IPI Ethnography

Last week, we held a Bright Ideas meeting with our clients at CFAR, a consulting firm steeped in the traditions of psychology and anthropology. All this talk of Franz Boaz and Margaret Mead has awakened my own latent interests in ethnographic research. And so, I offer the following selections from my IPI field book:

• December, 2009: Janine, Barbara, and John pore over an early draft of The Emotional Calendar, our recently completed book with Dr. John Sharp, with a pair of scissors. Janine is deftly cutting the document into sections while Barbara and John push them around the table, rearranging the book structure.
• February, 2010: Seven enthusiastic professionals sit around the remnants of maple scones and cranberry walnut muffins, discussing the weaknesses and merits of a new book idea (now The Idea Entrepreneurs). John stands in a corner, wildly taking notes on an endless stream of flip charts.
• May, 2010: Anna and I (in an ethnographer-turned-participant twist) sit in front of a computer screen, hotly debating word choice for a book proposal. I prepared the first draft: at the moment, Anna has keyboard control, but on occasion we both dive for the mouse simultaneously.

I offer you a case study in collaborative writing. Last week, Janine wrote about the history of collaborative writing. But at IPI we don’t just espouse collaboration: we live it. In fact, collaboration is a cornerstone of the way we operate as a business.

Not that it’s always easy. The first time I gave a position paper to Janine and received, one week later, what looked like the first chapter to an entirely different book, I was crushed. Like everyone who has ever dreamed of being a writer, there’s a little wretched scribbler in me. But then I read the new edition and I realized that, while my content remained intact, Janine’s revisions had brought the text in line with the voice of the book. And furthermore, while my love for science tends towards the technical, Janine had applied to the work her particular sense of humor. Perhaps for the first time, my writing was funny.

And in my opinion, that’s what makes collaboration great. When I write collaboratively, I can bring out my strengths, and bolster them with the strengths of other people. It’s a win-win situation.

We wouldn’t do it any other way.