We often see it in Sport, in business, in companies and if we are not careful our Referral Networks.

The “cheers of approval” or “nods of agreement “as a team agrees on a decision, that will ultimately take the group to success. The members all really believe in the need for success, they know why, they buy in, they WANT IT . So why does it so often fail.

Why is this?

In 1964 a lady, Kitty Genovese was waking in a street in New York.

She was attacked 3 times in half an hour and ultimately stabbed/beaten to death. The police were not called.

The interesting and sad fact is that the mugging was witness by 38 people . Yet no one called the police.

Why?- Later studies found that they all thought someone else would call the police.

Other studies backing this up have been found:

One such study involved someone having an epileptic fit.

When only 1 person was present, in 85% of the cases they got involved to help. When there was 3 or more people only 31% of people got involved.

Another study has smoke coming under a door. When there was only one person percent 75% of people got involved and called for help. When there was a group only 38% of people got involved.

In the case of Kitty it wasn’t that no one saw her that possibly didn’t save her life it was the fact that 38 people did see her.

When we are in a team we often think that others will do the job.We are not being lazy on purpose its human nature.

Hopefully, now we realize this we can do something about it.

We all need to be the “I” in Team.

Think about your Referral Partners and your Referral Sources, your networking group, your friends your family. Be the one who takes action and sets the standard.

This was taken from “The Tipping Point “ by Malcolm Gladwell and applied to networking by Phil Bedford