Why brainstorming?

The Wall Street Journal had an important article the other day that might have been easy to miss: brainstorming is a generally awful idea. That's quite true; most of the worst investment ideas I've gotten came from talking in a small group. Interestingly enough, I do think there's a place for committees: After you think you've got a good idea, running it by a few similarly savvy investors one at a time is likely to show you something you haven't considered -- and likely to get them thinking, too.