By: Mary L. Niehaus-Ralles
I’m a PR and Comms Professional, having pivoted a long time ago from my journalism background as a reporter. But my curiosity has been a mainstay and I still lead with tough questions and a continual learning mindset. I work with all levels of leadership, helping to shape storytelling and guide communications for companies and brands. I’m now enjoying project based, freelancing where I get to work with a variety of companies and industries, with some really cool and interesting business leaders.
One of the most frequent “asks” I hear from leadership when talking about how different backgrounds and perspectives drive innovation is, “I know this is one of our strongest differentiators. But how do we actually show the results?” We all connect on the feel good level, soft human connection stories. But at the end of the day, the Street, shareholders, and business leaders want to know how it’s actually driving ROI.
I feel like that’s a bit of a challenge, especially in today’s environment. Not because it isn’t true, but because innovation happens across a series of sparks, contributions, insights, and even trial and error. Similar to PR, it’s hard to pinpoint a single example or effort that is driving results. Just look at GEO and how the sweet spot of PR has now become of keen interest when third party credentialing translates to how a company shows up in AI search results. But to attribute and quantify the exact path to a single source, action, or individual? I’d argue if done right, it’s a collective and cumulative win for the entire cross functional team of Marketing and PR.
Still, in an era where we must measure absolutely everything for value, I get the need to produce something tangible. I’ve worked hard for decades giving visibility to stories where the ROI was demonstrated. And equally as long towards a shared goal for equity and inclusion.
I’m the kind of person that sits in a meeting listening at a different decibel. I pick up on the potential behind the details. Visually, I imagine words hanging in the air sparkling as I begin to string together the story that will resonate…details always come later with a creative.
Okay, okay. You’re wondering about that hook in the headline. Farm Stands and innovation? What’s the connection?
As a consultant, my days vary from one to the next. Depends on who I’m working for, what project is kicking off and which one is winding down. But there are some constants in my routine. Especially on summer mornings in the midwest.
I start my day around 4:30 a.m., well ahead of some of my west coast clients. I know, I know. But I am the epitome of a morning person and I have a whole routine that works for me. It’s a little bit of quiet time, some caffeine in a recliner, and often get started on my consulting work day long before sunrise. I’m waiting for daylight, to grab a basket and a few moments of solitude in my blackberry patch enjoying the morning sun.
A few weeks back, blackberry season was in rare form. I started my patch in 2019 with just a few canes. It’s now grown into three huge rows bursting at the seams with ripe berries in every direction. In Every Direction. Hold that thought.
Repeatable and Predictable Success
Blackberries are pretty simple. You fertilize in the fall, water during dry weeks, and they grow.
Let’s say you’ve got a team of ten people. All have the same backgrounds and experiences. Same culture. If I turned them loose on the blackberry patch, they’d load up basket after basket. Because they work well together and share a commonality of backgrounds and interests, they’d cooperate as a team and produce positive results. We’d call that a bumper season for this year’s harvest and a successful business model.
Blackberries-R-Us reports positive earnings, exceeding all projections. I’ll be the CEO in this example (hey, they’re my blackberries). I’m pleased with the results. Now we’re talking about talent development and how to fuel our talent pipeline for continued growth next year.
Audit: Assessing the Landscape
But what if I told you that if you took a group of ten people from different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences and that their results exceeded the prior year by 10x? Same patch, exactly same scenario, but a team of diverse individuals. Why? Because each approach (individual) brings a unique perspective and is an asset for the team. At every level, each team member is seeing a different view or perspective. One person walks by a cane full of leaves and keeps going. Yet another, looks under the branches, and uncovers dozens of ripe berries hanging on the branches.
Someone walks from left to right and another from right to left. Together, they are improving the volume for the harvest looking from multiple vantage points.
Even more interesting, what if you had a team member not familiar with the discipline? In this case, it’s blackberries.
When you don’t know what’s impossible, you think bigger than those already steeped in the constraints of any given field. Their ideas may not work, but they help trigger new ideas for those more seasoned and knowledgeable in the space. Diversity of thought is such a cool thing. I’m definitely someone that jumps into lots of areas with new ideas, some not always feasible. But my excitement to go further and learn more becomes a catalyst for others. Commonalities and differences are both competitive advantages for any organization.
Growth in Every Direction
If we flip the challenge of quantifying every single win and simply accept that a win is a win and that the overall health, environment and success of an organization demonstrate a proven ROI, it becomes so much less complicated.
Bottom Line
So while you may not always find a straight line to connect the dots for your business success related to fielding a diverse team, what you can count on as repeatable and reliable as your bottom line is this: Diversity = Innovation and Growth.
No AI writing assist was used in this blog. Any errors found are completely human in nature :).