The Scout Mindset: How to Escape Echo Chambers, Thrive in Confusion, and Seek the Truth
Have you ever found yourself so convinced of an idea that it feels impossible to consider alternative viewpoints? You're not alone.
Have you ever found yourself so convinced of an idea that it feels impossible to consider alternative viewpoints? You're not alone.
We all fall prey to the echoes of our own minds, especially when surrounded by like-minded individuals who confirm our beliefs and opinions. But what happens when those echoes turn into a deafening roar, distorting our understanding of the world and trapping us in our own biases?
This is the experience I had earlier this year during the crypto bull run. I became so entrenched in my beliefs, influenced by the echo chamber of Crypto Twitter, that I missed the opportunity to sell and ultimately lost a whole lot of money. It was a hard lesson, but it taught me the importance of being aware of echo chambers, seeking dissenting voices, and constantly re-evaluating my beliefs.
In this article, I'll delve into the concept of echo chambers and how to escape them and our own biases. We'll explore:
Why the so-called “soldier mindset” is the reason why we fall into echo chambers
Why you’d rather want to have a “scout mindset”
Strategies to escape your echo chambers
Why it’s important to hold your identity “lightly”
By understanding how echo chambers form and how to break free from them, you can learn how to navigate the unknown, and see the world for what it truly is.
Soldier, do you really know what you’re fighting for?
Are you a soldier, fighting for what you believe in? Or are you a scout, constantly questioning and exploring new perspectives? In her book, The Scout Mindset, Julia Galef describes the "soldier mindset" as a mental model that focuses on defending a specific viewpoint at all costs.
When wearing the soldier hat, we see the world as a battleground and others as opponents to be conquered or defeated. This approach frames our interactions as zero-sum games, where you’re either right, and you win, or you’re wrong, and you lose. That’s why it leads us to fall into echo chambers, making it harder to learn from dissenting voices and see things as they really are.
For example, working with startup founders and seeing how driven and ambitious they are, they may see their life as a war where they must defend their vision to succeed. When brought to the extreme, they might surround themselves mostly with yes-people, and only consider the feedback that reinforces their beliefs — making them fall into echo chambers.
Crypto Twitter also showcased how people with a soldier mindset can defend certain tokens or NFTs with fierce loyalty, as if they were members of a cult in a battle for crypto supremacy, making them unable to hear anyone who dares to challenge them; in some cases even engaging in cyberbullying and harassment.
As human beings, we are naturally inclined to adopt the soldier mindset to some extent, especially when we discuss topics that are close to our identity, like religion, politics, and ideological beliefs; when things get ‘personal’.
But why are we so inclined to adopt this soldier mindset in the first place? Galef suggests that there are several reasons:
To avoid the unpleasant feeling of being wrong and hence to feel better about ourselves
To build the willpower to motivate us to do hard things
To convince ourselves so we can convince others
To choose the beliefs that make us look good, and be more socially accepted
Regardless of the context, it's important to be aware of this tendency and strive to adopt a different approach, the so-called "scout mindset," where we question our beliefs and explore new perspectives.
I’d rather be a scout, ser!
A scout mindset is a powerful tool for anyone looking to escape echo chambers, consider all sides of an issue, and get close. Just like when applying the Japanese principle of Shoshin (“beginner's mind”), scouts let go of their ego to constantly seek out new information and perspectives, staying open to the possibility that their beliefs may be incorrect or incomplete.
Some signals of a scout mindset include:
Actively admitting when you were wrong and someone else was right
Being willing to change your mind on a topic and announcing that publicly
Welcome and actively seek criticism and challenge from others
Avoiding influencing or biasing others toward your point of view
Keeping close to people who are genuine critics of your beliefs, profession, or life choices
Admitting situations where you've adopted a soldier mindset
If we revisit the above examples, it's not very common to find many startup founders or crypto believers who have shown these signals, especially in public settings (I’ve found one!).
Startup growth professionals are a great example of the scout mindset in action. They focus on continuous experimentation and learning, data-informed decision-making, taking calculated risks, and continuously updating their map of beliefs about their users and business. They often use a combination of A/B testing, user research, and data analysis to build new features, iterate on their channel portfolio, and drive growth.
Just like growth professionals, you can use these thought experiments to see where you are on the soldier/scout spectrum. Don’t just ask yourself the question, but imagine the scenario by writing a short paragraph about it, place yourself in it by reading it out loud, and observe your reaction.
Double standard test: are you judging a situation by a different standard than you’d use for another one?
Outsider test: how would you evaluate your situation if it wasn’t your situation?
Conformity test: if other people (close to you) wouldn’t hold this belief, would you still hold it?
