A book recommendation from Dan Beaulieu:
Driven By Difference: How Great Companies Fuel Innovation through Diversity
By David Livermore
Copyright 2016 Amacom Books
Price: $27.95: 276 pages with appendix and index
This book makes sense
Diversity is a key to innovation in fact I strongly believe as many other well-minded people that diversity has always been the key to a great America. The more diverse we are as am country the better we will be as a country despite what certain politicians want you to believe today.
And yes this is what this book is all about. Author David Livermore takes this premise and takes it all the way to the point where he teaches us to not only understand diversity but how to encourage it, use it, capitalize on and make it work for our companies.
He even takes is through some examples of designing physical spaces that will encourage creativity through diversification. But that is just one of the more obvious things you’ll learn in this book.
I love the chapters on not only listening but hearing one another. By learning why one certain group does things one way and gets to the same point as another group that does it a completely different way.
He shows us how to get ideas from diverse teams, how to productively encourage and benefit from differences of opinion.
He demonstrates how some diverse teams have broken down stereotypical assumptions while opening up dialogue that gives people insights into one another, the way they think and why they think this way.
But you know what the most important lesson this book teaches? That we are all going to benefit a lot more from our differences when we respect one another. When we take the time to pay attention to each other and make a concerted effort to walk in each other’s shoes.
The message is simple. Let’s respect one another, let’s look out for one another, let’s learn from one another and most importantly let’s crate better organizations by celebrating both our similarities and our differences.
Thank you Mr. Livermore for this book. It represents an important building block in understanding diversity and its role in corporate culture.
