Australian Aboriginals have a peculiar custom deeply rooted within their native culture.

Throughout their continent, landmarks are identified by songs and form a subtle navigation mechanism called Songlines. A Songline is a sequence of songs that describes how the world came to be and even indicate a distinct direction.

By singing the songs in the appropriate sequence, the indigenous Australians knew how to travel vast distances, even crossing deserts and other people’s territories. Over the ages, thousands of Songlines emerged from their culture, overlapping and connecting the many indigenous peoples of Australia.

There is a deeper meaning even. To the mind of the Aborigine, in singing the Songlines, the world is being recreated, keeping the land alive and resourceful.

What might seem as a mythical, almost spiritual thought remarkably resembles the way our own neurology works. In fact, as we explore and discover the world, new neurological connections and pathways are formed. The complex neurological network of pathways forms a map of the world. Much like the Songlines, this map is not the same as the territory it describes. It is a vivid albeit limited and very personal representation, or model of the world.

Singing Songlines recreates reality. This is also true for our own neurological system. As we think back to any particular past event, we re-present the images, the sounds and the feelings in the present. The more often we do this, the more vivid and real the experience becomes.

Although a mythical thought, the concept of Songlines, describing and creating our world, is a beautiful metaphor both in its simplicity and its complexity.

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This book is a must read for everyone who is involved in the decision making processes of their business or community. The insights Mr. Surowiecki unveils are especially relevant when you want to understand what's going on in today's times of crisis.

All leaders should understand the principles that drive decision making, especially when this happens in groups. In essence; groups are typically smarter than individuals when following criteria are met:

1. Diversity of opinion; each person should have private information (even if that information is incorrect)
2. Independence; people opnions aren't determined by the opinions of others;
3. Decentralization; people are able to specialize and draw on local knowledge;
4. Aggregation; a neutral mechanisms exists that turns private judgment into collective decision.

I have to admit that this is typically not the way I've seen groups form decisions. We usually think of debate and argumentation as the appropriate means to come to a decision. This typically does not make the group smarter. Independent forming of an opinion is thus influenced. To make matters worse, I've seen that very often individual exploration of data is discouraged or even counteracted. Also, the opnion of people who are highly positioned in a hierarchy is often sought and usually has a lot of weight on the decision making processes of the others.

An effective leader who wants to leverage the full potential of its entourage should therefore elicit independent exploration and make sure that the group has the tools for the aggregation and forming of smart decisions.

Excellent skit with Bob Newhart. Notice the phrase: "I don't make change"...

I started my carreer as a graphic designer and often had to manipulate images. Photoshopping not only happens to create 'perfect bodies'. It's also being done to create perfect skies over touristic resorts, perfect rooms in hotels, perfect cars etc.