Engaged, inter-disciplinary, inter-organisational research is vital to address complex problems and influence practice and theory. The Brilliance Group is a community of research practitioners from Australian universities who voluntarily work together to locate, understand and spread what is brilliant in our healthcare system. The Brilliance Group Community of Practice (CoP) evolved around a shared knowledge-domain of health management. This paper explores how using an unfamiliar research paradigm, dissimilar expertise and shared leadership have shaped the Brilliance Group. The Brilliance Group operates in an unconventional research space, deals with an under-appreciated research topic and works with undervalued sources of evidence in healthcare. The paper explores how the Brilliance Group CoP presents an innovative approach to researching healthcare with potential to provide break-through knowledge.