What’s the ideal team structure? Listen to Brian Uzzi

The ideal mix of people or social intimacy—combining the experienced with those new to the field or group–is what Brian Uzzi, a sociologist at Northwestern, refers to as the intermediate “power of Q.” Uzzi came up with the concept of “Q” for measuring social intimacy when trying to figure out what kind of teams were most successful. He did this by studying the production of Broadway musicals, where a broad mix of talent and different functions is needed.

Uzzi discovered that the best teams were produced with what he terms “intermediate” levels of social intimacy. That mix includes a combination of old friends (experts), as well as newbies. “This mixture meant that the artists could interact efficiently…but they also managed to incorporate some new ideas,” he says.