The right circle thinks better than its smartest mind.
Whether a group finds good solutions depends surprisingly little on individual IQ — and a great deal on whether everyone gets to speak and truly listens. Anita Woolley and her team measured it.
From practice: A family-business owner has been wrestling with succession alone for months. At a well-moderated table with five peers who've been through it, the answer he'd never have reached on his own is on the table within two hours.
Woolley, Chabris, Pentland, Hashmi & Malone, Science 330 (2010)
Different angles crack stuck problems faster.
People who approach things differently solve new problems faster than a like-minded, well-drilled team. The difference is in how they think, not in their CVs.
From practice: The machine-builder who's complained about the same price pressure for months hears at the table how a hospital director and a logistics chief solved their margin problem — and leaves with a route his own industry would never have found.
Reynolds & Lewis, Harvard Business Review (2017)
First confidentiality, then honest answers.
People only say what they really think when they feel safe. Amy Edmondson showed this is what separates great teams from mediocre ones; at Google it was the single most important factor.
From practice: At the industry meet-up the CEO stays vague because three competitors are listening. Under Chatham House Rule he speaks openly about the failed ERP project — and saves two people at the table from the same million-euro mistake.
Edmondson, Administrative Science Quarterly (1999); Google "Project Aristotle" (2015)
Those who consult peers regularly do better.
Companies whose leaders sit in standing peer groups grow measurably more than comparable ones without. In a Dun & Bradstreet analysis, members grew while others shrank in the same year.
From practice: After one salon, a mid-market owner postpones her rushed US market entry by a year — and avoids the costly false start two people at the table had already lived through.
Dun & Bradstreet analysis for Vistage (2020)
