Team IntelligenceTI
Promoting peak performance through team play.
A workshop created by Tom Rutledge, built on the Boston-area trivia nights that fill rooms every month — and shaped by two decades of leading and sitting on teams in business.
What Team Intelligence is
TI is a team-building workshop created by Tom Rutledge, based on his popular Boston-area trivia nights.
Trivia provides an effective, fun and lively starting point. For TI, Tom builds on his own business experience as a leader and a team member to make team trivia a tool for cultivating better team performance in an organization.
The TI Philosophy
TI is a resource different from both AI and Individual Intelligence (II).
“Two heads are better than one.”
II
Individual Intelligence
One person, thinking. Off-line knowledge, intuition, and multi-sensory data — speaking tone, body language — plus features of the human nervous system such as muscle memory and audience awareness.
AI
Artificial Intelligence
An abundance of data, drawn on at speed. Formidable on recall, and blind to everything that never made it into the record.
TI
Team Intelligence
Three to six teammates, thinking together under friendly pressure. TI confronts AI’s power to draw on an abundance of data with everything a room full of people brings that a machine cannot.
That is the premise, and a trivia night is the cleanest way to watch it happen: a team that shares what it knows, listens well and commits to an answer will beat a team of stronger individuals who do not.
The room does the work
A TI event looks like a great night out, because that is exactly what it is. The competition is real, the format is familiar, and the debrief is where the workshop lands.
How a TI event works
Define the goals
TI starts with Tom meeting organization leaders to define goals and brainstorm ways to create a bespoke Trivia Night-based event.
Meet the model
Tom introduces the Trivia Night model: a multi-round team trivia competition in a pub-like setting, designed to maximize turnout and fun.
Come to a game
A visit by organization leaders to a Trivia Night in Concord or Harvard is recommended. Seeing a room run is worth more than any description of one.
Draft the script
Tom drafts and iterates with leaders on a bespoke TI script containing the content and elements directed at your goals — including evaluate, debrief and discuss sessions.
Settle the agenda
Planning, promotion and production. Typically a month of lead time, a half day set aside for the event itself, and a location chosen for convenience, amenities and comfort.
A TI day, end to end
Who is Tom Rutledge
TI works because it comes from both sides of the room: the host who runs the game, and the operator who has sat on the teams it is designed for.
Boston-area event host
Pub and online trivia, variety shows, even auctions and dog shows.
Wall Street capital markets team leader and member
At Merrill Lynch, Deutsche, JPM, Magnetar and Jade Mountain.
Angel investor
And start-up advisor to dozens of early-stage companies.
Published essayist
Boston Globe, TechCrunch, The Journal of Wordplay, Boston Review, and Magnetar whitepapers.
What to plan for
Lead time
About a month from first conversation to event day.Time needed
A half day set aside for the event itself.Team size
Three to six people per team.Venue
Chosen for convenience, amenities and comfort. Bars and restaurants are proven winners.Where
Greater Boston and beyond. Leaders are welcome at a public Trivia Night in Concord or Harvard first.Cost
Quoted per engagement, based on group size, format and location. Ask and we will put a number to it.Bring TI to your team
Tell us about your group and what you are hoping the day does for them. Tom will follow up with questions and a quote within 48 hours.