Spy balloons were in the news this winter … let me tell you about another balloon project, called “Find the large red balloons.” (And no, it has nothing to do with China or shooting anything down.)

Lynn Jaynes

Emeritus Editor

Lynn Jaynes retired as an editor in 2023.

In Culture Code (Daniel Coyle), it tells of an experiment – a contest – with money, where 10 large red balloons were scattered from downtown San Francisco to a baseball field in Houston. The challenge was to find all 10 balloons, and the winner would walk away with $840,000 in grand prize money. Hundreds of teams formed quickly, comprised of hackers, tech companies, engineers, entrepreneurs, research universities – anybody who thought they had a shot. They had all kinds of ideas about how to spot the balloons.

The MIT Media Lab found out about the contest with only a few days before its start. So they threw up a quick website and invited all of their friends to sign up, and asked them to invite all of their friends, et cetera, and they let it mushroom from there. This was the deal: Whoever correctly identified the location of a balloon would receive $2,000, but the person who invited them to the site would receive $1,000, with $500 to whoever invited the invited, $250 to the person who invited the invited’s invited and so on. That way, everyone had an option for a piece of the money pie.

The contest began, and the MIT team (with unsophisticated means) found all 10 balloons within 8 hours, 52 minutes and 41 seconds, with the help of 4,665 people. They had been out-financed by other teams, out-credentialed, underprepared and yet quickly won. Why? They expanded their team. They didn’t assume they possessed the most or the best resources. By expanding the team, they expanded their resources.  

I was reminded of this principle during a workshop session recently on farm-ranch transition planning. We’ve heard the talks recommending owners get the farm/dairy/ranch/family team together with the bookkeeper, the accountant, the lawyer, the principal management players and the banker. But what about others? What would happen if you expanded it?

Before you say it, I know what you’re thinking, “It’s personal. I don’t want everyone knowing my business, and so-and-so is a family member who annoys me, so I sure don’t want them in on the discussion.” (We all have one.) I’m just saying, we could expand the team to include healthcare discussions, real estate professionals, equipment appraisers, water professionals, mineral rights professionals – who else am I missing? I understand your reluctance. We want to think we can do it on our own, with just a couple of trusted professionals. It’s so tempting to “keep it all quiet” and “not talk about it everywhere.” I get that. But think of the resources you’re limiting yourself to.

I wish I had $840,000 to tempt you with, but I don’t. Learn the lesson anyway: Expand the team.