Where Group-Think Is Good
Groups often provide the best answers to business problemsprovided you know how to structure the team
This article is for subscribers only.
If you're a contestant on the game show and you don't know the answer to a question, apart from guessing randomly, you have three choices: You can pick an option in which two of the incorrect answers are eliminated for you, so that you have a 50% chance of being right; you can poll the audience; or you can phone a friend. (Now let's be honest, if you're selected to be on the show, your "friend" is going to be the smartest person you know.)
In his book James Surowiecki looked at how often each of these last two options produced a correct answer on the show. The smart friend option did pretty well—producing a correct answer roughly 65% of the time. The real surprise? Audience members produced a correct answer 91% of the time.