‘The cultural intelligence of the individuals on a diverse team determines whether the team’s diversity promotes or deters innovation. Improve CQ to gain the benefits of diversity.’

‘Your mind is your most powerful asset for innovation. By conscioualy paying attention to innovation and the diverse perspectives around you, you’re primed to come up with more innovative solutions.’

‘Discipline yourself to overcome the increased distractions that come from a diverse team and focus on defining the problem and solving it.’

‘Diversity makes or breaks the success of implementing an innovation.’

‘Take control of your physical space in order to create the ideal climate for culturally intelligent innovation.’

‘A culturally intelligent leader helps teams work interdependently when task uncertainty is high.’

‘Learn what builds trust among your diverse colleagues and users in order to accept the risks that are necessary for successful innovation.’

‘Great ideas mean nothing if they can’t be effectively implemented.’

‘High-performing teams communicate less during intense, high workload times than low-performing teams do. That’s because they’re relying upon an implicit coordination that emerged at the beginning during times of low stress.’

‘A crucial part of culturally intelligent innovation is selecting the best idea and getting others to support it.’

‘Diversity is unlikely to impede implementation as long as you develop a plan for implementation.’

‘Deliberate together until you have an idea that everyone views as ‘mine’ and ‘ours’. This requires bottom-up initiative and top-down direction.’

‘Watch a diversity of users test a prototype, and adapt the design accordingly. Look for what features they focus on most and least.’

Source

David Livermore (2016). Driven by Difference: How Great Companies Fuel Innovation Through Diversity