Lone Genius

There's a phrase given in innovations that says, "collective input is always better than the lone genius". It's a true statement, but I don't believe we've done justice to why this has so much purpose and potential.

First glance of this would lead you to catch the idea that a group of people has a better ability to solve a problem, develop a product, or achieve an objective... all better than one person, no matter how smart that one person might be. Yes, it's true. For the most part a team will always be better to deliver a higher quality product due to variety of giftings, insights, strengths, and perspectives.

But here is where the real value is.. in team, not solution. I believe that if you have a team that is completely sold on an idea that they feel complete ownership of, that idea or product might even be less quality than some other product, but since it was developed, owners, and birthed by this team it will have a greater chance of success.

Sure, at the end of the day we have to create products that are beneficial, creative, innovative, profitable, functional, and most certainly meeting the needs of people. But there's a higher ethic and concern here for team development. I believe in the long run it's good team development that will always succeed in the product that exists in the market place.

People are always our greatest treasure, this is why its imperative to have the right team. The right team can accomplish anything.

Peer-to-Peer Development

Everyone knows of peer-to-peer networks that are consuming today’s world like Facebook, MySpace, and many more. All of these networks serve to provide people an online community of interaction, sharing, and community.

But the principle behind all of the peer-to-peer networking is incredibly powerful. Imagine how the internet has allowed us to network worldview and provided opportunities from incredible collaboration.

I was reminded this week as we worked through some strategy scenarios seeking a solution that our greatest resources for ideas and solutions are seldom found in our own organizations anymore, especially with the world wide web providing us a network to harness ideas from around the world.

I read a great story in Wikinomics about a gold company in Canada that “outsourced” its solution finding efforts to the world through an online competition. They provided all their data, research, and findings. Those with the most probably strategies would be considered and tested. The ROI was incredible for the company.

It’s tough for many of us to think about tossing out big issues out to the world to solve, but be creative and consider what options you may have. Don’t forget to compensate the people who can supply you a great idea. In the long run, they could be your greatest asset.

I might even suggest starting to apply this idea just within your own organization. Engage members of your team in a competitive problem solving scenario and see what bubbles to the top. This pays off two-fold because you’ve also engaged a wider variety of staff in this project as well.

Challenge: Don’t assume your management team has all the answers, look for creative ways to harness an idea.