CurrentsBook Review—To Innovate,Connect with Strangers and PracticeDisciplined Thinking GILL IAN RICE

Alan Gregerman. The Necessity of Strangers:The Intriguing Truth About Insight, Innovation,and Success; Jossey-Bass, 2013; ISBN: 978-1-118-461303; 224 pp; $26.95.

Charles Kiefer and Malcolm Constable. The Art ofInsight: How to Have More Aha! Moments; Berrett-Koehler, 2013; ISBN: 978-1609948092; 192 pp;$17.95.

Christopher M. Schroeder. Startup Rising: TheEntrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the MiddleEast; Palgrave Macmillan, 2013; ISBN 978-0-230-34222-4; 256 pp; $27.

The silk used by orb-weaving spiders to producetheir webs contains ultraviolet (UV)-reflective prop-erties. UV reflectance in a web alerts birds to itspresence. This keeps them from crashing into anddestroying the spider’s work and interfering withits ability to catch prey. The German manufac-turer Arnold Glas used this knowledge to developORNILUX Bird Protection Glass. The human eyedoes not perceive UV light, so Glas invented a UV-reflective but transparent glass that works on thesame principle as the orb weaver’s web. The innova-tive solution prevents birds from colliding into win-dows, balancing the birds’ need for visibility withour need for transparency.

Biomimicry is the conscious emulation of life’s ge-nius. According to Alan Gregerman in The Necessityof Strangers, inspiration does not have to come from

humans. A few years ago, Nissan Motors announcedit was developing collision-avoidance technology.The stimulus for the technology came from learningabout the ways schools of fish swim continuouslyin crowded places—making almost instantaneousstops, starts, and changes in direction—without evercolliding. Gregerman’s thesis is that inspiration forinnovation can arise from unexpected sources andfrequently from strangers—even strangers of an-other species.

This is counterintuitive. We tend to view strangersas problems rather than as sources of opportunities.Gregerman encourages us to explore our world, con-nect with people and ideas, begin conversations, andrecognize the stimuli that can lead to innovationsand, in turn, to growth.

In The Art of Insight, Charles Kiefer and MalcolmConstable focus on one step in this process: the in-sight, or the “aha” moment when the sky clearsand a solution to a problem suddenly appears. Thiscan happen when we are daydreaming, showering,jogging, or conversing about unrelated topics. Wetend to believe that answers to our problems lie inour memories—if only we could access them. In-stead, Kiefer and Constable contend that an insightis a thought we never had before. And since it isa “fresh thought,” we need to look into the un-known for it. Not all fresh thoughts are insights,however, and deliberately trying to produce an in-sight rarely works. Yet, we can learn to be deliber-ate and disciplined about generating fresh thoughts.

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We may then recognize insights, which are high-quality fresh thoughts. Kiefer and Constable providea guide to help us generate insights quickly and eas-ily so we can regularly access them when we needthem.

Just as in typical learning, when trying to developthe ability to tap into fresh thoughts, we must gather,process, and store facts in memory and connect themin a methodical way. Kiefer and Constable relate theperspective of Nobel laureate Linus Pauling, who be-lieved that memory of isolated facts lay at the coreof creativity. In the mid-1930s, Pauling traveled bytrain from London to Oxford. On the journey, heread an article in the journal Nature arguing thatproteins were amorphous globs whose 3D structurecould never be deduced. Because of an isolated factin his memory—the key chemical bond in the pro-tein backbone did not freely rotate—Pauling recog-nized the fallacy in the argument. He subsequentlymodeled the alpha helix, for which he received theNobel Prize in chemistry.

In Pauling’s approach, memory thoughts should bepresent in the background and fresh thoughts shouldbe in front. To access fresh thoughts, our mindsshould be relaxed, with attention softly focused.This is unusual in the workplace, where we meetdeadlines, participate in conference calls, and mul-titask. We should find opportunities in which to bepresent and reflective, as when we listen to music,rather than always being active and engaged. In theoffice, we might stand and stretch or wander to thewindow and observe the cloud formations.

The skill of listening is at the heart of discovering in-sights. But to whom should we listen? Who mattersmost to our success? Consider the familiar notion,“It’s not what you know but who you know.” Yetfriends usually think like us and often agree withus. Gregerman offers a new paradigm. Like Kieferand Constable, he acknowledges the importance ofcurrent knowledge (such as facts we hold in mem-ory), but contends that to fill knowledge gaps, we

should find strangers who can fill them. This in-volves overcoming our natural aversion to strangersand developing habits of openness, engagement, andflexibility.

Gregerman contrasts the attitudes and preparationstrategies of the Norwegian explorer Roald Amund-sen and the British naval officer Robert Falcon Scottin the race to the South Pole in the early twenti-eth century. Scott relied on his friends, colleagues,and the British scientific community and seemed notto consider thorough planning to be a key to suc-cess. Amundsen, however, spent two years amongthe Inuit, learning how people survived in the harsh-est environments. Curious, he was open to the in-sights and practical knowledge that strangers likethe Inuit could provide.

