The Wisdom of Crowds

The Smartest People May non be as Smart as a Crowd, but Who go off Find a Smart Crowd? In The Wisdom of Crowds, antecedent James Surowiecki contends that the unusedest heap are often not as smart as a group of individuals formed under the right neat deal (XIII). Surowiecki backs up his claim by giving numerous real smell causas of crowds that meet the criteria of having diversity of opinion, independence, decentralisation and aggregation, and obligate proven to be smarter than about any one individual in the group.Surowiecki has proven that he has a square case for his theory of smart crowds but the exclusivity of this group of people has me wondering just how easy it is to identify or form much(prenominal) a group for practical purposes if no adept is avail equal to lower a situation. I feel that such ability would take dress and an increase in awareness to master, but still, I do reckon it can be done by al nearly anyone.Without addressing the specific product li ne of the reason suitable ease of any one person being able to form a smart crowd, Surowiecki does provide a persuasive example in favor of my theory when he tells the story of the missing poor boy Scorpion in May 1968. With no experts immediately available, naval officer potty fearful assembled a group of men with a wide chemical chain of knowledge and inviteed them to submit their best guess on questions about the paladins disappearance from a variety of scenarios he concocted (XX).The result of his heap was a calculation of the answers that led to a location found to be only 220 yards away from where the submarine was found five months subsequently it disappeared (XXI). Craven did this on the fly and without the help of any of the smartest people and found a fracture resolvent than any one expert ever did. Although an expert like Surowiecki finds it easy to identify examples of a able crowd, I had to ask myself if I could do the same.I found myself thinking back to whe n I had been position on a commissioning at work whose goal it was to numerate up with a good solution on how to integrate military force from antithetical incisions on a put up basis only. On this committee were two representatives from each respective department (filling the diversity of opinion and decentralization requirements) and one Supervisor sent to guide the group.As a group, we developed some(prenominal) possible solutions to this issue and were sent back to our departments to deliberate on our confess as to what we thought was the right course of action so that we could book of facts to a decision at our next opposition. By the next meeting it was found that the majority of us had one by one decided that by allowing employees the most freedom, by way of being able to travel to any department they liked, we would get the most participation through volunteerism.We were soon overrided by the supervisor and told the most beneficial way to go about it was to nar row the survival down to only allow travel to one department where it was believed those who did volunteer would potentially learn the most this is the option that was adopted. Over the next a couple of(prenominal) months, employees were allowed the opportunity to travel to the specified department, and few took advantage of it. It was soon after decided, by a group of supervisors, that in order to get better participation employees should be allowed to travel to which ever department they liked and by allowing this freedom they did receive more participation.What this proved to me, was that our small group of independently thinking people were able to identify a solution that the employees cut as a correct one and that the smart person in the group, counting on his expertise, forced our hand in a slight desirable direction. Despite the smart person taking over our group, I can say with confidence that I was indeed part of a wise crowd. Since I consider myself an amateur at deve loping or identifying a wise crowd, and Surowiecki an expert, I next sought a source I deemed to be novice to see what imput they could they could offer on my theory.My baby Abby and her husband Carlos are owners of a boutique custom cake and cupcake expose called Nadia Cakes, and last year they decided to expand their business from California to other state in July they drove across the country in expect of the perfect place to open their new divulge. They stopped in some(prenominal) states, casually talked with local communities and surveyed surrounding areas before coming to the tentative solution that manganese was in train of a custom cake and cupcake shop and would be a great place to call home.In an effort to reconcile as informed a decision as possible, they decided to do market research in the form a survey in the community they had identified as a promising location. They chose two different shopping centers they were considering for their store and surveyed 100 sho ppers in each. The shoppers were asked multiple questions during the survey including where they ordinarily buy cakes, and if a boutique cake and cupcake shop were to open in the area how likely they would be to purchase cakes there.Through this diverse, independent crowd who displace on their local knowledge, they were able to aggregate the information they collected and erudite which shopping center would be best for their business and that the community was exceedingly in favor of a shop like theirs opening in the area. The information my sister and her husband collected led them to move to Minnesota where they have had an overwhelming response from the community crimson though it lead be several months more until the shop opens.In just the two months they have been there they have been featured live on CBS, Fox and NBC sunup shows and their following on their Facebook Advertising page for Minnesota has risen to 2,000. And if that isnt enough proof that the crowd was right , the fact that they can hardly limit on top of all of the future cake and cupcake orders pouring in via Facebook and email is. Although I still struggle to identify a wise crowd on my own, I am happy that I was able to identify these few examples from an expert, novice and beginner, and am confident that others can as well.My experience with the wise crowd at work was a strong example to me of how anyone can be involved in one and good evidence that the smartest person isnt always right. My sister is simply a small business owner with good work ethic and without even knowing it, created her own wise crowd with great results and no need for an expert. Surowiecki is surely correct that the smartest people arent always right and his method acting to finding a solution without them is certainly valid in my book. whole works Cited Surowiecki, James. The Wisdom of Crowds. New York Random House, 2005. Print