Give Everyone Credit for Everything So the Best Idea Wins
The architect Bjarke Ingels says shared credit stops idea hoarding and lets the strongest proposal win.
Freakonomics Radio Network · How a Great Architect Thinks ft. Bjarke Ingels | Better in PersonBjarke Ingels, the architect who leads the firm BIG, does not call himself the chief executive. His title is creative director. He says that once in a while he has a great idea himself, and he loves when that happens, but that is not his job. His job is to make sure that when a brilliant idea appears, no matter who offers it, that is the idea the firm pursues together.
The method starts with credit. At BIG, no idea is attributed to an individual. Everybody has "full credit for the whole project no matter what they did in it," Ingels says.
The rule is meant to solve a quiet problem: people hold ideas back to protect their own credit, so they stop wanting the best idea to win. Ingels says that if people hold back, "we don't really want your idea to be the best one."
Instead, he wants what he calls a "primordial soup": a messy flood of many rough drafts put out in the open, before any one is picked.
There is also a practical reason, built for work that can last a decade. If the person whose idea was picked keeps reminding everyone in every meeting that this was his great idea, Ingels says, spending the next 10 years making it real will not be very fun.
Questions people ask
What is BIG and how big is it?
BIG is an architecture and design firm with offices in cities including Copenhagen, New York, London, Barcelona, Los Angeles, Zurich, and Shanghai. It works on large buildings, urban plans, and research projects, often won through international design competitions.
Does giving everyone full credit actually produce better ideas?
Research on brainstorming and psychological safety generally finds that people share more ideas when they do not fear judgment or losing status. Shared credit can help, but studies also warn that completely anonymous contributions can reduce individual motivation unless the team also sees progress and peer appreciation.
When would this rule fail in another workplace?
It can, especially for long creative work where the team must develop someone else's concept for months or years. It fits less well where outside rewards depend on individual authorship, such as academic publishing, patents, or sales commissions, where people need a personal record of what they contributed.