Stop looking for what others do to be successful. If you want to be successful, do the opposite of what the crowd is doing.
Stop studying the most fascinating ideas in your field. Instead, look for ideas that are ordinary in other fields. They may just be extraordinary in yours.
Stop talking to your clients about the ideas of famous thought leaders. Instead, share the thoughts of unknown leaders or unorthodox perspectives.
Stop trying to create a community of people who look like you, think like you and act like you. Instead, work hard to create a community with diversity of thought, gender, culture, sexual orientation, experience, background, age, etc.
Diverse perspectives inspire creativity. And creativity is your true competitive advantage.
One of my favorite books on the power of diversity for idea creation is The Medici Effect by Frans Johansson. It’s about what happens at the crossroads between different and often unrelated ideas, concepts and cultures.
Frans Johansson explains, “My mother is American, she’s black and Cherokee. My dad is Swedish, which makes for an interesting mix. It informed me how I looked upon the world. I saw that when they were able to share ideas between the different countries and cultures and ethnicities, interesting new things came about from it.”
I’ve personally experienced the impact of what happens on the intersections unrelated ideas, concepts and cultures for years because I’m a teacher who became a coach, I’m a Brit who has lived in Africa, Asia and now the US, I have a unique joint Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Economics, I’m a scientist by training who studies intuition and I’m a dad to two boys who have a heritage that includes family members who are Ashkenazi Jewish, African American, Catholic, Irish American, British, Jamaican, Irish and Nigerian American.
Historically, one of the things that kept humans safe is a tendency to stick with people who are like themselves and avoid those who are different. Psychologists call this the similar-attraction effect.
You need to work hard to counter the similar-attraction effect.
I put a lot of effort into drawing together diverse ideas. I also work hard to draw together a community of diverse thinkers, backgrounds, experiences and cultures. I have team members in California, Wyoming, Florida, Illinois, Canada, Romania and Spain. I am proud to have community members in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America and Australia. And my community ranges from 22 to 86 years old.
A Powerful Coach develops fresh, ground breaking ideas because they create highly varied experiences for themselves and their clients.
What are you doing to increase the diversity of your thinking and the diversity of your community?
Love. Rich