What Is a Mastermind Group?

Not a bad brief definition. But to fully understand the power in this simple sentence, we need to take it apart. I'll endeavor to not be as convoluted as Hill!

Small: One of the keys for making a group work, since if the group is too large, you can't really keep track of who is truly contributing -- and active contribution should be a requirement for the group, or why bother having them there? There will be much more on group size later.

Club: Simply, a dedication to be part of a group and work together under a set of agreed-upon "rules" or guidelines -- which will be discussed at length in its own section later.

Like-minded: The group should have something in common. They might be "real estate agents" in a particular town. They might be "top commercial property real estate agents, limited to one per area so that there is no competition." The very successful group I founded was "successful Internet-based entrepreneurs." There could, and should, be a common religious, political, lifestyle, business sector, or other interest that ties the members together so there's a strong sense of community.

Advanced talents: On this point, I disagree with Hill. While that's the "successful" part of my group, "success" is a fairly nebulous concept, and can be measured by fame, income, market share, or many other factors. But frankly, a truly useful group could also include "ambitious beginners" who band together to learn and encourage each other toward success, and that could well be your motivation for wanting to start one, and it's a fabulous reason to do so. In that case, though, the group's charter will likely need to evolve over time, and have a way to deal with stragglers: those who don't advance with the rest of the group. Do the more advanced members help them advance? Or are they left behind if they fail (with or without that help)? I'll cover that as we go on.

Meet periodically: The key here is some level of communication. In 1937, this pretty much demanded that members live in the same geographic region so they could get together in person. The Internet has changed all that greatly -- for the better.

Some groups are so tightly focused that you might need to draw from the entire world to get a critical mass of people to make things work. But with the Internet, you can! E-mail allows for group discussions to occur in near-real-time so that people can learn from each other in a timely way.

More likely, there will be thousands of people who will qualify for your group, even if you specify very tight membership requirements, but they may still be spread across the country, or several countries -- and that's OK, since e-mail (or other online technologies) will provide the "closeness" you'll need.

Even with Internet-based groups, though, you may still want to meet periodically in-person to provide focus, "bandwidth" and camaraderie for the group.

Mutual: Groups work best if everyone participates, putting in ideas and help and support, not just getting it.

Brainstorming: The key to actual interaction. The whole idea is to give each other ideas and, most importantly, get synergy by combining ideas.

Accountability: When you make a commitment to someone else, rather than just think to yourself "someday", you’re more likely to actually complete the task. Tasks like "launch the new web site" or "develop the new product" or "quit my job and finally work for myself." If you miss too many commitments, the group will call you on it (and they should!)

Two points the definition left out: There are a couple of important factors not addressed in that definition that I think are important keys to success: First, a successful group needs a strong leader. That's immensely important, and will be discussed at length in its own articles. Second, it needs what I call "buy-in" -- agreement among the members what the group needs to do, and how it needs to accomplish those goals.

Key Concept: Once you understand the elements, Wikipedia's summary definition is the key concept behind a successful mastermind group: "A small club of like-minded advanced talents who meet periodically for mutual brainstorming/accountability sessions." -- which works if you have a strong leader and buy-in from the members.

The word "mastermind" is also a synonym for "genius". I'm particularly amused that in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (a personality test often used by job development coaches), an INTJ (Introversion, iNtuition, Thinking, Judgment) is called a "Mastermind". My own personality type happens to be a strong INTJ.