Sometimes the most out-of-the-box thing a company can do is look outside for help in creating new ideas. Not just outside the company, but outside the industry.

Every industry and company has its own culture, and that culture often produces a kind of "traditional target blindness". The same ideas keep coming up because the same people are tasked with coming up with new solutions to old problems. But, eventually a company either innovates its way to the top of the industry or it stagnates its way into bankruptcy.

Two examples of "traditional target blindness" are the music industry's reaction to Napster and Hellmann's Mayonnaise's reaction to an upstart egg-less competitor. The music industry just saw Napster as a pirate. They completely missed the paradigm shift, and now the biggest player in the music industry is Apple. Hellmann's Mayonnaise wasted all its brand equity by suing "Just Mayo" because the company didn't use eggs, as its egg free label made clear, because Hellmann felt the spread just wasn't mayo without real eggs. The result was Just Mayo soared in popularity, it attracted a ton of new investor financing and Hellmann's dropped the lawsuit after being ridiculed in the media. Hellmann's failed to understand the huge market Just Mayo was targeting.

In both of these cases an outside perspective could have averted a disaster. Insiders are often on insulated to see the shifting market landscape. Often the best thing a company can do to keep growing and creating is to hire outside expertise to generate fresh ideas and to provide a reality check.

Diversity is more than a magic word

Forbes.com report points out:

- Forbes study has identified workforce diversity and inclusion as a key driver of internal innovation and business growth.

- Lu Hong and Scott Page showed that groups of diverse problem solvers can outperform groups of high-ability problem solvers.

- According to McKinsey, companies with diverse executive boards enjoy significantly higher earnings and returns on equity.

- According to Harvard Business School, multicultural networks promote creativity

Source:http://www.forbes.com/sites/ekaterinawalter/2014/01/14/reaping-the-benefits-of-diversity-for-modern-business-innovation/

The biggest lesson of the past ten years is that every industry is evolving and innovating far faster than ever before. It's not just tech companies innovating, it's everything from publishing to plumbing, from logistics to manufacturing. There is a constant demand for the best and the brightest employees. When making new hires most companies hire people that are a lot like the people already working there. This is human nature. We are attracted to being with people just like us. But, this slice of human nature is a modern business killer. However, diversity inclusion Is not simply an HR (human resource) or risk management matter in the conventional sense.

What are the pitfalls of shared blind spots?

Terrible business practices appear to go unchallenged in ways that make huge change - actually when facing a future of disruptive innovations.

Last year the Huffington post reported: "With the average U.S. citizen eating over 11 pounds of chocolate (that's about 120 chocolate bars), per year, it is incredible to consider how few of us are aware of the atrocities involved in 70 percent or more of the world's cacao production." Source: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4181089/

When customers united to incite change competition exploded and offending brands uncovered. In any event the value of these brands was questioned and basically assessed, as competitors picked up cusomers and shareholders.

On the other hand, some experts alert organizations against starting changes. those experts  recommend holding off until clients are demanding change. Extraordinary method on the off chance that you want to direct them towards more innovative competitors

Author's Bio: 

Yvette Dubel helps clients cultivate a better kind of different with innovative approaches to branding, risk management and diversity inclusion. Strategically leveraging social media to build brand equity, enhance positive connection with your brand and more with ArtBasedSolutions.com  Contact her to start getting better outcomes.