Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking

‘There is a time and place for prestige, and a time and place for dominance. Wise leaders are able to pivot back and forth between the two.

And even when discussion does start, the most senior person speaks last, another technique that protects diversity of thought.

innovation.’39 Another technique is brainwriting. Like brainstorming, this is a way of generating creative ideas, but instead of stating the ideas out loud, team members are asked to write them down on cards, which are then posted on a wall for the rest of the group to vote on. ‘This means that everyone gets a chance to contribute,’

brainwriting should have just one rule: nobody is allowed to identify themselves with their written contributions.

‘By anonymising the contributions, you separate the idea from the status of the person who came up with it. This creates a meritocracy of ideas. People vote on the quality of the proposal, rather than the seniority of the person who suggested it, or to curry favour. It changes the dynamic.’

the real choice is not between hierarchy and diversity, but about how to gain the benefits of both.

When the environment is complex and uncertain, this is precisely when one brain – even a dominant brain – is insufficient to solve the problem. It is precisely when we need diverse voices to maximise collective intelligence.

It is as if imagining living across national borders helps us to step beyond conceptual borders.

we sometimes need to apply rebel ideas to our own lives.

‘The thing about ideas is that they naturally inspire new ones. This is why places that facilitate idea-sharing tend to become more productive and innovative than those that don’t. Because when ideas are shared, the possibilities do not add up. They multiply.’

Innovation is not just about creativity, it is also about connections.

Take building design, where architects are now curating spaces that maximise the scope for connections. Instead of closed-off cubicles and walled offices, the idea is to bring people away from their desks, to create areas where people feel encouraged to mingle, make chance encounters and engage with outsider perspectives.

People are capable of change, if you gain their trust. People start to listen to what you are saying when there is a real relationship, rather than just rejecting what you say out of hand.

Some evidence suggests that low-carb, high fat diets can improve health, while others suggest that the best diets are low-fat, high-carb. There is evidence for both sides, which, in a sense, is evidence for neither.

We introduced hundreds of employees to the notion that jobs are not static sculptures, but flexible building blocks. We gave them examples of people becoming the architects of their own jobs, customising their tasks and relationships to better align with their interests, skills and values

The results, when they came back, were remarkable. Productivity soared. It was almost 30 per cent higher than in the lean office condition – and 15 per cent higher than the enriched condition.

In almost all areas of our lives, we will find ourselves moving from the era of standardisation to the era of personalisation.

This is a finding that keeps re-emerging across the social sciences: people with a giving approach are flourishing.

most successful givers are strategic, seeking out meaningful diversity, and cutting off collaborations if they are being exploited. This enables them to benefit from the upside of successful teamwork, while reducing the downside of partners who free-ride.

highly successful people have three things in common: motivation, ability and opportunity