Asking Good Questions to the wrong crowd can leave us with bad answers

​I asked AI this morning, what is crowdsourcing?

AI said, crowdsourcing is a method of solving problems by tapping into the collective knowledge, skills, or resources of a large group of people, typically through the internet.

Maybe crowdsourcing isn't a bad idea. That is, unless we're bad at picking the right collective.

Then it's a really bad idea.

The problem with crowdsourcing, many times, is we already have a solution in mind when we go looking for our collective. We aren't looking for a collective to help us come up with a solution, we're looking for one to support the solution we've already come up with.

Seth Godin says, "The hallmark of a curious person with goodwill is that they’re eager to change their minds."

I think I'd repurpose that great quote to say, the hallmark of a good crowdsourcer is they are eager to find a collective that might change their mind.

I know many of the challenges I've faced in life have come as a result of me charging ahead according to my own will. To fuel my charging, I've often surrounded myself with people who would support that will. A crowd who would encourage my charging.

I have followed paths that purposely circumvented people who might suggest I was on the wrong path. In my mind, not because they might tell me I was wrong, but because I was absolutely certain that THEY were wrong.

When we are always certain our way is right, it's exceedingly easy to pick out the people who are wrong.

I had a friend share with me recently that she is having a hard time knowing what path God wants her to take. I told her I've come to discover God is never really good at telling me what path I should take, but he's very good at letting me feel unsupported in certain paths I want to take.

You know how I have come to know that? The quickest way I've come to identify I am on a path God might not support me in taking? I know it because I'll go talk to people who will support my path and not my God who might challenge it.

I am far more eager to find people who will support my solution than talking to a God I know might try to change my mind. I am asking all the right questions in my life, I am just crowdsourcing with the wrong collective.

We live in a day and age where it's possible to find support for every solution and path we come up with in life. You look hard enough, you'll find the answer you long to hear.

That makes it more challenging in many ways to live out a great secret to a more fulfilling life: being eager to find people who might actually change our minds.

I no longer believe in right or wrong paths as much as I believe in right or wrong guidance.

I no longer believe in right or wrong answers as much as I believe in rolling through life with right answers we cultivate from the right source.

I think it's a beautiful thing that we get to crowdsource, we simply need to be very cautious about the kind of source that crowd turns out to be.