‘Great minds think alike’ is a common saying. Sometimes it might be right but the greater value of having a few great minds in the one place exchanging views is the fact that they will bring different ideas, values, backgrounds, and depth of knowledge to any discussion.
Throughout history those we remember as great have always had around them a group that has helped form and test their views.
‘The Inklings’ was a group of eminent writers meeting regularly at a pub in Oxford. They called it the ‘Bird and Baby,’ when the actual name was the ‘Eagle and Child.’ CS Lewis, and JRR Tolkien were amongst this group who through debate and constructive criticism tested, improved, and refined the thinking and writing of their comrades.
President Theodore Roosevelt had what he called his tennis cabinet. This was a group of younger men with whom he would go hunting, fishing, shooting, and climbing. All are the ‘masculine’ pursuits for which the President was famous. In the course of these adventures the conversations were all about the problems challenges and potential solutions facing the nation at that time. It was not an official cabinet, but probably held as much or more power than Roosevelts official cabinet, made up of men older than him.
Henry Ford was part of a small group made up of himself, Thomas Edison, President Warren Harding, and Harvey Firestone. This group of men who held in their hands a big chunk of the future path of America, went camping together into the mountains with a tent, a bottle, a few cans of beans, matches to light a fire, and a readiness to discuss the pressing issues of the day.
Even the great Einstein had a peer group, made up of Michele Besso, who was a college friend he called ‘the best sounding board in Europe, Marcel Grossman another college friend and mathematician with who he shared long walks around lake Geneva, and his first wife Mileva Maric, herself a substantial mathematician.
These days business ‘Networking’ groups proliferate, as owners of SME’s in particular, budding entrepreneurs, and solopreneurs look around for advice, input, sales leads, and often somebody to talk to who understands their situation. I am a member of several, and all are different, and I attend each for different reasons.
Where is your mastermind group?
Do you have one? Do you have in your own mind that dinner party where the six people you would most like to invite are, in your imagination, with you? While eating and drinking, you will be imagining a discussion where your ‘private’ group is responding to the things on your mind, offering you their views, ideas, and their perspective, on the issues you face and actions you are contemplating? Clearly in order to have such a powerful imaginary cabinet, you do need to have developed a clear understanding of each of your imaginary dinner guests in order to be able to reflect on your problems from their perspective.
Header photo is the Eagle and Child pub in Oxford, UK. Home of ‘The Inklings’ during the enlightenment.
