Observation inspired by “Art of the Idea” of John Hunt: “Embrace diversity, It’ll hug you back”.
If you want something new to emerge, you want people in the room who don’t think like you.
The advantages of embracing diversity are immediate and tangible. Walk into a room with a true mixture of people and you can feel a different kind of energy. It’s a more interesting place to be. Minds automatically open as they adjust to absorb new stimuli.
Many people are scared of diversity because they think it’s somehow the opposite of teamness. Genius is in the collective as it’s in the individual. But that collective should be eclectic and not an excuse to join an intellectual country club.
Working with people of different backgrounds doesn’t just give the group a different point of view; it makes you reassess your own. This is extremely powerful because we’re all trapped in what we’ve previously learnt. And” previously learnt”, often means what we’ve previously been told. And that’s often not true or entirely accurate.
Once someone from a different space tells you these assumptions aren’t necessarily true, it’s much easier to reroute yourself to an idea. We need others to take our blinders off, mainly because we don’t realise we’re wearing any.
The moment diversity isn’t seen as conflicting views, but rather as multi-source intelligence, things begin to happen fast. Everyone knows they can be exactly who they are, as they contribute to change. The richer the mix the richer the outcome, guaranteed. Besides, it is much easier to create something new if your building blocks are different.
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