What We Get Wrong About Teams

Written by Mark

Edited by Janis

We love celebrating individual brilliance and romanticize the myth of the lone genius: the investor who puts everything on the line and wins big, the star athlete on a winning streak, the founder who seems to take a company to the top by sheer force of will. 

But real life reminds us of something we don’t always want to admit: that to achieve consistent success, individual intelligence doesn’t count for a lot.

In The Knowledge Illusion, Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach write that humans don’t actually think as well as we assume—at least not on our own. We think communally. Our best ideas, deepest learning, and most effective problem-solving happens in groups. Our contribution depends less on how “smart” we are and more on how well we work with the people around us.

This isn’t news to education researchers; they have known for decades that students learn best in a team approach. Yet classrooms still prioritize solo performance. 

And workplaces are even further behind.

What Works in the Real World

Back in the ‘90s, researchers studied nearly 200 Silicon Valley startups and found that companies tended to hire in one of three ways:

1. The Star Model – collect the shiniest resumés you can find

2. The Professional Model – fill the roster with technically perfect specialists

3. The Commitment Model – hire people who share values and build tight bonds

   
   

The results said it all. Startups built on the commitment model were more stable, more successful, and went public at three times the rate of the other two.

This pattern shows up again and again.

Take Bill Campbell, Silicon Valley’s legendary “Trillion Dollar Coach.” He worked closely with Steve Jobs and the founders of Google, Facebook, Twitter, and dozens of other powerhouse companies. His philosophy, after spending endless hours in the trenches of these companies, is simple: talent is never enough. If the leader can’t put the team’s success above their own ego, the team will fail.

Let’s also look at Danny Meyer, the billionaire restaurateur behind Shake Shack and Union Square Cafe. He’ll tell you the turning point in his company came when he flipped their priorities: employees first, then customers, community, suppliers... and investors last. When the people inside the system felt valued, the whole system started humming.

And this isn’t just how it works in Silicon Valley or New York.

In Calgary, Canada, the Offszn’s Best soccer tournament draws elite players from around the world—including national-level athletes. Yet for the past two years, the tournament champions have been a group of local Calgarians who “used to play in college.” They have day jobs, mortgages, and kids to drive to school. And they also have loyalty, trust, and a genuine affection for one another. And they consistently beat teams full of professional athletes.

What Gets in the Way of Teams

If teamwork is so powerful, why do so many teams fall apart?

Peter Skillman at IDEO designed a deceptively simple experiment to find out. He gave a range of small teams 20 sticks of spaghetti, a yard of tape, a yard of string, and one marshmallow. Then challenged each team to build the tallest free-standing tower they could.

Business school students approach the challenge like professionals. They plan. Analyze. Assign roles. Debate. Optimize.

Kindergarteners? Total chaos. They huddle together, grab materials, start building without a plan, and communicate in quick bursts: “Here!” “No—this way!”

But to all our surprise, the kindergarteners win. Over and over, and sometimes with towers more than twice as tall!

Experiment analysis shows what makes the difference isn’t intelligence—it’s interaction.

The business students legitimately have group hierarchies and personalities to navigate. The group dynamics slow them down. The kindergarteners, free of ego and posturing, operate as a single organism—testing, failing, adjusting, and helping one another in real time.

Their collective intelligence outperforms individual brilliance.

It’s Time to Build Better Teams

Our culture worships exceptional individuals—the smartest, fastest, most impressive.

But real, lasting success comes from something far less sexy: trust, psychological safety, and learning how to move together instead of alone.

Yes, it requires patience. And yes, you’ll sometimes feel like your personal ambitions take a temporary back seat.

But what a cohesive team can accomplish? That’s the stuff dreams are made of.