Clashes of egos, ideas forge creative edge -"consensus is the sire of mediocrity"

The all-business style of management continues to flourish in the corporate suites: no flash, no nonsense, get everyone on the same page, subordinate individual egos for the good of the team.

But in the current issue of Harvard Business Review and in a forthcoming book, a pair of business educators suggest a markedly different approach can work better for the most ambitious projects: assemble ”virtuoso teams" of all-stars and turn them loose to compete, squabble, and ultimately generate great ideas and innovations.

”I’m convinced that consensus is the sire of mediocrity," said Andy Boynton, dean of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College and one of the authors. ”Great firms let the stars be the stars."

Never mind that these stars are apt to be high-strung, fiercely individualistic, contentious, and egotistical. If they can buy into a goal, and collaborate, they’re more likely to produce superior results than the tamer traditional teams convened for more prosaic tasks, contend Boynton and co-author Bill Fischer, a professor of technology management at the IMD business school in Lausanne, Switzerland.

By Robert Weisman

Full Story: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/07/24/clashes_of_egos_ideas_forge_creative_edge/