How do you start building such a team? First, forget what you learned in school. Believe that your team members will be an outrangeous success before their first day of work. That's what Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic, does. The celebrated music teacher has a unique strategy for getting the best out of his students. On the first day of class, he tells his first year students that they all get an A. There's one condition. Their first assignment is to write a letter to him-dated on the last day of class- explaining why they deserved the grade.
Zander, who wrote a book called The Art of Possibility, believes there are several beneficial aspects of this dramataic role reversal. First, it's a great confidence builder for his students. Second, it eliminates the often counterproductive sniping that people frequently engage in when they think only a few will win (one reason we believe bell curve grading is so flawed). But most important, students invariably knock themselves out for that A. Zander believes that they do more to earn their own personal A than they would ever do for the traditional A given by a teacher.
We do much the same at IDEO. It starts with the hiring process. The typical job candidate will be interviewed by more than a dozen of us before getting the thumbs-up. The process takes time, but it's worth it in the end. You don't get hired at IDEO unless you wow a bunch of us. Those that make it receive a tremendous boost, knowing that a lot of other accomplished people think they're talented and capable.
We believe in giving individuals an opportunity to perform. Everone starts out roughly equal and then is given lots of chances to mess up- and to shine.
Newcomers that flourish in our environment are often offered a key role in a new project, or even an opportunity to manage a project. Age and experience aren't focus. You actually get to pick two of three people who will review your work, and IDEOers invariably pick them members. And since we live for projects, there's an opportunity to spread the work around.
The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley with Jonathan Littman
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