Hire People You Don't Like

I’ve come back to this idea repeatedly in my work because the mindset behind innovation usually changes before the results do. What people notice, question, challenge, and act on determines how ready they are for what comes next.

Innovation suffers when everyone in the room thinks alike, talks alike and validates the same instincts.

Years ago I used a deliberately provocative phrase: hire people you don’t like. The point is not to hire unpleasant people. It is to resist building a team made entirely of people who make you comfortable.

A useful innovation team contains friction. Different backgrounds, different assumptions, different professional languages and different ways of seeing risk. If everyone immediately agrees, you may have harmony, but you probably do not have much cognitive diversity.

Comfort is wonderful for friendships. It can be dangerous for strategy.

So what does that mean in practice? It means challenging the assumption, habit, or hesitation that is keeping you anchored to the present. Here are three places to start.