It’s what helps you break through.

Author
John Patterson
Cofounder and CEO
INFLUENTIAL U
John Patterson steers the ship at Influential U, boldly challenging the traditional, often myopic views of success in our hyper-individualistic era. He isn’t afraid to poke fun at the archaic obsession with attributing every win or loss to single actors, calling out the industry’s penchant for oversimplified 'transactional' comprehension. Leading a crack team dedicated to innovating businesses and business ecosystems, John is all about integrating the personal with the whole system—because, let’s face it, no one wins alone.