Five Ways To Boost Cognitive Diversity That Can Lead To Greater Innovation

Many conversations are happening these days on the value of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the workforce. However, I've found much of the current emphasis on DEI efforts hardly touches on the value of cognitive diversity. Janine Schindler, MCC writes that "cognitive diversity is the inclusion of people who have different ways of thinking, different viewpoints and different skill sets in a team or business group." Cognitive diversity (registration required) refers to how people create and apply knowledge or how people prefer to use their personal knowledge or build on the expertise of others when facing new situations.

The foundation of any organization is its core values. An organization's core values dictate the behaviors valued at the organization and serve to attract talented employees while encouraging them to excel in their careers. Today's leaders would do well to hire and retain individuals who think differently and balance out the organization—promoting a safeguard against harmful groupthink.