Diversity is a wonderful and powerful gift of the modern world. I believe it is critical for us to continue to foster in order to survive and thrive in the future. While we are getting better at being near each other, I’m not sure we’ve even scratched the surface on how truly embracing diverse ideas can transform the world for the better.
We’ve never before faced the level of complexity and ambiguity that we face today. While many seek to divide us to support their own agenda, coming together is the only way we can meet the existential crises at our door successfully. The solutions of the past won’t take us to the future; we can’t make it great by going in reverse. The tribes we evolved from won’t be the way forward; it will be new ways of connecting that will shape tomorrow.
If you think your job as a leader is to build a team of like-minded people who get along and play nicely together, you are living in an ancient fantasy. Modern teams are challenging and should pull, push and stretch every member to become greater than they were before they joined. Individuals will shape teams and teams will shape individuals. It won’t necessarily be comfortable, but it will be essential.
I have experienced the beauty and power of diversity on my own travels. The French writer Marcel Proust once said, ‘The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes’. That’s been my experience journeying into new places.
Whether hiking high mountains in China and Nepal, cycling through villages in Vietnam, Thailand and France, exploring the ancient caves of central Turkey, exploring the chaotic beauty of Moroccan souks or just relaxing in a small pub on the Isle of Skye, for me travelling has been about more than seeing new places.
It’s about meeting different people, experiencing their way of life, and letting it change how I see and think about the world. Diversity is beautiful and these different experiences shape our brains. Our assumptions are tested: some are falsified, others confirmed. These experiences challenge us, change us and equip us with new perspectives with which to move forward.
When you have a team with people from different cultures, places and backgrounds, you have the potential to open doors to amazing new ideas. If cultivated, this unique combination of skills can be harnessed to create new solutions to complex problems.
When different people cooperatively collaborate it can lead to solutions no one person could have dreamed up on their own. Diverse teams can be unstoppable forces of adaptivity and performance.
However, it is not as simple as putting them in a room and hoping for the best. Diversity can also be a recipe for explosive destruction. Diverse teams can become overwhelmed by their differences. Different communication styles can lead to miscommunication and misunderstanding.
Assumptions and biases can cause some members of diverse teams to feel less valued or included. Factions can form and relationships become pressured. While the promise of diversity is a world of greater opportunity, it can also be a petri dish perfect for cultivating high levels of conflict, animosity and distrust.
A successful leader is able to bring together different people; foster trusted and committed relationships between them that empower each person to share their ideas constructively; debate and explore with fearless curiosity; and foster a culture of inclusion, collaboration and performance.
They are able to unleash the power of diversity without it exploding into chaos. A good leader is fascinated with understanding individual differences and able to nurture these different perspectives in a way that supports collective performance. A good leader knows the triggers and situations that create tension and walks the tightrope of managing the constructive conflict and challenging of ideas in a positive way.
Edited extract from The Empathy Gap: The Bridge to Real Connection and Lasting Influence (Wiley $32.95) by Daniel Murray, CEO and professional speaker at Empathic Consulting.