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The Secret to Smart Groups: It’s Women

“A fleet of MIT studies finds that women are much better at knowing what their colleagues are really thinking. It’s another reason to expect the gender wage gap to eventually flip. The concept of “general intelligence”—the idea that people who are good at one mental task tend to be good at many others—was considered radical in 1904, when Charles Spearman proposed the theory of a “g factor.” Today, however, it is among the most replicated findings in psychology. But whereas in 1904 the U.S. economy was a network of farms, mills, and artisans, today’s economy is an office-based affair, where the most important g for many companies doesn’t stand for general intelligence, but, rather, groups.”

 The Secret to Smart Groups: It’s Women, by Derek Thompson, January 18, 2015