How billionaire executive Barry Diller separates good ideas from bad ones: 'You cannot be cynical. Cynicism kills everything'

When it comes to identifying great ideas, billionaire Barry Diller has a simple piece of advice: Don’t be a cynic.

Diller is a big fan of “creative conflict” group brainstorming sessions, he said in an interview for an episode of CNBC’s “Leaders Playbook,” set to air on Wednesday. In a creative conflict setting, team members passionately argue about an idea, weighing differing opinions for however long it takes to reach a decision. It can be “loud and argumentative ... and somewhat brutal,” but “I think it’s a great environment,” he said.

For group brainstorming to work effectively, resulting in top-tier ideas, you’ll need to genuinely consider other people’s opinions, said Diller, chairman and senior executive of holding company IAC and travel technology company Expedia Group.

“You have to try and be naive,” said Diller, 83, who also co-founded the Fox Broadcasting Company. “You cannot be cynical. Cynicism kills everything. You have to force naivete.”

DON’T MISS: How to build custom GPTs and use AI agents