Brain Trust by Garth Sundem

Author:Garth Sundem [Sundem, Garth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-88614-9
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2012-03-05T16:00:00+00:00

Does diversity have inherent value? This may be the twenty-first century’s most important question. Think ecosystems, think countries and immigration policies, think financial markets. Scott Page, professor of complex systems and political science at the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor and author of the book Diversity and Complexity, explored the question in the realm of problem solving. First, he and collaborator Lu Hong gathered a group of college students and tested them on a range of puzzles. Then they wondered: How would a team randomly chosen from this pool perform against a team of the top problem solvers? What they found is surprising—diverse teams outperformed homogenous teams of all-stars—but only if three conditions existed: (1) a baseline level of competence in all puzzlers (no total duds); (2) a wide enough range of puzzle types to nix the power of specialization (a complex system); and (3) a wide enough puzzler pool to ensure diversity is present.

Imagine a basketball team. “One power forward is great and two power forwards is good, but three is ridiculous,” says Page. At a certain density of power forwards, you’ll get every rebound but your homogeneity makes you susceptible to counter by one specific strategy: the full-court press. A team of power forwards would never get the ball up the floor.

In complex systems like basketball teams, “the hope is you create this interesting, innovative, pulsing, growing system,” says Page. If your team does something noncomplex, like picking apples, you’d want a team of strong apple pickers. If your team’s going to compete with Apple, Page shows that diversity for diversity’s sake, as long as everyone reaches baseline competence, has value.

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