When I was young, every time a new fad would occur, or my friends were doing something, I would want to do it too.  I can still hear my grandparents and parents responding with, “If everybody jumped off a bridge, would you do it?”

My son and his lovely wife went on a vacation recently to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands (yes, I’m a bit jealous).  They went to the resort beach and before heading into the ocean looked for a shaded area so they wouldn’t get sunburn between swims etc.  The first thought for them were under the beautiful palm trees.  There were other people already putting towels on beach loungers in this location.  As my son got closer, he noticed movement in the trees and recognized some very large iguanas.  His first instinctive concern he voiced to his wife was, those might fall out of the trees on us, or they might bite us if we fall asleep while they laid out on the loungers.  When he expressed this, his wife pointed out a lot of people are already under the palm trees with iguanas and they didn’t seem to be too concerned.  So, my son proceeded forward and they put their items near the loungers to claim them.  They swam for a bit and then they laid out on the loungers. My son watched a few iguanas chase each other up and down trees and then fell asleep.  He was awoken shortly thereafter by someone yelling and a commotion next to them.  An iguana had fallen out of a tree on to a couple next to them causing quite the ruckus.

Risk tolerance is what an individual or organization is willing to accept, it determines how much risk is taken before action is deemed “too dangerous”.  This often leads to use of shortcuts (dangerous in nature but unrecognized until something “bad” happens). There are two things that resulted in my sons near bad experience and the couple’s next to them incident: herd mentality and bandwagon effect. 

Herd mentality is the tendency for individuals to adopt the behaviors, beliefs, or actions of a larger group, often ignoring their own rational judgment or personal preferences.  The bandwagon effect is a cognitive bias where people adopt beliefs, behaviors, or trends simply because they perceive most others doing so.

People often follow the crowd because they assume the majority possesses superior information, particularly in uncertain situations. Also, conformity (i.e. peer pressure) leads to adopting behaviors to avoid standing out or being ostracized.

All the above illustrates how bad things happen, but also with this knowledge we can use it to make good things happen. For instance, leading by example of the correct ways to do things and correcting people when they are taking shortcuts.  Holding people to standards, even the minute details. We also need to be more open to other people’s concerns and listen.  Everyone sees things differently and from some angles can see things more clearly to identify issues we may have become blind (immune) to. It’s hard to do, herd mentality was an evolutionary shortcut in of itself. Think about, herds of antelope or cattle will stampede because one jumped, which was usually due to predators or threats nearby. If they all didn’t run someone would become a meal. Human herding was and still is the same but, in this case, following the crowd blindly can become dangerous. However, if you remain disciplined and stay consistent with treating each day and situation anew, it becomes the right kind of habit.  Which means overcoming herd mentality and the inherent increased risk tolerance which develops from it. In the end it comes down to the question my elders always asked me before I jumped on a bandwagon: “If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you do it?”

Read Time: ~ 10 Minutes

Our topic today begins with a little-known diplomat of the former Japanese Empire, stationed in Kaunas, Lithuania.

Born in Gifu, Chūbu, to middle-class parents, Chiune Sugihara (杉原 千畝) had an unconventional path in life. He was the second of five sons and one daughter, graduated from high school with top honours, but deliberately failed the entrance exam for medical school, defying his father’s wishes.

Instead, he enrolled at what is now Waseda University majoring in English. He passed the Foreign Ministry scholarship exam and was first stationed in Korea. Taking the exam again, he achieved distinction in Russian, which led to his posting in Manchuria, where he studied Russian and German. By the time he was appointed Vice Consul of the Japanese Consulate in Kaunas, Sugihara was fluent in seven languages: Japanese, English, Korean, Russian, German, Mandarin, and Lithuanian, an extraordinary repertoire for any diplomat.

1940 soon rolled around and the shadow of World War II loomed large. The Soviet Union had occupied Lithuania, a nation with a significant Jewish population alongside neighbouring Poland. Fearing persecution (an ominous foreshadowing of what the German Reich would bring), thousands sought exit visas to escape.

As wartime pressures mounted, foreign consulates in Kaunas were ordered to close one by one.

Yet Sugihara remained.

For weeks, he worked 18 to 20 hours a day, handwriting visas for Jewish refugees desperate to flee. He continued until the very last possible moment — as his train out of Lithuania was literally pulling away from the station.

In total, Sugihara issued thousands of visas, far exceeding his official quota and against explicit instructions from the Japanese Foreign Ministry. His actions saved countless lives, but came at a personal cost. Years later, he was dismissed from the ministry and imprisoned for his 'Lithuania Incident'.

It was not until 1991, 5 years after his death in Kanagawa that Japan’s then Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Muneo Suzuki, formally apologised for Sugihara’s unfair treatment. The man had endured a life marked by dishonour, only to receive a simple “sorry” for his life’s greatest work.

Modern estimates suggest that the direct descendants of those saved by Sugihara now number over 100,000. And he was by no means the only hero in that dark chapter of human history. Banker Nicholas Winton organized the Kindertransport, forging documents that allowed hundreds of children to escape Nazi-controlled Germany. Père Marie-Benoît smuggled thousands of Jews across the French border. Physician Tina Strobos hid more than 100 Jews in her own home. Each stood fearlessly in the face of what was almost certain death.

So what does this have to do with risk taking?

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