In groups where one person dominated, the group was less intelligent than those where the conversational turns were more evenly distributed.” Teams containing more women demonstrated greater social sensitivity and in turn greater collective intelligence compared to teams containing fewer women.

“Imagine if you could give a one-hour test to a top management team or a product development team that would allow you to predict how flexibly that group of people would respond to a wide range of problems. That would be an interesting application. We also think it’s possible to improve the intelligence of a group by changing the members, teaching them better ways of interacting, or giving them better electronic collaboration tools.”

“Having a bunch of smart people in a group doesn’t necessarily make the group smart. The whole adds up to something other than the sum of its parts.”