Is the guy in the corner an idiot?

“But”, he gathered his thoughts before continuing, “you don’t want too much diversity in a group.”

“You don’t want… wait, sorry?”

People are looking up from their notebooks.

Another one fills in. “You don’t want diversity?”

From time to time, work lets you go on training to do what you do even better. It’s that time of the year and I’m back on the school bench.

A bunch of people who just met each other are discussing the need for diversity in a group to perform well. A guy in the corner decided to go first and woke people up.

They woke up and went straight to attack.

That’s the road we often take.

That’s the road we often take when someone contradicts a view we hold dear.

Like diversity in groups.

Let’s try an alternative path.

On a recent podcast, investor Brent Beshore talks about curiosity versus judgment. Where judgment is jumping to conclusions, assuming the guy in the corner is an idiot. And curiosity is digging deeper, trying to understand if he really is an idiot.

Judgment is what’s happening in the room I’m in.

Curiosity on the other hand is assuming that the other person is not out to get you. Asking a few questions.

Hearing them out.

It takes time to get to know a person and their intentions. By leading with curiosity, you’ll slowly build a view if the other person is a hero or zero.

“Sure I want diversity,” he’s back at it.

“But you just said…”

“I want diversity, but I’d like to share a few core values with the people I’m working with.”

Sure, why not.

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