Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration.

GROUP GENIUS: The Creative Power of Collaboration KEITH SAWYER

Although an artistic or business success is often credited to the genius of an individual, Sawyer, a professor of psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, posits that all creative processes are ultimately the product of collaboration. Indeed, many innovations that have changed modern life--e-mail, the automatic teller machine, the mountain bike--are the results of collaborative creation. Sawyer recounts his own research findings about what he calls group genius and describes this creative process in action. He demonstrates the power of guided improvisation and the key characteristics of creative teams, from jazz ensembles to boardroom brainstormers. He outlines the notion of group flow, which occurs among people operating at their optimal levels of collaboration and concentration. He then turns the focus from collaboration among contemporaries to collaboration within a person's mind and collaboration among people over time. Real creativity emerges from many ideas, most of which are failures, Sawyer asserts. Finally, Sawyer profiles companies that have tapped into the power of collaboration. Basic, 2007, 274 p., hardcover, $26.95.