They think they can wait until a leader demonstrates a breakthrough idea, and then rush to copy it, enjoying the break in the wind resistance from the leader.

If you watch the flock closely, though, you'll notice that the flock doesn't really fly in formation. Every few minutes, one of the birds from the back of the flock will break away and fly to the front, and take over, giving the previous leader a chance to move to the back and take a break.

The problem with people who would avoid a remarkable career is that they never end up as the leader. They decide to work for a big company, intentionally functioning as an anonymous drone, staying way back to avoid risk and criticism. If they make a mistake and choose the wrong bird to follow, the lose. When a big company lays off ten thousand people, most of those people probably don't deserve to get fired. They were doing what they were told, staying within the boundaries, and following instructions. Alas, the picked the wrong lead bird.

Even if you find a flock that's pretty safe, in our turbulent world, it's harder and harder to stay in formation, and we often find ourselves scurrying to find a new flock. The ability to lead is thus even more important because when your flock fades away, there may be no other flock handy.

This is true not just for individual careers, of course. Companies have the same trouble. They follow an industry leader that stumbles. Or they launch a thousand imitations of their first breakthrough product - never realizing that the market is drying up.

For years, the record business has been dominated by a few major players, and they work hard to follow each other's lead. The labels have similar pricing, merchant policies, contracts, and packaging. Each label avoids criticism by sticking with the pack.

But when the market changes - when technology reshuffles the deck - the record labels are all in trouble. With no practice leading, no practice tryig the unknown, they're trapped, panicked, and in serious trouble. Their trade organization, the RIAA, is spending millions of dollars lobbying Congress to get legislation to keep the world just the way it is. In the long run, of course, they'll fail. You can't keep the world the way it is, even if you buy the influence of Congress.

The lesson of the Purple Cow is worth repeating: Safe is risky.

I think that, given that the Tour de France is taking place right now, you ought to insert 'cyclist' and 'peleton' for goose and formation. Especially since all of the logos on the cyclists' kits link back to the design focus of your work.

Just a thought.

I like the analogy of the "goose" because it seems to point out the brainless act of following formation which seems much more like the corporate structure of most large companies these days.