Why a Diverse Network Wins

Happy Tuesday to all of you! If you’re taking the time to read this, mind telling us how we’re doing? After you’ve read (or at least skimmed!) this post, give us a quick rating at the bottom, or reply back with any thoughts.

A charismatic new President of the United States needed a team of advisors to help him navigate complex global crises. Wanting only the sharpest and best informed minds, he brought in a brilliant group of scholars and executives, educated at Yale, Harvard, and MIT.

These so-called whiz kids helped their boss preside over a period of wisdom and peace.

Actually, no. In reality, the whiz kids helped steer President Kennedy into the Vietnam War.

Why didn’t smarts and talent help this team avoid such a conflict?

Now we know better

We have learned a few things since the 1960s. No more tobacco or mercury as medicine, lead in everything, or coffee for kids. Also, we figured out that diversity isn’t just a question of fairness.

A Harvard Business school study shows that, around the world, companies with more diversity are more innovative and more profitable. There are many different kinds of diversity - gender, age, national origin, career path, education, and race, and more. The more dimensions of diversity included in the study, the stronger the correlation with innovation and profitability.

Similar evidence tells us that diverse teams make better decisions. A more diverse set of advisors might have kept America out of Vietnam. . . or might have stopped me from accepting a challenge to drink a whole cup of soy sauce in college. Ask your friends if this is a good idea.

Diversity applies to personal networks

Just as diversity improves creativity, financial performance, and decision-making in organizations, it is equally valuable in a personal network.

It’s easy to associate with people who look like us, watch and read the same media, have similar opinions, and know many of the same people. This is comfortable, but we do ourselves a disservice.

A more diverse network gives us access to thoughts and ideas that we wouldn’t come across if we kept to a narrower or more homogeneous sphere. This kind of breadth is essential fuel for creativity, originality, and differentiation. Why follow the herd when you can stand out?

Furthermore, a diverse network can introduce us to contacts who we would otherwise never meet. New contacts mean new business leads, collaborators, and hopefully, friends. This can become a virtuous cycle where new contacts bring new ideas and more new contacts.

For all the same reasons discussed above, the best outcomes come from embracing all kinds of diversity. The name of the game is to seek out people who are truly different.

Tactics for diversifying your network

1. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people! While cold-contacting somebody or asking for LinkedIn introductions can feel scary, the potentially big rewards are worth the very small risk. It’s just like that time in high school when I had a huge crush but was too afraid to talk to her. What did I really have to lose?

2. Host a second degree dinner (more on that soon). Essentially, this is about finding a co-host for your dinner. Each of you invites your own contacts and the whole group gets to connect with a wider sphere.

3. Share content that is outside your comfort zone. If you always talk about the same things, you’ll always reach the same audience. Broaden your horizons and people with different backgrounds and ideas will find you.

See you next week!