Optimizing Collective Intelligence with Anita Woolley

Overview

In this episode, we dive into the topic of collective intelligence and its optimization with Anita Woolley, Professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. We get to know Anita's story and the valuable lessons she has learned in her career.

Our first topic is competition and collective intelligence in groups. We explore the definition of collective intelligence and the signs of a high-functioning team. We also discuss whether gender differences play a role in enabling collective intelligence in teams.

Moving on to the second topic, we delve into the effect of gender composition on the use of expertise. Anita shares her research on this topic and whether the results surprised her. We also explore the actions that leaders and teams can take to ensure that women are more likely to participate, even if they are in the minority group.

Overall, this episode provides valuable insights and actionable strategies for optimizing collective intelligence and creating more inclusive teams.

About Anita Williams Woolley

Anita Williams Woolley is a Professor of Organizational Behavior and the Associate Dean of Research at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. Dr. Woolley received her doctorate in organizational behavior from Harvard University, and her research includes seminal work on collective intelligence, which was first published in Science in 2010 and has been featured in over 5000 publications and media outlets since. Her papers have been published in Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, and Management Science among others and her research has been funded by grants from several federal funding agencies including the National Science Foundation, the Army Research Institute, and DARPA, as well as private corporations. Currently, Professor Woolley is a Senior Editor at Organization Science and a founding Associate Editor of Collective Intelligence. At the Tepper School, she teaches courses on managing teams and leading global and distributed teams.

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