Managing abundance and the Creativity of Teams
http://www.buzzmachine.com/2008/08/07/the-myth-of-the-creative-class/
This is brilliantly succinct:
“But we are shifting, too, from a culture of scarcity to one of abundance. That is the essence of the Google worldview: managing abundance.”
to the further point, collaborative creativity is in a different class (a different animal) than that of the individual. This is not a value statement - it’s not one better than the other, but it is different.
Dr. Eric Schmidt recently spoke about the difference between Google’s two-person teams and what happens when they get larger. In essence, two-person teams are where ideas originate and take root; larger are where the same idea scales.
Another e.g., Pete Townshend has a few “Scoop” records that are basically demo tapes of the songs he wrote and then presented to his band (The Who). Pete had brilliantly-talented collaborators, but the core - The Idea - for the most part was solidly his. (The “exception” being Keith Moon, virtuoso drummer, who expanded the cores in directions so completely unforeseen that Scoop demos rarely had drum tracks at all.)
Ideas shared before that become Different from the Idea: when the germ is presented as Germ, it develops differently. sometimes better; always different.
Collaborations start with an idea. A young, solid idea needs germination. That’s best, generally, a small, controlled environment. (e.g. one woman writes the novel, seeing it through).
Even ideas’ first forays into collaborative areas will change them not bad. just different
collaboration can be from the germ or from later points.
most likely, fewer than 81% of the world can originate, germinate ideas in which
beyond what they themselves would have interest. but *realizing* those and publicizing those is the ability we now
posess in a way unimaginable
in such a brilliant way today
that simply has never existed before
and before just a few years ago
and which will be even more widespread and powerful in another few years
these are great times.
–
not everyone’s Townshend. many are with ideas as seeds that NEED collaborative input before they’re even fully-formed. these are different animals. And they’re animals TURNBOCHARGED by recent (~10 years) of advancements.
These continue to be exciting times.
A trick is to align the Priests and the One-Hand Clappers in such a way that each realize there are babies in the other’s bathwater. There are so many smart people and great ideas on both fronts. (i want to be in both places at once and act on the best of both)