Expecting Something Different from More of the Same
Frans Johansson, author of The Medici Effect and Great Ideas keynote, advocates that great ideas are generated at the Intersection of different fields, cultures and perspectives. Yet, how often do we expect great things from our perpetual homogeneity?
As a case in point, I recently posted to the Great Ideas Blog about a meeting my husband’s engineering consulting firm held where they were trying to generate new business models for revenue generation. Guess who attended the meeting? A bunch of engineers who’ve worked at the firm 10+ years. Oh, and they were all 40+ year old white men. How many barrier-busting ideas do you think were generated there?
It’s easy to chuckle at the absurdity of that, yet consider the last group of staff or volunteers you brought together. How diverse was it? And by diverse, I don’t mean that you have one token minority. By the way, I’m embarrassed to admit that I was the token Gen Xer on a committee several years ago. I didn’t even realize it at first (or I’d have declined the offer). We had one meeting where we did brainstorming and prioritization of activities, but that was really all I contributed to. As the year passed, I recall thinking the committee was really inactive and hadn’t accomplished much. Then, I read a report and realized that the “committee” had actually accomplished a lot. Several key initiatives had been lead by senior committee members. I just hadn’t been involved in the program of work. I know that this group had just conducted research on the generations and that inclusion of Gen Xers was a priority for them. It’s too bad they really missed the boat in their implementation! Okay, I digress. Back to the point, how truly diverse is your board? Committees? Staff?
It’s tempting to surround ourselves with others just like us. It’s natural, it’s comfortable. But what’s the likelihood that it’s going to generate anything extraordinary? Or is it more likely they’ll all sit around agreeing with each other and the status quo?
How often do we purposefully hire staff or recruit volunteers of different backgrounds? Different cultures? Different ages? Different personalities or styles? Yes, heads may knock a bit, but out of that collision may just come a few (or many) great ideas.
And when those new volunteers or staff members start to question the status quo, resist the temptation to roll your eyes with frustration that they just don’t understand “how things work around here.” They don’t, and that’s a good thing. They haven’t yet been struck with the “we’ve always done it that way” disease. Shield them from infection, and their new perspectives may just transform your association IF you let them.
