When I once fished in the Rio Colorado in Costa Rica, my guide, in a state of

shock, told me a story about an angler who’d earlier come to the river without

ever having fished for a tarpon. A fishing guide like the one I had runs the

boat and gives fishing advice, establishing himself in this context as the

ultimate authority figure. In the case of this guide, his native language was

Spanish, while the angler’s native language was English. The angler got a big

tarpon on and began submitting to many directions from this authority figure

called a guide: tip up, tip down, reel in, etc. Finally, when it was necessary

to put more pressure on the fish by causing more bending of the angler’s rod,

the guide said in English: “Give him the rod, give him the rod.” Well, the

angler threw his expensive rod at the fish, and when last seen, it was going

down the Rio Colorado toward the ocean. This example shows how powerful is the

tendency to go along with an authority figure and how it can turn one’s brain

into mush.

 

My final example comes from business. A psychology Ph. D. once became a CEO of a

major company and went wild, creating an expensive new headquarters, with a

great wine cellar, at an isolated site. At some point, his underlings

remonstrated that money was running short. “Take the money out of the

depreciation reserves,” said the CEO. Not too easy because a depreciation

reserve is a liability account.

 

So strong is undue respect for authority that this CEO, and many even worse

examples, have actually been allowed to remain in control of important business