Unlocking the Full Potential of "The Power of Us": How to become an Insider!
Issue 112: The Power of Us is now becoming more than a newsletter—join our newly formed cult & see how Jay's lab performed on a test of their teamwork from an expert.
Dear friends,
For the past few years, we've been sharing our insights on the psychology of groups and identity through this newsletter. We have published over 100 columns and now have over 5,000 subscribers and followers! We are thrilled that so many of you have joined us and find our column useful and interesting.
As we dig a bit deeper into these issues, we want to offer you an even richer and more engaging experience. That's why we’re introducing paid subscriptions to "The Power of Us." We hope you’ll level-up your subscription.
What will you gain as a paid subscriber?
Exclusive Content: Access to in-depth articles, interviews with leading authors and experts, and bonus materials not available to free subscribers.
Interactive Community: Participate in live Q&A sessions, discussions, and exclusive subscriber events.
Early Access: Get a sneak peek at new research findings, upcoming projects, and books before anyone else.
Supporting Science Communication: Your subscription will directly support our efforts to bring high-quality, evidence-based insights to a wider audience.
Why subscribe now?
By becoming a paid subscriber today, you'll not only gain access to exclusive content and benefits, but you'll also play a vital role in supporting independent science communication—getting science to the masses. Your contribution will help us continue to produce high-quality content, conduct cutting-edge research, and share valuable knowledge with the world. We already spend a great deal of time creating this newsletter and we will use the money to produce better, more engaging content.
You can join yourself, as a group, or buy a subscription as a gift to a friend.
How much does it cost?
Subscribers: $0
It costs nothing to subscribe to the basic newsletter
We will continue to write and publish free columns periodically
Community Members: $6/month
You get everything that subscribers receive, plus…
Weekly columns, including more in-depth articles and controversial topics
Free access to over 100 archived columns
Free chapter summaries of our book
Miscellaneous bonus items (e.g., our original book proposal)
Monthly virtual group meeting with Jay or Dom
Insiders: $50/year
You get everything that community members receive, plus…
A 31% discount compared to subscribing monthly
Cult Member $150/year
You get everything that insiders receive, plus…
Signed copy of “The Power of Us” book mailed to you (or gifted to a friend)
If we write another book together (we are working on it!), you get a free sneak peak—the very first copies of the book will be sent directly to fanatics!
Insider Team Subscriptions: $40/month per person
Sign up with friends or colleagues and get a significant discount!
We offer team subscriptions for Insiders at a 20% discount when 2 or more team members subscribe
Join the "Power of Us" community and help unlock the full potential of this newsletter! You can sign up yourself or offer a paid subscription as a gift to a friend, family member, or teammate. Please spread the word to anyone else who might enjoy being part of our community.
Finally, we would love to hear feedback — tell us what other perks you want in your subscription tier and we will continue to update this list of options.
News and Updates
Do the principles from our research actually make us any smarter? We recently put our collective intelligence skills to the test!
Laura Kriska, business consultant and author of The Business of We, came to Jay’s lab meeting to test his research team using her TeamMachine exercise.
Jay’s team had 90 minutes to build a complex machine which tested their ability to communicate effectively, allocate responsibilities, share resources, and come together without competing against one another.
Laura broke the lab up into 4 teams of 3, and each team had to build a component of the team machine (which was a Rube Goldberg style contraption). After each team had built and tested each component, they had to merge all the components together into a working machine.
His lab completed the exercise in 40 minutes, a new record! According to Laura said our team “vastly outperformed any corporate group I have ever worked with in my 30 year career working on 4 continents”.
After the exercise, Laura explained how Jay’s lab used team-oriented language and how they cooperated or competed in ways that were effective. She summarized some keys to our success that she noticed as we completed the task, including:
1️⃣ Embrace collective pronouns like 'we' over 'I' to foster unity.
2️⃣ Define a superordinate goal to keep everyone focused on the bigger picture.
3️⃣ Share resources to break down competitive silos and boost collaboration.
We also discussed writing up a more detailed summary about how the science and practice of successful teams come together. So stay tuned for that!
Catch up on the last one…
Want to know the behind the scenes of auctioning and promoting a scientific trade book? We spill our secrets in last week’s newsletter here:
How to write a popular science book: The Auction, Writing, and Promotion
We are busy writing our next book proposal right now and thought it might be fun to let people get a sneak peak about how to write a trade book. If you have ever thought about writing your own book, here is our own experience and a few tips to get you started. Last week we wrote about