singer, dancer, comedienne, and actress Carol ...

Image via Wikipedia

Last week I was honored to attend the Ronald McDonald House Charities International Conference in Chicago.  The night before sessions started, I was channel surfing in my hotel room, finding nothing satisfactory on TV, until I ran across a PBS Series, American Masters, highlighting Carol Burnett.

Memory Lane

I know — I’m showing my age — but I loved the Carol Burnett show. And of course, the comedienne herself is an extraordinary human being, and the show provided a comprehensive view of her life and career. One recurring theme was how Carol pulled together and managed a diverse group of comedic actors for her variety show, including Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Tim Conway, and Lyle Wagoner.  Carol was credited with being a terrific manager, if you will, always ensuring that the opportunities to generate huge laughter were spread equally among the very different cast members. And what ensued were hilarity (that was never cruel or personal) and a successful running variety program on CBS for nine years. (You can take a trip down memory lane or to see some “best of” moments from the Carol Burnett show on YouTube.)

Little did I realize that this PBS show would foreshadow the topic of the first session at the Conference the next day. The speaker was Dr. Tanya Menon, Visiting Professor of Management & Organizations at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Her topic? Creativity and Innovation.

The Myths

Ms. Menon immediately engaged us by discussing some accepted “truths” behind creativity and decision-making.  She noted how powerful and untapped our brains are; that sub-consciously we are absorbing massive amounts of data all the time; and that we are able to make quick decisions in “a complicated environment.”  She called these “truths” the Fast and Smart psychological theory, as described in the best-selling book by Malcolm Gladwell, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.

Dr. Menon proceeded to demonstrate to the audience that using intuition and “your gut” are not always the best approaches to problem solving, particularly given our biases towards such things as appearance, gender, and other pre-dispositions. Our conscious and unconscious biases and personal histories can torpedo our creativity and innovation, since we human beings tend to resist change. My take away from the first part of her presentation was that the Fast and Smart psychological theory suggests that we do what comes easiest and quickest — which is not necessarily, and can be quite different from what is best or wisest. Sometimes Fast and Smart decisions are accurate. Sometimes, they are not.

Fostering a Creative Environment

The second half of the session delineated different ways to combat the brain’s tendency to do what comes easiest, and encourage and foster an environment that brings creativity and innovation. She indicated that this process involved “educating your intuition/celebrating slow thinking.”

Her demonstrations and mind exercises then illustrated to us that many times, “genius” thinking is derived from “deep practice” and concentration, not “mindless rote.” For example, have you ever driven home from a long day at work, only to realize once you get home, that you have no memory of stopping at the red lights or whether or not traffic was heavy along your usual route? Conversely, if you are in a new town or city, and have to find a hotel, you concentrate on the directions or voice of your GPS, and keenly tune into your environment.  You have to focus to reach your destination and forge a new path.

The Role of Diversity

And finally, Dr. Menon emphasized that innovation and creativity are not just “mental acts” but are also  “social acts,” meaning our personal and social interactions are key to our brains finding unusual solutions. And here is where diversity is so key to our ability to find new solutions. (This is the principle behind the practice of “full team” brainstorm sessions at Marketing Partners.)

Dr. Menon asked the audience how many of us had secured a job through close and strong personal ties, such as a family member or very close friend.  A small number of hands went up.  Then she asked how many people had secured a job through a “weaker” social bond: a friend of a friend for example, or someone we had met once or twice.  Surprisingly, a majority of hands went up.  This quick poll very accurately illustrated “The Strength of Weak Ties“ (Granovetter, 1973.) So the old saying may still hold true of “it’s not what you know, but who you know” — with an important caveat: it’s who you know from all different cultures, backgrounds, interests, and ages.

To think “outside the box” — one must literally “get out of the box” and into new, different environments, among new, diverse people.  As an assignment, Dr. Menon told the audience that we had to actively seek out and spend time with complete strangers or coworkers we disliked — an uncomfortable activity for sure — to spur our creative thinking.  We did — and I will continue to do this activity as I have in the past — as it has always led me to new paths and discoveries.

In fact, that very evening I met the Executive Director of a Ronald McDonald House in Tennessee and a board member from a House in the territories in Australia. The three of us, complete strangers, looked and sounded very different.  However, our conversations lasted a great deal longer than a typical meet-and-greet; and that was because we had such different perspectives to share — and gain. We discussed all kinds of topics, shared information about effective learning programs, and laughed a great deal. I left a better informed person.

I firmly believe that diversity was a big component to Carol Burnett’s comedic success.  Her team of show “regulars” included people of different ages, heights, appearance, experience levels, strengths and weaknesses. When her comedy/variety show was over, Burnett went on to find major success in yet another, divergent genre: drama.  I don’t know if Dr. Menon is a fan of Carol Burnett, but I’d guess she would agree with the role diversity played in her success.

How will you bring diversity into your life today?