Great ideas vs. confidence

The existence of a big idea or being confident that you have a great idea? Subjects were a group of up-and-coming business leaders gathered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to provide business plans to their peers.

Incentive was the promise that the best ideas will be recommended for funding. In the development of the first pilot here is that members of the group were not the only monitoring and evaluation of the Action Plan stadiums.

The device is designed specifically digital - a sociometer - was also monitored every show. The measure sociometer another channel of communication that works without the spoken language: our social development.

At the end of the meeting, and business leaders selected the ideas that they agreed would sell better. And here comes the second experimental evolution: The project will finance experts read business plans, but do not see live performances. Remember the other observer in the room - and sociometer? As it turned out, the sociometer was able to predict which business plans and the executives would choose exactly what is almost perfect. Sociometer both executives and managers (although they were not aware at the time) were busy measuring the social content of the offer, quite apart from the spoken word, the informational content. Clearly, the channel for social communication of science more than a final decision. While listening to the pitches, and executives and the collection of information is not disclosed, but critical, social, such as: How much does this person believe in this idea? This social information - information that is clearly not on the plans printed works - is what is the impact on the choices of executives of business plans to the maximum degree. When I read the finance experts in the action plans have been cut this sense of social decision, not to have to evaluate the plans on the basis of rational measures alone.

Unfortunately, research has shown that investments that are made without the "personal relationships" are more prone to failure. That is why venture capital firms usually invest only in companies that can visit the person regularly Lin, and why many investors pay more attention to face-to-face interaction among the founders of the company than it does to the plan of action in itself. One of the objectives of this current blog will be to explore the latest scientific research on this channel of social communication and its effects.