Tame the Primitive Brain: 28 Ways in 28 Days to Manage the Most Impulsive Behaviors at Work

Day 20

Diversity

High-Performing Teams

True . . . there is no “I” in team, but there is a “u” in suck.

—Anonymous

Today you’ll tame:

• Customarily avoiding the assortment

The change management company sent word out that they needed an injection of “creativity, zest, and life” to make it stand out in the marketplace.

One of my best friends and colleagues was hired to supply that boost of energy to the company. He was everything it needed: well-educated, smart, creative, and a live wire.

On his first day at the firm, he was pretty much stopped at the door and told to go and buy a dark suit before coming back to work—despite the fact that he had already toned down his usual “look” considerably.

Even after he returned more appropriately dressed, from the first moment, any ideas he brought to the table—which, by the way, had been highly successful in many other sectors—were shot down.

More puzzling to him was that the leader who had brought him in to update the company’s approach to innovation instructed him not to do “any of that out-of-the-box @#$% here!” because theirs was a traditional company, driven by process metrics and hierarchy. The most positive responses my friend received to any of his proposals were, “We like what you’ve done. Now redo it so it is more like ‘us.’” Even then, his work was never shown to any of the company’s clients.

My friend believed he was being assigned only to “Siberian projects,” those that were not important, where his work would have no effect. ...