… is as dumb as all of us!

While generally regarded as true, there has, unfortunately, been a lack of evidence to support the belief … until now! As per this recent article on the Knowledge @ Wharton site on how group dynamics may be killing innovation, a recent study by Christian Terwiesch and Karl Ulrich demonstrated that the average quality of the ideas generated by the hybrid process [where participants were given time to brainstorm on their own] were better than those that came from the team process by roughly 30 percentage points. While this may not be the gap the researchers were hoping for, it shows that even in a simple study where there is nothing to lose by trying to get the best idea pushed through, it won’t happen if everyone is asked to innovate as a team. I can only imagine how much innovation is being lost when there are real stakes in the real world! Innovation requires creativity and vision … more specifically, creativity of the individual and the vision of the group to realize it.