Expression, often overlooked, is a key element for individual and collective emancipation. By providing a legitimate framework, appropriate tools, and permission to express oneself, everyone can overcome their limits, create, and achieve self-realization. Collective intelligence relies on this ability to liberate and value the ideas and talents of all.
The more I facilitate collective intelligence sessions, the more I realize that what most people lack is the capacity for expression. What does this mean? A legitimate space to shape their unique thoughts, ideas, projects, and sensitivities. It may seem obvious, but it is actually extremely difficult to achieve and holds great promise.
This was recently confirmed by feedback from a student after a podcast workshop where I had students work individually and in groups to create podcasts. There were various approaches. They struggled—it was far from easy for them—but they managed to create real, concrete, and expressive outputs: they made music with instruments I brought, recorded high-quality sounds with computers and microphones I provided, defined topics based on books I supplied, created tutorials using their own skills, and had a lot of fun discovering their ability to create sounds with musical instruments, especially electronic ones, that I had brought. It was a challenging journey for them.
During this time, I was doing other things, like answering emails, leaving them to work independently. I was in a state of floating awareness, occasionally offering small pieces of advice, but they were the ones doing the work, investing themselves. I provided the framework, the permission, the encouragement. Then they took over. My presence was important because it legitimized these activities, but I didn’t need to do much in the moment. All the tools I brought—the large suitcase filled with books, musical instruments, sound equipment, and computers—gave them autonomy and capability. Tools are crucial.
One student thanked me at the end of the session, saying it was an amazing experience. Meanwhile, during the session, I felt like I was doing almost nothing. In reality, what I did was set the framework, give them permission to create something autonomously using the tools. So, what I actually did was prepare all that material, which I had carefully chosen for them, transported by taxi, train, and tram. From the other end of France, I carried that extremely heavy suitcase. That was the work I did—the framework I provided. In fact, I did a lot, but not in the way usually expected, because in the moment, it felt like I was doing nothing.
What I conclude from this experience, as well as from many collective intelligence sessions I facilitate, is that the proposal of expression, the encouragement to express, and especially the permission to express—thanks to a framework provided by time, method, materials, etc.—allows people to embark on a journey, to surpass themselves. In my view, this is an essential path for collective intelligence, meaning the emancipation of each individual from their prior limitations.
We all have self-imposed limits that hinder our true potential. Thanks to the framework, which provides permission, we emancipate ourselves—that is, we discover and experiment with our capabilities, expanding our knowledge. This happens through experience, which is what needs to be produced, and through expression, which is the most difficult thing to do on one’s own. This space of permission for expression is where the collective has the most power, and the collective framework must be built to authorize and be capable of receiving and legitimizing these expressions, both before and after.
