“Love the metaphor of creativity as an import-export business. Cognitive diversity, FTW. The value found in crowdsourcing – as well as the reason it is so valuable – seems to me to argue for the value we have long sought through knowledge management, made more powerful through the use of the connective power of social media harnessed for use by the enterprise . . . meaning, fundamentally, its people.”
Crowdsourcing is a method of solving problems through the distributed contributions of multiple people. It’s used to address tough problems that happen everyday. Ideas for new opportunities. Ways to solve problems. Uncovering an existing approach that addresses your need.
Time and again, crowdsourcing has been used successfully to solve challenges. But…why does it work? What’s the magic? What gives it an advantage over talking with your pals at work, or doing some brainstorming on your own? In a word: diversity. Cognitive diversity. Specifically these two principles:
- Diverse inputs drive superior solutions
- Cognitive diversity requires spanning gaps in social networks
These two principles work in tandem to deliver results.
Diverse inputs drive superior solutions
When trying to solve a challenge, what is the probability that any one person will have the best solution for it? It’s a simple mathematical reality: the odds of any single person providing the top answer are low.
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Systems Savvy 
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