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COLLABORATION ESSENTIALS

All great inventions emerge from a long sequence of small sparks; the first idea often isn’t all that good, but thanks to collaboration it later sparks another idea, or it’s reinterpreted in an unexpected way. Collaboration brings small sparks together to generate breakthrough innovations.

—MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI, AUTHOR AND PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY

The prerequisites for solid collaboration include having a group of individuals who are willing to make sacrifices and endure inconveniences to realize a common objective. There is no easy way to achieve the rewards of collaboration—participants must put in the necessary time and energy, pool their assets, share the accountability for outcomes, and overcome differences, sometimes surrendering their individual preferences. But when the process is successful, the outcome is more than the sum of the individual efforts—it is something new that provides value for everyone involved.