How great leaders create a shared identity

In October 1956, when Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest to crush the nascent Hungarian Revolution and the national aspirations it represented, the communist empire seemed at its apex. With a strong leader, a command economy, and an iron will, it seemed undeniable that the West, with all its messy deliberation, would be unable to compete. Yet Zbigniew Brzezinski, then a young Harvard scholar, saw things differently. Fluent in Russian, he had traveled throughout the Soviet Union and was struck by its underlying weakness. In particular, he noticed that barely half the crowd at a soccer game in Soviet Georgia bothered to rise for the national anthem. Great leaders understand that people need to feel they are part of something bigger than themselves. Some seek symbols, like holding spectacles at the Colosseum or triumphal arches. But it’s not enough to merely command action and get people to do what you want. You need to inspire them to want what you want. They need to see your cause as their own. Why identity is such a basic human need Humans naturally form groups. In an fMRI study of adults who were randomly assigned to “leopards” and “tigers,” researchers noted hostility to out-group members. Similar results were found in a study involving 5-year-old children and even in infants. There is a large body of research suggesting that we, both consciously and unconsciously, communicate what groups we do and don’t want to join and what our identities can and can’t tolerate. Evolutionary psychologists attribute this tendency to kin selection. Put simply, groups that favor those most like themselves are more likely to pass on their genes. As Richard Dawkins famously pointed out, what we traditionally consider altruism can also be seen as selfish genes conniving to perpetuate themselves. Identity has always been an incredibly powerful force in human affairs. It influences who we trust, who we cooperate with, and what causes we choose to support to a much greater extent than ext