Page 130 - Appreciative Leadership

The Genius of Inclusion 103

finally, to create a unique, innovative, and highly successful

companywide development program. And I learned how easy
it is to be creative when you include other people. It was a
good lesson to learn early in my career.

Innovation is triggered by the rich variety of ideas and informa-
tion that are generated when you increase the diversity of your team
or organization. New people bring new ideas. More people bring more

ideas. Different people bring different ideas. The inclusion of new,

more, and different people increases variety and stimulates innova-
tion. We were asked by the leadership team of a pharmaceutical R&D
laboratory to conduct an innovation assessment. Facing another year
with no new discoveries, they began to wonder, “Do we have the right
number and mix of scientists to stimulate innovation? Are we diverse
enough? Do we have a scientifi c critical mass?” In talking with all of
their scientists, it became clear that, no, they did not have enough
variety among their scientists to stimulate innovation. They were too

few and too specialized. They lacked the requisite diversity to spark

the scientific imagination. As a result, they decided to reach out and
form partnerships with the surrounding universities to enhance their
scientifi c diversity.
If you want to increase the creativity and innovation in your work
group or organization, draw on the positive power of inclusion. Invite
a wide range of people and groups of people to join you in coauthor-
ing the future.

Seeing through Beginners’ Eyes

One group of people who can always be counted on to add variety and
creativity to a conversation is youth. Be they chronologically young
or simply new within a system, youth bring fresh ways of seeing and
knowing, along with energy and a bias for action.