Creating An Culture of Innovation By Staring Across the Aisle

by Matt Dierdorff

Ever spent time within a culture that is strikingly different from your own. Have you found yourself at a Latin Quinceanera, a Chinese New Year, or a Passover Seder Meal? One cannot venture into this kind of space without coming away with a new frame of reference for one’s own, indigenous homeland.

Often, we become entrenched within our own business industry, attending trainings, reading books, speaking with colleagues. And the effect is often a perspective which cannot help but be incredibly mono-lingual. We believe that the only way to approach the challenges and opportunities within our context is with the shared language of that context. If we reside within a traditionally analytical “nation” then we find it hard to peer through non-linear eyes. If the foundation of our business is within the service industry then we fail to benefit from a product development focus.

While it is obviously imperative that you become incredibly proficient in one’s first tongue, innovation beckons one to see the world from the other side of the planet. If you are committed to creating a business culture where creativity and lack of convention are embedded in your DNA, then you might consider the following:

• Join a networking group comprised of non-competitors, merely to listen. Attend functions when possible and ask questions about how they approach success and what enables them to thrive, adapt, and engage. Don’t ask them how they would resolve your challenges, or take advantage of your opportunities. It’s your job to translate. Merely attempt to immigrate for a bit, and learn the aspects of their world which would enrich your own.
• Go to a seminar/workshop outside of your industry. I wouldn’t suggest anything too intensely technical, just something which scratches the surface. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of Circus Production or engage a sales training workshop. See how people are enhancing their public speaking prowess at a Toastmaster’s or engaging multiple learning styles in an education environment.
• Read an “out of field” book or publication. Subscribe to an e-newsletter, or follow someone on Twitter who is talking about what you are doing everyday. This is not about ignoring your current strengths and adopting other priorities. This is about football players taking ballet classes because they desire to play football at a high-caliber. As you read, lay it over the landscape of your particular industry and locate those transferable principles which will no doubt arise.
• Wear a different hat. For a period of time, perhaps a day, address your potential challenges or opportunities in a way which mirrors a leader in an industry outside of your own. Literally walk down the hall in another person’s moccasins, and pull each agenda item through that filter. Ask yourself how you would handle this if you were not a doctor, a baker, or a candlestick maker.

Every moment is seeking innovation, but it is crucial now more than ever. It is difficult to see things anew when one never does new things. Peering into someone else’s lawn gives us fresh eyes for our own. In order to become more fully who we are, we must learn from others.