2016-07-05 05:13:20
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