You want to be a good leader. Being good means that you have quality ideas inside your head, but more importantly, it means you can easily assimilate ideas around you to arrive at quality decisions. This takes diversity of thought and an intentional act to surround yourself with people different from you. Leaders sometimes inherit leadership teams. Leaders also assemble leadership teams. I’ve been able to do both. How you go about that is critically important.

“When two men in a business always agree, one of them is unnecessary.”

—William Wrigley, Jr.

It takes an intentional act to seek out diversity. We are inherently drawn to people that think like we do. The result of that is a leader surrounded by yes-men. Leaders like this either fail to grow or just plain fail. It turns out, the ideas in our head are not enough. It doesn’t matter how smart or experienced we are. We fail our organization if we fail to properly avail ourselves of diverse thinking.

Here’s a summary of the leadership lessons I’ve learned on diversity:

Diversity means more than the traditional dimensions

The traditional diversity dimensions are a great starting point.  I love seeing people of all varieties make up leadership teams. However, when the goal is diversity of thought, it’s also good to think in broader terms. I like mixing with people that have longevity in an organization and those that are fresh outsiders. I like getting advice from those that look at problems from a management standpoint, and those that look at problems from a leadership standpoint. I like hearing from long-time industry veterans, and newer-entrants to the technology profession. I like hearing from the outspoken and the quiet. I want to hear from the optimist and the pessimist. I need ideas from the risk-averse, and from the risk-takers.

Overcome groupthink

I recently read Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant.  One key subject in the book was how to overcome groupthink. Grant studied the organizational habits of one of the most successful hedge fund companies, Bridgewater. Bridgewater knows how much groupthink can hurt their company’s decision-making ability. It goes out of its’ way to unearth people among their ranks with dissenting opinions, making it safe for them to speak up and share their views. The search for truth isn’t a democratic process. It isn’t a hierarchical process either. The right answers come from the best people qualified to render them, regardless of where they sit. To read the whole Bridgewater story, check out this article.

Diversity creates conflict

In Midwestern culture, we tend to avoid conflict. While peace is great, it’s not so great if it keeps good, but unpopular ideas from surfacing. Expect some healthy and constructive conflict to emerge when passionate people debate divergent ideas and points of view. This is uncomfortable, but necessary to arrive at the best answers.

Diversity has its limits

I love diversity of thought for ideation, analysis, troubleshooting, solution design, and roadmap execution. However, I don’t really want any diversity when it comes to values, ethics, compliance, and other absolutes. When it comes to conduct, the best leaders are black and white with clearly communicated and enforced expectations.

Diversity and alignment

With all of this diversity, who’s in-charge? Should we all just go off in a million different directions? Of course not. Leaders set the general direction, and the teams fill in the details, empowered and accountable to act. As a leader, I’ve learned that my way isn’t the only way. I’m tolerant of a variety of approaches, but hold people accountable to deliver results based on the methods of their choosing.

Diversity and comfort

Diversity makes people uncomfortable. I’ve learned to measure my leadership maturity in terms of how much I’ve been able to expand my comfort zone. I honestly have plenty of room to grow, but I’m conscious of it. I like to put myself in uncomfortable situations so that overtime, those situations can become familiar territory. It’s stressful, but “smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.” Likewise, getting comfortable with diversity makes you a stronger leader.

Those are my thoughts on leadership and diversity. Much has been written on the subject of leadership and diversity from narrow and specific definition of diversity. This is my attempt to take a more comprehensive approach, defining diversity in the broadest possible way, and capturing the advantage it brings to leadership.