Driven by Difference: How Great Companies Fuel Innovation Through Diversity

by David Livermore

Overview

Today’s board rooms, think tanks, and staff lounges are more diverse than ever before. But these cultural differences can either lead to gridlock among stubborn, single-minded thinkers or they can catalyze innovation and growth among an expansive team of creative, distinctive individuals.Diverse teams are far more creative than homogenous teams—but only when they are managed effectively. Driven by Difference identifies the management practices necessary to minimize conflict while maximizing the informational diversity found in varied values and experiences. Drawing on the cultural intelligence, or CQ, of diversity success stories from Google, Alibaba, Novartis, and other groundbreaking companies, this must-have resource teaches managers of diverse groups how to:• Create an optimal environment• Consider the various audiences when selecting and selling an idea• Design and test for different users• Fuse differing perspectives• Align goals and expectations• And moreNew perspectives and talents have joined your company’s ranks in recent years. Are you seeing the increased innovation and success that should be resulting from such diversity?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814436530
Publisher:	AMACOM
Publication date:	02/17/2016
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

DAVID LIVERMORE, PH.D., is President and Partner at the Cultural Intelligence Center. He has done training and consulting for leaders in more than 100 countries and is the author of The Cultural Intelligence Difference.

Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

“Diversity leads to innovation!” That’s the mantra repeated by many diversity proponents. I just heard it again a couple of weeks ago from a diversity guru who spoke before me at an international leadership conference in New York. It makes sense.

Looking at a problem from a diversity of perspectives is likely to yield better solutions than viewing it solely from one myopic view.

But this rose-colored view of diversity doesn’t jive with reality. Just as two newlyweds quickly discover that vastly different perspectives on how to set up house don’t necessarily lead to better results a the same is true for multicultural teams that are coalescing on a project. a recently talked with a senior vice president from one of the largest global banks who told me his bank cut its diversity and inclusion budget by 90 percent because its leaders couldn’t see any return on investment from their diversity efforts. A couple of months ago, a group of South African executives told me, “We’re two decades post-apartheid and we’ve made very little progress in seeing better results from our incredibly diverse workforce.”

And many universities and governments around the world have abandoned affirmative action–type programs, suggesting it’s time to move on.

Meanwhile, there’s very limited diversity in many of the Silicon

Valley companies lauded as examples of innovation. Jeffrey Son-nefeld of Yale University believes tech firms place a premium on young white males. He says, “It’s sort of a throwback to an era we should be long past, which is the macho world of the giggling boys a with the hackers’ sensibility that somehow we are living in a pure meritocratic world.” Google executive Nancy Lee agrees, at least in part. She admits that Google’s workforce is predominantly white a and 83 percent of its tech workers are male. Along with other

Google executives, she is on a crusade to change that.

Should tech firms, banks, and universities recruit a more diverse workforce simply because of pressure from stakeholders that it’s the right thing to do? Or can a more compelling case be made for how a diverse workforce leads to greater innovation and success?

Are there economic advantages to having a more diverse team, or is it simply a straw man argument?

There’s no question that cultural diversity provides one of the greatest opportunities for global innovation. The potential is enormous. But it’s a correlation, not causation. An organization that learns how to utilize the diverse perspectives from multicultural teams has a tremendous opportunity to come up with better solutions. In fact, when used strategically, diversity is one of the greatest resources for coming up with innovative solutions, which in turn leads to economic benefits. Learning the managerial steps for translating diversity into innovation is the primary objective of this book.

How can you utilize diverse perspectives to come up with better solutions? And what part of the innovation process needs to be adjusted to leverage diversity for better innovation?

Those are the two primary questions this book will address.

Diversity by itself does not ensure innovation. Diversity combined with high cultural intelligence (CQ) does. Cultural intelligence is the capability to function effectively in culturally diverse situations. It’s rooted in rigorous academic research conducted by scholars around the world. I’ve written much about the four capabilities required to work and lead with cultural intelligence.

But this book reflects the next stage in our research on cultural intelligence: implementing a culturally intelligent process to drive innovation. Getting diverse teams to function at the highest levels of productivity requires a leader and team members with high CQ

and a plan for culturally intelligent innovation.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Introduction

1. Diversity is.

PART I: THE CLIMATE FOR CULTURALLY INTELLIGENT INNOVATION

2. The Power of Attention

3. The Power of the Empty Chair | Perspective Taking

4. The Power of 90 Minutes | Focus

5. The Power of Trees | Space

6. The Power of Trust

PART II: THE 5D PROCESS FOR CULTURALLY INTELLIGENT INNOVATION

7. Define: Align Diverse Expectations and Goals

8. Dream: Generate Diverse Ideas

9. Decide: Select and Sell Your Idea

10. Design: Create and Test for Diverse Users

11. Deliver: Implement Global Solutions

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Appendix A: Cultural Intelligence—What’s Your CQ?

Appendix B: Glossary of Cultural Value Dimensions

Notes

Index

Editorial Reviews

Comprehensive and systematic, The Cultural Intelligence Difference provides a useful roadmap to anybody seeking to navigate the unchartered oceans of diverse cross-cultural situations.” —Young Upstarts

"The author uncovers five key elements that play a powerful role in whether diverse teams innovate or not.” —Consulting Magazine

“…practical, tangible and gives new energy to creating a diverse team… if you need to create a more culturally aware team, this is a great book to help you get started.” —Junkyard Wisdom

“…an exceptionally thoughtful and thought-provoking book." —Blogging on Business

“Trust the book and you will find it is about much more than just how to get people from different cultures working together in a company.” —Autamme

“David uses real case studies to bring his ideas to life for the reader…provides a clear roadmap to understand the process of exploring potential opportunities and challenges.” —PM World Journal

“The best part of Driven by Difference is the confident and comprehensive, yet nuanced, tone the author takes on diversity…extremely helpful insights.” —Small Biz Trends

"Offers a solid architecture for being inclusive, for motivating productivity while spinning innovation through the world of work...this reader highly recommends adding the book to your 'must read soon' list." —TD Magazine

From the Publisher