In high school, I spent three summers as part of a rowing crew on Lake Maxinkuckee in Indiana. In the last year, we won the championship for which I received a varsity letter. I still remember that race like it was yesterday.
As hard as we trained and as exhausting as the race was, there was a peace of mind amid the exertion, like taking a deep breath. Well, the quantum condition in organizations has much in common with rowing. It’s mind numbing to come to terms with the condition, to say the least, but with the knowledge gained comes a peace of mind.
To paraphrase the famed physicist, Richard Feynman, a basic part of knowing about the quantum condition is to realize that no one person can know it. Like on Lake Maxinkuckee, it takes a team pulling together to cancel out individual misconceptions and command this condition. As James Surowiecki pointed out in his book, The Wisdom of Crowds, there are things only a diverse crowd can know. The quantum condition in organizations is most certainly one of them.