One of Nature’s design principles is that it banks on deep diversity as a cornerstone of its regenerative design. I like to pair this with another of Nature’s design principles, which is that it rewards cooperation. Building an ecosystem on relationships invites diverse species and plant life to interact and support one another. This leads to incredibly synergistic relationships that help each other thrive.
Diversity surrounds us. It informs our business models, investment portfolios, quality of life, and many other essential aspects of our world. I call this ‘deep diversity.’
DEI work within our organizations reminds us of Nature’s deeper design principles that have a tremendous impact on the quality of our lives. To truly understand the intense connection between diversity and resilience, however, we need to dive further into deep diversity.
Diversity facilitates growth
Agriculture faces greater risks when farming monocrops. The prairie’s diverse ecosystem can bring different harvest seasons throughout the summer. If a hailstorm wipes out a mid-summer crop, there is another prairie harvest that will come later. However, if it wipes out the soybean crop, there will be no recovery until next year.
As a gardener, my garden is filled with diverse plants that bloom at different times, and in different colors, over the summer season. I like to plant various species together to enhance my garden’s appearance. My daffodils are beautiful when they are blooming, but they don’t look very pretty when the blooms are gone. So, I plant hostas around and above them. When the daffodils are done blooming, the hostas emerge and cover up any dying leaves.
Diversity drives healthy organizations
The non-profit executives I coach focus on diversifying their revenue streams because it makes them more resilient. We see many examples of this within for-profit businesses also. When there was a traffic jam in the Suez Canal during the COVID-19 pandemic, we learned a powerful lesson about the dangers of relying on single supply lines. When we design diversity into our investment portfolios, we are more resilient when markets fluctuate.
Organizationally, we’ve learned that when we design a product with flaws, or the project fails altogether there is usually someone who saw the problem but wasn’t heard. In times of significant disruption, we need to pay attention to those voices even more. In this case, diversity—of voice, authority, location—can be a buttress against costly mistakes.
When envisioning new products, our perception of market needs is shaped by the degree of diversity in the room. This is where homogeneity can be detrimental. If the entire staff shares the same background and culture, their life experiences will dictate the opinions about potential gaps in the market. These gaps may be too narrow, too broad, or even totally imaginary. With more diversity at the table, the team draws from broader experiences. Genuine gaps for women or a specific ethnic group, for example, are noticed and named. The possibilities for innovation and success are boundless.
Diversity sustains life
In evolutionary biology, the diversity of species beyond normal standards plays a critical role in adapting to Nature’s changing conditions. If a bird in the Galapagos Islands needs a slightly longer beak to capture food, this evolution becomes possible through species variations that reinforce the necessary adaptation over time.
To date, most organizations have defined diversity through the lens of DEI, or diversity, equity, and inclusion. This can limit the reach of our DEI teams, if not our view of diversity in general. Instead of just protecting DEI programs, we need to encourage these initiatives to strive for more.
Diversity is already a fundamental part of human life. We must embed it systemically in our organizations as well.
When we see diversity through the lens of deep design, we understand that it is a necessity. With this view, we see that diversity is a critical success factor for our organizations, our communities, our lives, and our planet that must run deeply through our systems. If we follow Nature’s lead and embrace deep diversity, how much more resilient will our organizations be?
How much more conscious will we become of the enrichment diversity brings to our lives?
