Book Review: “Group Genius”

“It is a myth that geniuses made great inventions. Great inventions such as the electric telegraph (which was not invented by Samuel Morse), light bulbs (which was not made by Thomas Edison), and planes (which was not developed by the Wright brothers) were not made by one inventor but by a group of people. That is group genius.”

In other words, the world is led not by a genius but by group genius. The bottom line of the book “Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration” by Keith Sawyer is that a sophisticated cooperation system for group genius is needed for organizational development.

The author is a U.S. psychologist and business consultant. His concept of group genius came from an observation of a theater group and a jazz group. Watching a spontaneous performance, lines of actors and impromptu playing of jazz musicians, he learned something new. When actors perform and musicians play music, unpredictable things can happen like mistakes. Sawyer thought that a proper response to unpredictable situations is the key to success. But success cannot be achieved through one person’s effort.

All actors and musicians have to cooperate and exert their abilities to deal with every new situation. Both group genius and the cooperation of group members are needed. This is what the author learned.

Cooperation in this book means something different from what people casually say. Such cooperation should be spontaneous and instant because people have to deal with unpredictable problems and situations every time. The author believes that spontaneity leads to creative insight.

Some doubt this, saying spontaneous creative thinking might also come from a specific individual.

The author refutes this, however, saying an individual’s creative insight comes when one thinks many things that he or she shared with other people.

The author cites several examples to support his argument. The surprising success of Citibank, which doubled its deposits after setting up automatic teller machines in the 1970s, was possible because ideas from many individuals went into the process of cooperation.

Sawyer also says spontaneous response enabled Honda to dominate the U.S. small motorcycle market. When Honda found an unpredicted technical flaw in big motorcycles, it replaced them with small motorcycles, leading to great success. The author says drastic spontaneity worked well.

He emphasizes that a spontaneous cooperation system is necessary for an organization to exert group genius. But it should be a process pursuing small but endless change continuously. This is possible only when people think flexibly.

A different mindset can change the world. The greatest appeal of this book is a new perspective on group creativity, cooperation and innovation.

kplee@donga.com