3 Reasons Why You Should Work With People Who Are Different From You
They are the best kind of people to work with.
Some of the best people I have worked with are different from me.
My MBA cohort had roughly 50 students. I was struck by the diversity of the cohort. More than half of them were from different countries. And coming from different backgrounds and professions meant that it took some time for us to accept and learn from one another.
I remember the first day of class. I never felt so intimidated by a group of people. I felt like the dumbest student in the room. It surprised me how I found my MBA cohort more intimidating than my legal cohort whom I passed the U.K. Bar exams with. Later, I discovered the reason why — they were different from me, and I was afraid of the unfamiliar.
As students, we were given opportunities to work on projects sponsored by host companies. For my first project, my team and I were assigned to a local fashion e-commerce startup. We were asked to review their sales and distribution strategy and propose ways to optimize for long-term growth.
During our time together, my team and I learnt a lot from each other. Despite coming from very different backgrounds, we came up with a pool of ideas to work on and presented to the host company. I was proud of how much we could achieve in a short time. It opened my mind to new ways of thinking that my legal training did not.
It forces you to think out of the box
Working with different kinds of people nurtures creativity in you. You have to think out of the box to relate to another person who is different from you.
Many times in a project, I have heard ideas that sounded ridiculous to me in the beginning. But I realized later it was because I was not considering them with an open mind. Ideas that seemed ridiculous at first turned out to be the brilliant ones after everyone in the team had their hand in developing and improving it.
I was so used to doing things in a certain way that it hindered me from learning anything new. Creating something new requires collaboration.
Marian Croak, the woman who created the technology behind internet calls, quoted:
“Inventors are just humans. Anyone can have innovative ideas. But we have to share those ideas and collaborate with each other so that they can be realized.”
You are humbled by the people you meet
When you learn to solve a problem outside your skills and knowledge, you start to see the world differently. You learn how different people can offer a different perspective on things. It feels like gaining a new dimension.
One of my MBA cohorts served in the U.S. Marine Corps. We worked on two projects together. Having travelled to South East Asia and opened a cross-fit gym in Cambodia, he had a non-traditional career path. From his story, I learned not to be afraid of doing something a little different and be confident about it.
That was one of many interesting stories I have heard from my MBA cohort. Being surrounded by people who are different from you inspires you to challenge what you already know and go further.
You gain new knowledge and skillsets
During my first semester in business school, I was at awe at some of the things that my classmates were doing effortlessly — creating PowerPoint presentations, performing data analysis in Excel, reading financial statements etc. Just like how I can review and draft contracts with ease, they were doing what they already knew how to do.
I found someone who works in finance to help me understand how to calculate free cash flow projections. I observed how another classmate churns out professional-looking business decks within a short time and learned how to present the same. I learned how to be vocal from someone in the team and started to speak with confidence.
There is always something to learn from people who are different from you. You just need to keep an open mind.
My experience has taught me to look out for those who are different from me — the ones who can show me what I am good at, and, more importantly, what I am not good at so I can try to learn from them.
Most people will tell you that it is easier to work with people who think like you. But the best people help you to recognize your own limitations and rise above it. Surrounding yourself with people who are different from you may be uncomfortable at first, but as you adapt, learn and overcome, you start to wonder why you were afraid in the first place.
