I was asked to participate on a multicultural panel regarding gender and race, and I thought I’d do a little research since it had been awhile since I researched the topic. This article from Scientific American, “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter” was interesting.

Essentially, having diverse perspectives in a room makes you work harder. You don’t come in with assumptions that once you all reach agreement, that means you’ve gotten to the right answer. With a diverse group, you expect there to be differences of opinion which will need to be considered and thought through to get to the right answer. You expect to have to work for the answer.

Imagine having a meeting with other people on your team on a subject. Coming to a decision is probably pretty fast, right?  Now add other groups: marketing, sales, technology, legal, human resources. The conversation gets more complex, more multi-faceted, and harder, but probably richer and more insightful.

I love that concept of the outlier opinions. It reminds me of the movie Big, where the bad guy is pitching a new toy concept, and Tom Hanks raises his hand timidly…”I don’t get it.”  And they get to a better place once they promote discussion and debate.

There are many reasons why diversity makes sense. That it spurs innovation and the best ideas is one that really resonated with me.