NECC 2008 Reflections: Opening Keynote

Opening Keynote
James Surowiecki, The Wisdom of Crowds

I found the opening keynote speech by James Surowiecki quite interesting. Much of his presentation came from material in his book The Wisdom of Crowds. In a nutshell, Surowiecki claims that the wisdom of crowds is great than that of its best and smartest members. He provided several anecdotes to prove his position. By the way, the first thing that must be understood is that the crowd must be diverse; diversity is the key to bringing different perspectives, ideas, experience to the table and therefore the overall wisdom gained by such experience that one person could not possibly have.
I found this concept of “the wisdom of crowds” compelling but wonder how one really acts upon it. When choosing leaders, one tends to lean toward the familiar, toward those most like us. While I am fascinated by the idea and inclined to agree, I think putting the concept into practice is a daunting task for most organizations. I wholeheartedly believe that diversity makes an organization smarter and better. But I also believe in hiring the best person for the job. I know that “diverse” and “best” is certainly not always a contradiction but they do seem to battle each other at times.