In an opinion column (“Rise Of The New Groupthink,” Sunday Review – New York Times, January 15, 2012), Susan Cain argues that creative people can only innovate in solitude. She elaborates on her contention that “the current fad” of the “new groupthink,” – in which she includes workplace collaboration, brainstorming, contemporary office space layout, and classroom education – is a nice idea… that doesn’t work. Period.
“Spectacularly creative” people in many fields are often introverted, independent, individualistic AND not joiners by nature, says Cain. So, they can’t work or learn in groups, can’t collaborate productively, shouldn’t be a part of a team and must work in privacy and without distraction. Working in offices with shared space, being asked to contribute to discussions or attend meetings, she writes, will lead to their suffering from higher blood pressure, stress, the flu and exhaustion.
Oh, and if they’re interrupted while they work, they make 50 percent more mistakes and take twice as long to finish!
Ms. Cain, according to the article, has a forthcoming book on “the power of introverts” and much of her article cites research collected for the book and excerpts from biographies to back up her premise.
Of the many comments posted, as well as with the numerous retweets, links and reposts to sites like LinkedIn that crossed my path as the article made the social rounds, the consensus was in overwhelming agreement with Cain.
“Totally agree,” was one that caught my eye immediately, mainly because a former boss and Creative Director posted it. Others shared stories of pointless meetings, unproductive brainstorms, decisions made by “bean counters,” inept management and the general suffering and soul-sucking terribleness that apparently pervades their workplaces – because they have to work with others.
To the Editor:
Susan Cain makes one valid point in that creative people often prefer to work in solitude. Being a “creative person” myself, and having worked for many years alongside other designers, writers, programmers, directors, editors, animators and fine artists, I concur that we “creatives” aren’t always the most social lot.
Cain uses quotes like “without great solitude, no serious work is possible,” by Picasso, and takes advice from Apple founder Steve Wozniak to “work alone… not on a committee. Not on a team.” She even hauls in loner hall-of-famers like Moses, Jesus and Buddha to show that great thinking is a solitary process.
The problem is that she then makes a giant leap to conclude that teamwork, collaboration, classroom education and brainstorming are essentially useless – even bad for business. Creative high achievers are not joiners or “group thinkers,” she suggests – they function at a higher level and shouldn’t be held back by the tedium of workplace interaction.
That Cain is charmed by a romantic idea of the quiet genius, working without constrictions like schedules, meetings, budgets… and reality is obvious. What’s not so obvious is whether she has any insight to offer companies that employ or wish to employ and retain innovative employees.
A good starting point might be for her to recognize that all work environments can be adjusted to improve productivity and nurture innovation – however, focusing solely on the needs of “creative employees” isn’t the way to do it. Companies are teams, and teams have schedulers and “bean counters,” in addition to creatives. And, not all “creatives” are created equal, for that matter.
Collaboration is about problem solving together – not creativity-killing groupthink – and being able to see problems from all perspectives is essential to solving them.
Markus Horak, 2012
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Filed under: Business, Creativity, Culture, Design, Management, Motion Tagged: brainstorming, groupthink, introverts, teamwork, workplace collaboration
