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Tap Group Smarts

One interpretation of Google's great market success is that it has found a way to tap into and commoditize the collective intelligence of the Internet. Through its use of a page-ranking algorithm, Google has leveraged the total knowledge and expertise of the countless individuals using the Internet. In fact, this magazine has even taken a look at how Google, well, googles itself.

Academics have already demonstrated the power of group intelligence; how groups tend to be right more often than individuals. A classic example of this phenomenon is when Jack Treynor, a former professor of finance, asked a group of students to guess the number of jellybeans in a jar. The group average was 2 percent off the true number, far closer than most of the students.

If groups reach better answers more often be than individuals, does that mean the collective should be consulted in business strategy formulation? Do all members of an organization deserve a say in key decisions? Perhaps "all" is an unrealistic number, but trying to be as inclusive as possible would seem to be a better strategy for success than going it alone. Just ask Michael Eisner about that.