The world of organizations is more diverse than it used to be and was a long time in coming. Diversity has several important dimensions but perhaps the one we talk about the least is how organizations can avoid inadvertently sabotaging themselves by hiring too many people that think alike.
A recent post in the Farnam Street Blog notes that when diversity of thought, opinions and views are filtered out in the name of culture, values and other criteria of fit, diversity of thought can suffer: “Misfits are filtered out. Stormtroopers are hired. As a result, effectiveness plummets and budgets increase. More Stormtroopers get hired. This is the Stormtrooper problem …..when everyone working on a problem thinks about it similarly. Eventually, hard problems get outsourced to the misfit-friendly companies that can solve them.”
