I recommend Tyler Cowen and Daniel Gross’ book on Talent. I’m still sifting through my notes as the book applies to both how I think about people I collaborate in my theatre making as well as my Angel investing, microgrant making and my main job of global equity investing. 

I wanted to pull out one idea which is almost an aside in the book. The holding of an unstructured event/meet-up/conference. The unstructured part is important.  They write: 

Send Them to an Event (or Create an Event) One advantage of an event is that it may expose the attendee to top achievers and performers and help make those trajectories vivid alternatives. In those regards the event is similar to a travel grant, except you are sending them to a location that is important only temporarily. But event attendance may serve other purposes as well. An event may convince the attendee that a social or tech movement is real, or that it is benevolent, or that it is popular and desirable to belong to, or that it is not crazy. Events make that knowledge vivid in a way that reading about a movement does not: “Look, here are all the other people interested in nuclear fusion!”—or cryptocurrency, or venture capital. For exactly the same reason, events are risky, as they may scare some people off (“Hey, those people are crazy!”). Usually, though, the scared-off individuals were not going to make major contributions to that cause anyway, and so event attendance speeds up their possible reallocation to another cause or venture, one that might prove a better match. Or maybe those people really are crazy; if so, it’s better to find that out sooner rather than later. Events are an accelerated test of cultural fit. Creating your own event is costly in terms of time and money, but it can be an ideal way of raising the aspirations of those you consider talented. You get to control everything, from the invitees to the program to what they will eat for breakfast. Daniel has organized successful events for Pioneer winners, and Tyler has done the same for Emergent Ventures. But here is the important thing to understand about organizing your own event: the group has to gel. You can raise their aspirations a bit, but the group itself creates most of its own dynamic and its own theater. The members of the group will raise each other’s aspirations, at least if you have selected well and structured your event to give them enough interaction with each other. When the leader (you) and the peers are pushing in a common direction—the raising of aspirations—the effect can be very powerful indeed. But you will need to give them the freedom of letting them contribute to defining what the group is all about. [BY: my emphasis]

When I went to check out the Effective Altruism, EAG conference,  there was an element of this, EA were raising each other’s aspirations but I don’t think the main structure of the EAG I went to is quite the best. (I am told UnConference formats happen in their smaller events).

Much better, in my view are forms of “UnConference”. Tyler Cowen hosts one for Emergent Venture winners very much in this model. Kyle writes about the EV 2021 UnConference here.

I have co-hosted with my Chatham House Sustainability Accelerator friends now two Unconferences with sustainability themes. Here is Nina Klose on coming to my UnConference. Attendees who have been both to Tyler’s and my UnConferences report there are differences (I used a moderator to help people along) but the vibe and principles work similar. People found much value in the events and much more fun than a “standard” conference.  I also host even less structured mingle/parties.

I have several reasons for this. First, I think there is much (under-rated) value in “weak social ties” (here is the wiki on the work, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpersonal_ties). These connections are valuable to everyone. 

Second, in particular for UnConferences you have these benefits:

Advantages

• (Easier) Discovery of people with similar project interests 

• More inclusive, less hierarchical 

• Opportunity for everyone to share ideas 

• Higher use of agency

 Although there can still be disadvantages… Disadvantages : Can be harder for introverts, can still be dominated by extravert characters and less well known norms can leave people uncertain on how to react.

if you are trying to solve problems by creating more social capital and ideas is a much better form of conference. There is much more interaction and the interaction is with like-minded peers who have typically selected themselves for a similar broad purpose. 

Lastly, there is the point on Talent that Cowen and Gross are making. These forms of unstructured meet-ups are an excellent way of gaining sense of whether you might have a talent fit if you are looking to hire or collaborate with new people. I found a recent hire this way, or perhaps, a recent hire found me this way as well - as the process is two way.

Many more soft skills, characteristics and a muce border and deeper sense of understanding about someone is discovered in these types of events. They synergise well with information you will glean from an interview but I suggest they will be much more revealing. UnConferences are also much much more fun.