Two Heads Are Better than One: The Value of Collaboration

Alexander Graham Bell was a highly successful and prolific American inventor. To him we credit the telephone, phonograph, and metal detector along with various other advancements in transportation, light transmission, and what would come to be called telecommunications. Beyond his success as an inventor, Bell is also acknowledged to have said, "Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds." Given his incredible number of significant discoveries, Bell seems uniquely qualified to make such an assertion; however, in the true spirit of his quote, in order to gain the most insight into the issue, it is necessary to examine his thoughts in relation to others.

The claim that collaboration is essential to success is one that is echoed in the proverb that "two heads are better than one;" however, its import can also be qualified by two other equally commonplace adages asserting that while perhaps two heads are preferable, three is certainly a crowd, and too many can spoil even the best broth. Is the value of collaboration a limited one?

The framers of the U.S. Constitution recognized the benefits of having a system of government that utilized many minds through voting. Yet, they also limited the number, or at least the direct effect of this mass of minds, in instituting the electoral college and a legislature utilizing elected representatives in place of direct legislative voting by the populace. This suggests that collaboration is subject to the law of diminishing marginal returns wherein the benefits of an increasing number of anything, even collaborators, eventually peaks, and then declines. It is past this numerical point that the collaborating cooks begin to notice that the broth is losing flavor. Thus, while collaboration is essential to success, this is not an unqualified truth.

While collaboration is a great asset, collaborators must necessarily have some common goals or understandings. Only with this foundation can the true value of the diversity of viewpoints afforded through collaboration truly be realized.

Of course, none of this addresses why and how collaboration is of essential value. Collaboration today is somewhat of a buzzword thrown around business meetings and art galleries alike, but unlike so many similar fashionable concepts, collaboration has managed to hold onto its value. This is due, quite possibly, to the inherent value in collaboration itself. When people determine to work together to create something, in the best of cases, they acknowledge a desire to learn from each other, and a willingness to be flexible, to compromise.

The mere notion of collaboration promises benefits to all participants and often even to those outside the group as the collaborative effort likely results in a valuable new creation whether artistically, economically, materially, or politically. This is largely because while an individual's thoughts may be of tremendous insight, each person is ultimately limited to their own singular perspective. The addition of another person's experience and outlook almost universally allows for a deeper understanding of the problems they may face and the solutions to which they might strive.