The more diverse your team, the better you'll be at identifying what a diversity of users perceive as problems.

Many Westerners see follow-through and reliability as the most critical factor in how they calculate the trustworthiness of another individual. In some other cultures, who you know and how you're related to other individuals is the most important variable. And for others, it may be as much about your reputation and what others have said about you.

May we all beware lest our innovative ideas appear very cliche before we even blink.

Given the increasing diversity among customers and employees, organizations that attend to cultural intelligence are more successful.

The two most important forms of diversity when it comes to innovation are visible diversity (typically skin color, age, gender, etc.) and underrepresentation (anytime someone is less than 15% of the majority group). Other forms of diversity are also relevant but these are the ones that psychologically play the most role in how someone engages with the innovative process.

Even an organization that doesn't do much work internationally will benefit from a culturally intelligent strategy to innovation. Working across different generations, business units, regions, and functions are all factors that can also influence the innovation process.

The more diverse your team, the better you'll be at identifying what a diversity of users perceive as problems.