“Weird” people matter, to our businesses and to our communities.
Weird People Matter
Diversity creates better workplaces and more profitable businesses. Diversity inspires creative thinking. Diversity spurs economic development.
In addition to racial and ethnic diversity, diversity of thought is a crucial element for businesses and communities. With different perspectives, we consider new ideas and find innovative solutions.
In short: people we think are “weird” should be welcomed (and feel welcomed) in our business and community.
The truth is: we are all weird to someone. What we think in normal is completely strange to someone else.
Our neighbor to the north, Fargo, realized this in their latest marketing campaign: North of Normal. Their video celebrates the variety of weird, setting out the welcome mat for new ideas, businesses and residents.
During our book study, the conclusion was that our community could do a better job of welcoming weird. Most communities and businesses could do a better job of welcoming weird.
The Lower Case b
My hometown of Brookings recently rebranded itself. With it came a new logo, slogan (bring your dreams) and signage at the entrances to town (as you can see in our city’s promotion video).
As I learned this week, the lowercase b in the city’s logo was intentional. It represents openness and a lack of rigidty. A small way to welcome weird.
After the signs were erected, the logo was defaced with three simple underlines under the b, a classic correction from English teachers indicating that capitalization is needed. (Who knew that pranksters held grammar in such high regard?)
I am definitely reading into this simple act by one person, but this graffitti represents the challenge my community and many communities face. We want to grow and innovate, but we are hesitant to break the norms (or grammar rules). We are hesitant to welcome the weird. We want to be diverse, but we are also comfortable with the ways things have always been.
The Diversity Paradox
This tendency to cluster around similar people is not unique. In fact, recent studies have shown that integrating diverse groups in a neighborhood may prevent the dense interpersonal networks necessary for a sense of community. In short, some researchers argue that diversity and community are incompatible.
Fortunately, there is a middle road: bridges between the weirdos.
In our communities and businesses, we cluster with peers. We like being around weirdos like us.
We can build community with peers, but we also need bridges to connect, share and learn from other groups of people. Simply having diversity in a workplace or community does not make it diverse in practice. There needs to be a pollination of ideas and intersection of experience.
Thus, communities like mine, (which by its very location, history and climate has a hard time attracting diversity), are faced with two big questions:
- How do you attract weirdos?
- How do you create bridges between diverse groups of citizens?
Based on 9 Clouds’ experience in digital marketing, we know the best way to grow a business is to keep customers. Let’s tackle this question the same way. How do we build the bridges between diverse groups, knowing that this will help keep diversity and make it easier to attract weirdos in the future?
Attracting Weirdos
A bridge between diverse groups means opportunities to connect. If we live in a separate neighborhood and do not have to leave our little corner of the world, there are no bridges. Conversely, if we shop, eat and interact with people who are different from us, we are constantly walking across those bridges, even if we live in complete different parts of town.
There are four ways to create diversity bridges.
1. Events
Host an event that attracts different weirdos. Instead of events for a specific segment of people, create “big tent” events that attract a variety of community members. This could be music events, lecture-type events like TEDx, community festivals or something as simple as an open coffee hour.
The goal of these events as an organizer is to showcase people from the different groups of weirdos. Musicians, speakers or presenters should represent different facets of the community.
The events are also opportunities to give leadership roles to different people in the community. Ask others to organize and participate. This gives them a chance to involve their own networks and add diversity not just on stage, but throughout the entire event.
2. Serendipitous Places
A vibrant community needs places where all types of people go. In my community, one such place is Cottonwood Coffee, as John Fishback noted in his TEDx talk.
Before it opened, there were few places in town where university students actually mingled with community members. Now, it is typical to see someone studying next to someone having a meeting with a client.
Spaces like this create serendipity and the chance to pollinate ideas. You see flyers for organizations or events that are different than what you spend your time doing. You recognize who is in your community as well as who is not, but should be.
3. Curated Meetings
Bridges are not created on their own. Make a point to seek out weirdos in your community and meet them.
If you are an experienced or skilled person in a certain business or discipline, play the role of mentor. Connect someone with people in your network who they may not have a chance to meet otherwise. Don’t wait for someone to step forward and ask. Be a civic headhunter. Seek out people you want (and should have) in your community and simply introduce yourself.
4. Provide Resources
In my community, I see a huge opportunity to welcome Spanish speakers. The resources available for them, from lawyers to translators to educators, are either not present or not well-known by the people who need those resources.
Find a representative of the group of people you hope to attract. Ask them what they needed when they first moved to your community. Then, go about building those resources and asking them to share those resources with their network.
This not only makes new arrivals feel welcomed, it helps keep them in the community long-term.
Healthy Communities Are Diverse Communities
Be mindful of the need to diversify your business and community.
More can be done to increase diversity and attract more weirdos to our communities and businesses. If we are not cognizant of the need, we become complacent with the status quo and worry more about capitalizing our B than welcoming others.
Build bridges between weirdos. Support the events, places, meetings and resources that connect the diversity within your community.
In the end, we are all weird…and that’s good. The more weird we get, the better off we’ll be.
The post Build Bridges Between Diverse Communities…and Be Weird appeared first on 9 Clouds.