The tender conscious of the herd

One of my younger brothers started a blog and I found a quote that really resonated with me, "[It] really wasn't a necessity. It was more of an attempt to serve the tender conscious' of the herd-minded around me."

It seems to be the popular opinion that we should make decisions in life solely for ourselves, without the consideration of others. The issue is we live in communities, full of people with differing opinions and views than our own, that we rely on to meet our goals and objectives. So the question to anyone reading this, where do you draw the line between making decisions based solely on your personal beliefs, and reacting based on societal norms that allow us to fit in more comfortably with those around us?