“Diversity” is commonly cited as a desirable goal on teams and in companies.There is a good reason for this:people with diverse perspectives see different aspects of issues and problems, and tend to generate very different solutions.Sometimes the optimal solution comes from an unexpected source; sometimes the creative conflict that results from the airing of different points of view unearths hybrid strategies that are superior to anything that any individual – or group of similar individuals – would have come up with.This talk covers:

• two real-life case histories of projects in which bringing in a broad range of backgrounds was critical to solving the problem at hand
• the antithesis of diverse thought:groupthink.Symptoms of a team in groupthink and the problems that usually result
• psychological factors that need to be fought in order to achieve real diversity on teams and creativity when working through problems