Why Cognitive Diversity is Better for Business

Facebook Business

April 8, 2019

Three and a Half Degrees, an original podcast series by Facebook, brings together unexpected pairings of business leaders, mavericks and entrepreneurs who share surprising parallels in values, visions, experiences and ideas. Hosted by David Fischer, Facebook’s VP of Business and Marketing Partnerships, this podcast series shares common lessons learned when building new businesses in today’s age of connectivity. Tune in to hear stories of challenges and triumphs, get inspired by innovative entrepreneurs and learn from the common practices, insights and motivations of successful business leaders.

Would you trust an all-male team to craft a marketing plan geared toward women? Or similarly, would it make sense for only the engineers to determine the direction of your new product innovation? In the latest episode of Three and a Half Degrees, we connect advertising leader Jonathan Mildenhall with social entrepreneur Antionette Carroll to discuss the importance of diversity in business. While many people think of diversity as differences in race, gender, age and more, Mildenhall and Carroll focus on the importance of cognitive diversity in business, which means including and valuing different ways of thinking, areas of expertise and opinions. The two explain how critical cognitive diversity is to not only create a work environment that celebrates differences, but also to tackle challenging business problems. And they share how you can champion cognitive diversity in your organization to create a culture of inclusion and strengthen your business.

Understand your biases

Acknowledging and understanding your own biases is the first step in working toward mitigating the impact of bias in your organization. Both leaders recommend keeping your biases in mind as you make important business decisions to help reinforce the importance of diversity. Encouraging others in your organization to also think about their biases will help increase awareness and can help drive people to consider a diverse range of perspectives when making decisions or approaching challenges.

Seek out new perspectives and opinions

Mildenhall and Carroll discuss the importance of removing silos in your organization by talking to people outside your immediate group. Actively including people outside your typical working group, with different opinions and perspectives, will lead to better business results by enabling you to find creative solutions to propel your business forward. Engaging people with different areas of expertise can also help you tackle challenging projects by approaching the issue from new angles and leveraging diverse skill sets.

Check out this week's episode to learn more about the importance of cognitive diversity in business.

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Best Practices Interviews