Scott E. Page

Why can teams of people find better solutions than brilliant individuals working alone? And why are the best group decisions and predictions those that draw upon the very qualities that make each of us unique? The answers lie in diversity—not what we look like outside, but what we look like within, our distinct tools and abilities. In this lecture, Scott Page explains how to use diversity to improve an organization’s predictions, decisions and problem-solving capabilities.

Moving beyond the politics that cloud standard debates about diversity, Scott discusses why difference beats out homogeneity, whether you're talking about citizens in a democracy or scientists in the laboratory, and why diversity trumps ability. He examines practical ways to apply diversity's logic to a host of problems, and along the way offers surprising examples, from the redesign of the Chicago "El" to the truth about where we store our ketchup.

The talk links to smart mobs, wise crowds, identity diversity, globalization, and interdisciplinary science. The same logic that shows how cognitive diversity improves the performance of a predictive market can show how including identity diverse — and experientially and vocationally diverse — people improves the performance of a problem-solving team.