Building Teams to Tackle the Most Challenging Problems

Yes, expertise matters. But diverse skill sets matter just as much — and perhaps even more — when it comes to solving hard problems.

A team of students works on a project in the CoLab. Credit: Elena Zhukova

September 21, 2020

| by Beth Rimbey

Should a project team be made up of people with the greatest ability or people who will take different approaches to the problem at hand? Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Jonathan Bendor explains the tradeoffs between ability and diversity — and how to combine the two for the best results.