Diversity management, according to “The Wisdom of Crowds” author James Surowiecki, has two main hurdles: overcoming a natural tendency to associate with similar people and the need to develop trust. That’s why it’s so hard to get different ways of thinking in organizations.
Surowiecki presented these key insights on diversity management from his book at Fair360, formerly DiversityInc’s Innovation Fest!Click here to view all of the Innovation Fest! presentations.
The audience noted the relationship between innovation, business success and cultures that encourage opinions and ideas from people from different backgrounds. He discussed how the collective intelligence from a diverse group of individuals more frequently delivers a more viable and innovative solution than from an individual or group of homogenous individuals, even those with higher IQs.
