Three times is a trend; this is how many times I came across this quote yesterday. Who were the messengers?
- Dorina Morelli via a tweet#
- James Victore via his #BurningQuestions creative-letter#
- Karen McGrane via her best conference (nominated) presentation#
A working theory of mine on what stumps us the most is that we think and thus end up feeling that we must go at it alone. We don't; the complexity of the problems that need tackling actually requires a team, possibly a diverse one.
Tobi Lütke discovered how much better we can do when we invite people who complement us into our work. According to an in depth article in the Globe and Mail#, the developer and now CEO of Shopify, an “Intel inside” type company that provides software to more than 120,000 commerce sites, followed wise advice:
So Lütke hired Finkelstein, and Toby Shannan, a warm, bearded, bear of a man, and several others from different backgrounds, and everything changed. All of a sudden there was diversity of opinion. Instantly there were a multitude of possible solutions to any given problem. “I made one change,” says Lütke, “based on one comment by John, and it massively impacted the company.” It got him to reconsider how big Shopify could be. “You know what?” he said to himself, “I think this is a growth company.”
Being exposed to many ideas supports personal growth, helps broaden experiences to make better connections, and creates more resilient organizations.
The maker and tinker-er in me finds a complement in creatives, user experience designers/strategists, and scientists/technologists. I work well with creative directors and developers, for example.
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Valeria is an experienced listener. She designs service and product experiences to help businesses rediscover the value of promises and its effect on relationships and culture. She is also frequent speaker at conferences and companies on a variety of topics. Book her to speak here.