Selective skeptical test: if this evidence challenged your opinion or beliefs — or your social circle’s — how much would you consider it?
Status quo test: if your current situation was not the status quo, would you still choose it?
However, it's not always easy to execute the scout mindset consistently, especially when you’re in an echo chamber.
The arduous path to becoming a scout
Even when you realize you’re in an echo chamber and you’re ready to seek a different perspective, it doesn’t get easier. You can use these strategies to cut through the noise and strive to act as a scout.
1. The importance of the medium
Seeking challenge with people who completely disagree with you can devolve into heated and unproductive arguments, where both parties are focused on defending their own beliefs instead of listening to the other person’s perspective.
A prime example of this happens on social media platforms like Twitter and Reddit, where people who don’t really know each other and have very different viewpoints engage in “conversation”. These interactions not only create animosity but tend to reinforce people’s existing beliefs even more, leading to deeper polarization and desensitization of our scout mindset and its truth-seeking capabilities.
The medium we use to seek challenge is critical, as social algorithms are optimized to expose us to information that aligns with our beliefs and tastes. This reinforces our soldier mindset. On the other hand, asynchronous mediums like books, blogs, or podcasts offer a broader and more thoughtful way to update our beliefs, as it gives us a slower way to digest diverging points of view.
Also, these mediums make it easier to find people who share intellectual common ground.
2. Seek dissenters you share something with
Engaging with people who share intellectual common ground, personal experiences, or similar goals like friends, family members, or coworkers is crucial to personal growth.
Sharing values and experiences with dissenters not only provides the necessary context and nuance for more thoughtful responses but also helps lower defense mechanisms typical of the soldier mindset. Just strike a balance and seek challenge from people with different perspectives on a specific topic.
For example, if you're in marketing, seek challenges from other marketers who share a common understanding of marketing but work in different industries or companies. This is more likely to lead to productive dialogue and integration of new knowledge.
3. Digesting a new perspective
We often discount new arguments as bad ones just because they are new to us. It can take us multiple times to consider a new opinion, as new information can be hard to process, especially if it contradicts existing beliefs.
Our experience and biases default us back to what we know is right and to effectively acquire new information, we need to give new ideas time to fully process them.
Here’s another example from the crypto world. Someone who has a strong thesis about a particular token may discount new arguments against its success. They’ll need to give that new information time to process and hear it multiple times from multiple resources before actually integrating it into their map of beliefs.
4. Updating one belief requires updating multiple ones
Truth be told, our beliefs are all interconnected, like a web. Updating or changing one belief often requires updating other interrelated beliefs. This process can be emotionally taxing, as it may trigger the negative emotions that the soldier mindset is trying to protect us from, such as feelings of being wrong and low self-confidence.
It's important to be prepared for this and acknowledge that this process is essential for personal and professional growth. Changing beliefs and challenging ourselves can help us better understand and navigate the world.
Let’s go back to crypto one more time. Even if invested in the long-term thesis, a scout that comes across information of a bear market will update their beliefs and adjust their portfolio accordingly, instead of firmly holding on to their positions like a soldier. This might require investors to update their understanding not only of their specific token potential but also of the overall crypto market and macroeconomic picture.
Closing thoughts: Holding your identity lightly
In conclusion, it's easy to activate our soldier mindset when we’re in an echo chamber discussing topics that are closely tied to our identities, such as religion, politics, and ideological beliefs. This is because they form an integral part of our sense of self and can be difficult to let go of or even be aware of.
That’s why the best way to avoid echo chambers altogether is to keep our identity flexible and prevent it from biasing our understanding. This doesn't mean renouncing our identity altogether, but rather seeing it as subject to change based on new information and perspectives.
Here’s another test for you to check out: the Ideological Touring Test: Can you explain an ideology as a believer would and make other people believe that you are a genuine believer? This will force you to apply the scout mindset and test both your knowledge and emotions toward the other side.
The scout mindset strategies really helped me let go of my ego, keep an open mind, and strive to seek the truth, at work, when investing, and in my relationships.
I hope they’ll help you too. Thanks for reading,
Matteo
PS. Check Julia Galef’s Ted talk and book to dive deeper into the scout mindset — it’s as humbling as it is enlightening!
About the author
Matteo is the founder of Genesys Growth, a boutique growth studio helping startups achieve sustainable growth through effective product, marketing, and operations strategies.
With 7+ years of experience in SaaS, marketplaces, and Web3, Matteo is a full-stack growth expert who has worked with mission-driven teams from pre-seed startups to public companies. Matteo is based in London but has also lived in Rome, Milan, Sydney, and Madrid. In his free time, he reads self-help books, meditates, and has recently started learning Japanese.