When was the last time you heard about a great invention coming from someone’s garage?
It’s not that there aren’t creative geniuses at work in the world. They are just more likely to be working in collaboration with others. Perhaps teams of people working in the right kind of environment now get to the ideas before the lone wolf?
Collaboration, “networked genius”, is a strong force.
Shared spaces, both physical and virtual, allow for ideas to be circulated, diffused and combined.
Teams of individuals from different backgrounds, with different skillsets, make different connections.
The right culture allows for mistakes to be made, for random beneficial mutations to surface.
When we intentionally design our work environments for collaboration, take care to bring together diverse cross-functional teams, and give them space to test and experiment, magic can happen.