In most organizations authority for the most important strategic decisions is
left to the highest-paid person s opinion (HiPPO). But relying on the judgement
of one person or a few individuals is bound to lead to trouble. HiPPOs often
are wrong, due to inherent biases, misinformation, and other types of noise
that can cloud one person s opinion. To cancel out much of that noise,
companies should integrate crowd voting into their decision-making strategies.
Crowd voting integrates the expertise, knowledge, and perspectives of many
people. These opinions can help shape a more well-rounded frame of reference,
and can vastly improve the chances that a strategic decision will lead to
success. Crowd voting doesn t render HiPPOs obsolete; rather, it encourages
HiPPOs to work with the crowd in order to develop more-successful strategies.
Adapted from The Antidote to HiPPOs: Crowd Voting, by Karim R. Lakhani
HBR