Diversity and Problem Solving

Solvable problems are usually solved by surprising, non-trivial alternatives. If an obvious solution from an obvious source could have provided an answer, it would have happened already. Instead, it’s the unlikely approaches—the odd combinations that come from diversity—that often win the day. Diversity might involve ethnicity or physical abilities. But it’s just as likely to involve idiosyncratic approaches and differences in experience. If enough peculiar people get together, something new is going to happen. Author Scott Page has shown that as systems get more complex, diversity creates ever more benefits.

-- Seth Godin, The Practice (p. 52)