Behavior Biases for Leaders: The Wild Horse Effect

Behavior Biases are common thinking habits / mental shortcuts that people tend to use. These automatic responses sometimes lead to less than ideal outcomes. Recognizing these biases, help leaders understand their teams, guide them to better decisions and improve productivity. Business leader Navneet Jhamb explores one such behavior bias. 

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Provocative Affairs

“Courage is knowing what not to fear.” – Plato

Wildebeests, also known as gnus, are large antelopes native to the African Savanna.  Characterized by their large, heavy bodies, sloping backs, powerful legs, and distinctive horns, they live in herds, often alongside zebras and gazelles, benefiting from safety in numbers. The wildebeest migrations in search of food and water, are a spectacle of nature, attracting many tourists to witness the “Great Migration” in Serengeti and Maasai Mara.

In the same African savannah, there is a bat that is menace for these wildebeests.  The bats attach themselves to the huge animals and using their sharp teeth suck their blood.  The wildebeest driven by rage and stampede runs wildly in anger but in many cases is still unable to get rid of the bat. When the bats have eaten their fill, they leave, but the wildebeest still running wears out eventually collapsing in exhaustion.

“Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are our own fears” – Rudyard Kipling

Surprisingly researchers found that the amount of blood sucked by the bats was very small and not enough to cause death.  While the bite of the bat posed minimal physical danger, the frantic psychological response from the wildebeest is extreme leading us to the phenomenon dubbed the ‘Wild Horse Effect’.

The “Wild Horse Effect” describes how small, seemingly insignificant triggers can often lead to extreme negative outcomes as a result of unchecked emotions.  Our emotions just don’t affect us – they shape the world around us.  They shape our beliefs. And it is these beliefs that hold immense power over us without our realization.

“Fear is only as deep as the mind allows” – Japanese Proverb

Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about – this despite everyone’s claim that their battle is the toughest. We all get provoked many times a day. It’s not the provocation but our response to it is what matters. 

We do have power to decide the outcome. You can calm down and let the bat have its fill or respond in panic.  Choosing peace over panic, growth over regret is on us.  Taming our beliefs isn’t about survival, it’s about thriving. No wonder the, the biggest battles in life are fought within us.  Thinking?

“It’s not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that things are difficult” – Seneca

Postscript: The implications of the ‘Wild Horse Effect’ extend beyond the individual. For leaders navigating change, there are two distinct scenarios where active mitigation is essential:

• Groupthink, triggered by the effect, can steer programs into resource-draining rabbit holes.
•  Incremental change, under the effect’s influence, may be misread as a threat—provoking resistance instead of progress.

AUTHOR BIO