Read the given passage and answer the question that follows.

We started our research into organisational and personal excellence by studying a slightly different topic. We figured that if we could learn why certain people were more effective than others, then we could learn exactly what they did, clone it and pass it on to others. We asked people to identify who they thought were their most effective colleagues. In fact, over the past twenty-five years, we have asked over twenty thousand people to identify the individuals in their organisations who could really get things done. We wanted to find those who were not just influential but who were far more influential than the rest.