Diversity Unites Around a Common Cause

We all generally believe that when we get others opinions, we can be more effective. Few generally believes he is a lone island and he has all knowledge within himself.  However, we generally get counsel from those we trust and are well acquainted with. However, what is surprising is that when we work with people that are "different" thank ourselves, we actually tend to perform better than those we tend to know better.

In a study done by Katherine Phillips, professor at Columbia Business School, groups put together with outsiders (people they had never met before) performed nearly twice as effectively as those that performed alone. No big surprise there. But they performed 40% better than those that were matched with people they already knew. It seems that the more insecure we are, the more inclined we are to reconcile opposite opinions. They were more focused and accurate. They were less quick to just jump on the opinion of someone else.

I have been part of a CLC group now for a year and a half. It is my second group. In CLC, you meet with a group of 10-14 guys once a week for two years. Our group like many is very diverse. But that is what makes it so cool. I have learned so much from my CLC brothers and by now, I know I can be completely transparent. It was not always that way as groups have to be together for a period of time before gelling.

Diversity within a common cause is the most effective. That is why you could go to a sporting event and be high-fiving your neighbor even though you don't know him. The shootings in Charleston instead of driving a wedge between the black and white community united them in a common resolve. It did not fulfill the shooters desire to ignite racial tension. The bond of a common faith is what united them. Kingdom diversity united through the perspective of grace. I find it amazing that we think that the solution to racial tension is to fight it from the outside-in. Education isn't the answer to the depraved human heart. Gun control won't solve hate. Reconciliation comes from the healing of the human heart. That can only be supernatural. And that is what we see happening in Charleston.