Last week, in an unusually public display of campaign discord, a clash between Hillary Clinton political operatives erupted in full view when David Brock, a liberal activist and staunch Clinton supporter, announced his resignation from the board of Priorities USA, a pro-Clinton super PAC.
Brock was not going quietly. His resignation letter contained a bold claim — that leaders at Priorities USA were feeding newsgroups devastating stories about his fundraiser, undermining his ability to raise money. By Brock’s account, his colleagues within Team Hillary were orchestrating his demise.
Setting aside a debate on the accuracy of Brock’s assertion, there’s an interesting psychological perspective to be raised about why campaign squabbles like this are already cropping up for the Clinton campaign and why we can expect more of them.
Unlike her competitors on the Republican side, Clinton is the clear frontrunner for Democrats. And while intuitively we might expect that fewer primary contenders would allow Clinton to snatch up her party’s most talented consultants, enabling her to form a stronger, more disciplined campaign team, research suggests that too much talent in a group can actually undermine performance.
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There’s little question that Clinton’s campaign team will be among the most experienced and talent-rich in the history of politics. And like any high-achieving group, its members stand to benefit from leveraging the science of top performance.
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