The Necessity of Strangers: The Intriguing Truth About Insight, Innovation, and Success
Alan Gregerman
Language: English
Pages: 243
ISBN: 1118461304
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
A counterintuitive approach to fostering greater innovation, collaboration, and engagement Most of us assume our success relies on a network of friends and close contacts. But innovative thinking requires a steady stream of fresh ideas and new possibilities, which strangers are more likely to introduce. Our survival instincts naturally cause us to look upon strangers with suspicion and distrust, but in The Necessity of Strangers , Alan Gregerman offers the provocative idea that engaging with strangers is an opportunity, not a threat, and that engaging with the right strangers is essential to unlocking our real potential. The Necessity of Strangers reveals how strangers challenge us to think differently about ourselves and the problems we face. Shows how strangers can help us innovate better, get the most out of each other, and achieve genuine collaboration Presents principles for developing a "stranger–centric" mindset to develop new markets and stronger customer relationships, leverage the full potential of partnerships, and become more effective leaders Includes practical guidance and a toolkit for being more open, creating new ideas that matter, finding the right strangers in all walks of life, and tapping the real brilliance in yourself To stay competitive, you and your business need access to more new ideas, insights, and perspectives than ever before. The Necessity of Strangers offers an essential guide to discovering the most exciting opportunities you haven′t met yet.
delivering greater value ultimately drove greater success because they were different. And in the case of Amundsen, they reinforced his formula. Amundsen's experience also suggests an intriguing question. What if, instead of actively avoiding the ideas of people we don't understand, as Scott did, we were to live with complete strangers? Not for years, but long enough to begin to understand how they live, the things they value, and the knowledge and wisdom they have accumulated through
shopping on your computer or even on your cell phone, and you really didn't need Best Buy any more. Worse yet, you could visit the nearest Best Buy store, compare actual products, then purchase them online. Shouldn't they have figured this out? Best Buy had won originally because of greater selection and lower prices. They were starting to lose because of even greater selection and even lower prices—and because they were allowing their customers to become strangers. The local appliance stores
world filled with interested and engaged strangers crowdfunding dramatically changes the equation and makes many more new ideas and projects possible—from documentary filmmakers in Washington, DC, to women entrepreneurs in Pakistan, and everyone in between. It's also worth noting that the rapid spread of the business of crowdfunding demonstrates the role strangers play in igniting innovation, as models that prove successful in one part of the world inspire people in another place to make
building a new sense of community around strangers with similar interests is nothing new. But it becomes intriguing when designed around a set of offerings that stretch our thinking about learning and the nature of social interaction. Recent programs like “Sumo + Sushi + Sake,” wherein customers dine and drink while learning about sumo wrestling and watching an actual competition, and “Bourbon and Burlesque,” wherein customers sample special bourbon-based drinks while learning the history and
making list of important; meeting during travel; mindsets and approach to; new paradigm for; number of contacts required to find right; reaching out to; recognizing genius in; Scott's aversion to learning from; starting social initiatives among; taking chance with; understanding and empowering; unique promise in Success: creating process for; innovation and ongoing; people contributing to; role of customers in; setting stage for employee's Suggested reading Surowiecki, James T Target Team