Applying Collective Intelligence in Futball
October 2, 2006
For those who have been following Ziga Zoga thank you! Over the past two weeks I have been quite engaged in a little start up company called KulaByte as we prepare to launch a beta, thus the reason for my silence.
Although physically time consuming, I have been thinking a lot about where to take the conversation next and how it relates to evolving the American Futball community. The reason for the diagram is to help establish a framework for collective intelligence.
I know you are probably thinking, "what the heck does this have to do with soccer"? Actually, it has a lot to do with everything but, how it specifically relates to the game and the evolution of our community is what I would like to begin exploring. First, what is collective intelligence: the capacity of human communities to evolve towards higher order
complexity and harmony, through such innovation mechanisms as
differentiation and integration, competition and collaboration (Source: George Por ).
I wish I could say that I’m an expert on the subject but I’m not. However, I can greatly appreciate and understand the value that exists when intellectualism can be distributed and / or leveraged to solve problems and increase productivity. Being a soccer player for so many years, the value of a team becomes ingrained in your mind and this in turn spills over into business, family and general social relationships. The best football teams become great because as a group they understand the principle of collective intelligence as they work together to overcome the challenges of the opposing side.
I’ve been doing a bit of reading on George’s Collective Intelligence blog and I have to admit that this is one of the most interesting subjects I have ever come across. Quickly, take a look at the diagram again ……… what do you see as it relates to the progression or rise of Futball in America?
Here is what I see ….. at the heart of everything we are all part of a large and diversified Futball community. Our community may just be the most diverse and segmented affinity groups with an enourmous amount of intellectual capital. No sport besides Football can claim the following and level of passion that is enjoyed and displayed by Football fans around the world. Unfortunately, as an American Soccer community we could use a lot more of that passion. Although passion is not the main focus here, the level of passion in
this country might be improved if Futball fans in general perceived our
community of players, coaches, referees, etc., as the most competitive or best in the
world. So, how does this all relate to the American Futball revolution. For one thing, we are not leveraging our collective knowledge toward its maximum potential.
With that, lets consider that if the community was at the core of all futball development rather than the development and growth of leagues, college programs, coach and youth organizations and rather simply the all encompassing community it would seem that collectively, the level of competitveness, passion and knowledge would rise naturally across the board.
As it currently stands, we have many different soccer organizations with many differing objectives. These organizations have certain levels of hiearchy or beuacracy. More importantly, these organizations are more governing in nature and lack sufficient threats or competition. Therefore, I’d like to propose that as a community we need to develop a mechanism and / or organism to leverage an unleash our collective intellectual capital.
With that in mind, I welcome your thoughts. Who out there would like to explore this discussion in greater detail?
