The Hidden Factor: Why Thinking Differently Is Your Greatest Asset

By: Scott E. Page, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Scott E. Page

Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

From technology to business, two (or more) heads often prove to be better than one - but only if those heads are cognitively diverse. Diverse perspectives are a powerful tool for maximizing productivity and enhancing collective performance. Now, in The Hidden Factor: Why Thinking Differently Is Your Greatest Asset, you can learn the strategies that make you a more diverse thinker and position you to break down institutional silos and build robust, effective teams.

Delivered by Professor Scott E. Page of the University of Michigan - a pioneering researcher in his field - these 24 thought-provoking lectures are packed with case studies, cautionary tales, and formal mathematical methods that prove the case for cognitive difference.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2012 The Great Courses (P)2012 The Teaching Company, LLC

pleasant experience

professor's explains the ability to diversity yourself increase the chances of solving and understanding problems of the world

Something everyone should listen to and understand

Diversity is the buzz word of the decade. But people just focus on race, gender, etc., etc. However, this book focuses on the true advantages of diversity i.e. diversity of cognition. It still get you back to importance of diversity of identity, but in a much more intelligent way that anything I have seen before.

Great lecture series, but a bit technical

This is a great lecture series on diversity. Scott does a great job relaying the information and relating the information to every day scenarios. However, Scott is also a mathematician, so he gets very technical with some of the lectures. Some of it is necessary while others don’t seem to be as much. Being an audible book, mainly listening while I drive, it was very hard to follow sometimes. There is a pdf of the lecture series which I have gone back to review and is extremely helpful. But if you are just listening to this and not following along, some parts can be difficult to visualize and track while he is presenting.

Statistics review

Mathematically justified theory, parsed out to mostly be statistics. Great deal of effort to not let these explanations be used to justify social dilemmas or progressive ideologies. The author intends to help explain through the power of mathematics; that statistics dictate a superior outcome even when better models exist. Specialization has its place but diversity of sample set will always matter more.

Top 2 Netflix contest finalists, still beaten by a 3 data set; which is a combination of the two best models!

What a great, empirical look at diversity

I love this book. Dr. Page takes a “touchy freely” subject and does an objective analysis with empirical evidence. I also listened to his Great Course on Complexity. He does an amazing job of breaking down subjects into easily understandable chunks. This book was my traffic classroom listen. It is engaging and thought provoking.

Awesome.

A worthwhile listen

For anyone. This course does a fantastic job of illustrating how and why diverse thinking benefits us all. A must listen for anyone with a brain.

it almost avoided the pitfall

In the 21st Century, who doesn't want to think differently? And yet, if one honestly observes the behaviors of oneself, societies or countries, it is clear that, while instinctively we want to think differently to stand out, to win competitions, to optimize our lives, we are all still actively seeking(self-sorting) into "great mind think alike" groups, and there are plenty examples of "thinking differently" doesn't produce better outcomes, for ourselves or society as a whole... So the question is probably not "if" we want to think differently, but when and how to think differently, and how to judge and evaluate these different thoughts... This book sort of provided sound answers for them:

** From a conceptual perspective: when a group can think differently you get "diversity":

1. if diversity doesn't guarantee success, why pursue it? Professor Page illustrated a math-based theory to emphasize that, in average, diversity "always" produce better outcome than non-diversity.

2. if diversity is so good, why not always choose diversity? Professor Page also touched that there are many kinds of diversities, and why some diversity actually is counter-productive. I think this is the area that gave the book credibility and I wished is more expanded. Unlike many books/lectures that are so focused on explaining the primary concept but failed to mark the boundary of when it does not apply, this book pointed out the difficulty and potential pitfall of diversity. After all, a book about "thinking differently" should challenge its own core concept, right?

** From a personal perspective, how to do you think differently or participate in diversity?

1. how to think differently? This book suggested a few fun and easy to follow approaches that really can be done by anybody regardless of one's "creativity" level.

2. how to promote and manage diversified approaches in your community? Professor Page provided some suggestions about leadership and differentiation of diversity categories.

None of these are 3-steps instructions and are relatively light in proportion and substance, but nevertheless, it should still be able to give the interested readers something to think about and practical, actionable suggestions to apply.

**Lastly, Professor Page narrated the book well. I enjoy the pace and clarity. However, sometimes he can come across as a bit sarcastic or snobbish, but that could be just my subjective interpretation. Overall, I found this is quite a joyful listening experience.

Excellent content, with two caveats

There are good ideas here about how diversity of models, methods, variables, and people, can contribute to problem solving and optimization. I garnered a lot of insights from these lectures and, as I write, I'm going through them for a second time.
The statistical models that are presented are rather traditional and elementary, but perhaps that's appropriate for a beginner-level survey course.
There are two caveats:
1) The narrator has a very annoying habit of swallowing the 's' at the ends of plural words, of swallowing short words, the ends of words, mangling phrases, and so on. He's clearly very bright and, I gather, a native of the US, so presumably he knows basic English. Maybe he's trying to show us that his brain is rushing ahead of his mouth. If so, it's a mistake. Scott, if you're reading this, please see a speech therapist.
2) This is the audio soundtrack of a video course with lots of visuals. I found most of the time that I could envision what the narrator was talking about, but I have a strong background in quantitative analysis. If you don't you'll find the course difficult to follow. I know there's a PDF that accompanies the course, but the reason I listen to audio books is because I'm in motion, usually doing physical chores, not sitting down in front of a computer. If you're planning to listen to this while driving to work, for example, then the PDF is not going to help you, unless you review it beforehand.
Quibbles aside, I found the course to be very valuable.

Outstanding

A very interesting course. Not having seen him work out the equations does not take away from any of the points he is making. This and another course on complexity theory can change your way of thinking. I highly recommend both courses.

Very Good Content, Very Advanced Math

The content is great and well reasoned. It definitely explains how cognitive diversity is crucial. However, it should be warned that his explanations are very mathematical and can be difficult if you're not using the PDF to follow.