I've often seen that people who tend to talk first and more often start getting followed around by the group, and they more easily accept what he or she is proposing as the next action. It helps to have a strong personality, too.<p>People seem to be more willing to follow a <i>strong</i> direction even if it's wrong, than a weak one, even if it's the right one. That's because our brains associate confidence in something as being right. It's like a default for us: when in doubt, go with the most confident one. And we're most of the time in doubt.<p>But we usually go with it even if our gut instinct tells us otherwise, so it seems confidence overpowers gut instinct (which is just a way for your subconscious to calculate the <i>decision</i> in a split second, based on knowledge present in our brains and on our past experiences).<p>If we think of that person as an authority in a certain field, we also tend to think they are right more, even outside their own field of expertise.