Wasta, a traditional cultural practice in the Mid-dle East, refers to mediation or the use of a go-between with influence to achieve something, andhas a long and reputable history in the contextof managing relationships between families andtribes. In the twentieth century, however, govern-ments have used wasta to maintain political con-trol; wasta now involves rampant favoritism andnepotism, and even bribery and threats. Along withbureaucratic hurdles, it contributes to the difficul-ties of setting up businesses in the Middle Easttoday. It is crucial to have wasta to succeed: toknow the right people and have friends and con-nections that can smooth a path. Significant forentrepreneurs in the region today, however, andemphasized by Christopher Schroeder in StartupRising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remakingthe Middle East, is the fact that wasta is irrelevanton the web. The Internet increases human connec-tions and access to knowledge exponentially. Tech-nology allows inexpensive access to capital and mar-kets and the vital element of transparency. In thecontext of Gregerman’s thesis, strangers participat-ing on the Internet can offer ideas and feedback,stimulate thinking, and contribute capital to newventures.

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For instance, Wamda.com, a think-tank on en-trepreneurial learning and a portal for news aboutMiddle East and North Africa (MENA) regionalstartups and funding, focuses on transparency, facil-itates honest dialogue, examines successes and fail-ures, and encourages open conversations. It providesboth content and investment opportunities online aswell as outreach activities, such as “mix ‘n’ mentor”gatherings where successful and new entrepreneursmingle.

Schroeder bases his analysis of the entrepreneurialrevolution in the Middle East on more than 150 ex-tensive interviews and group discussions at univer-sities, businesses, competitions, and conferences inEgypt, Lebanon, Dubai, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.He acknowledges that this is a small segment of theMiddle East, but stresses that his goal is to chal-lenge the traditional narrative. Most outsiders mis-understand the region and the progress that is oc-curring in an area that connects China and India toAfrica, with a leading global airline (Emirates) andone of the world’s largest ports (Jebel Ali). A keymessage of the Arab Spring is that people want tohave a voice and solve their own problems. Politi-cal uncertainty does not diminish the potential forentrepreneurship.

The Middle East region has vast numbers of youngpeople (almost 55 percent of the population is un-der 25) that traditional business models cannot ab-sorb. Schroeder’s examination focuses on young en-trepreneurs in particular. They are innovating local,regional, and even global enterprises by working tosolve long-ignored social and infrastructural prob-lems in their countries. In addition, Schroeder in-cludes case studies of Fadi Ghandour, the founderof Aramex, the largest logistics company in theMENA region, and Samih Toukan, a founding part-ner of Maktoob, one of the first all-Arabic por-tals, which was sold to Yahoo! in 2008. Toukansuggests that his region does not suffer from alack of ideas but, rather, from a poor supportinfrastructure. Thus, culturally, many young peo-

ple lack confidence in their ideas’ potential forsuccess.

Nevertheless, the young entrepreneurs included inStartup Rising have what Gregerman, in The Ne-cessity of Strangers, calls an “open mindset.” Hav-ing an open mind is more important for innovationthan expertise, and Gregerman lists questions thatcan help us assess the degree of openness of ourmindsets. He suggests ways that we can build morehumility, curiosity, respect, and purposefulness in or-der to listen better. Engaging with the world aroundus, he posits, is the best way to come up with ideas.

Meanwhile, The Art of Insight includes numerousexercises for individuals, pairs, and trios to practicereflective thinking. The exercises encourage listen-ing and reflecting upon the surrounding world. Theability to let go of conscious thinking widens thenatural spaces between thoughts so new ideas cansurface. When we are more aware of our thoughts,discarding them becomes more automatic, but it ischallenging for a listener to stay quiet, both verballyand mentally, without disciplined practice. Videodemonstrations of these exercises are available atwww.TAOI-Online-Learning.com.

Situations for gaining insights differ: Some peoplewill find more insights on a nature walk, while oth-ers will discover them when mingling with groups.When the mind is quiet, however—such as in ourdefault state right before falling asleep or uponawakening—fresh thoughts and insights can sur-face. Another exercise involves how to frame prob-lems. Rather than focusing on the problem, ask thequestion, “What would happen if the problem wereno more?”

In Egypt, garbage collection tends to be intermit-tent and unreliable. Schroeder relates the insight thatMostafa Hemdan, an engineering student at TantaUniversity in Egypt, had after he observed the debrisof aging computers and consumer electronics pilingup in various places around town. When doing his

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homework using a leading global engineering website, he happened upon a set of videos about “TheGreen Environment.” His insight was to build a cul-ture of recycling in his town, with particular focuson separating and selling precious metals from dis-carded computers. With other students, he launchedRecycloBekia, and used alibaba.com to find buyersfor the discarded components and to research pric-ing. He soon relocated to Cairo, a much larger techcenter, and plans to expand around the region. Thecompany’s only competition is informal garbage col-lectors who scavenge through piles of garbage.

Kiefer and Constable stress that the art of insightis a creative act. Solving problems, in contrast,is like assembling the already-known pieces of ajigsaw puzzle. Insightful thinking is also differentfrom brainstorming, a common approach to inno-vation. Whereas brainstorming is very fast-pacedwith no censoring of memory, insightful thinkingis slow, with many pauses, a reflective mood, andwith old thoughts discouraged. Nevertheless, thetwo approaches are complementary, and as Kieferand Constable demonstrate, insightful thinking canbe used with teams and in meetings, where breaksare often more important that the meeting. Peopleshould be assigned to go for walks for the purposeof seeking out fresh thoughts.

According to Gregerman, contrary to organizations’claims to reward fresh thinking and divergent opin-ion, they usually encourage harmony, consensus,being “onboard” and a “team player.” The clas-sic experiments by Solomon Asch in the 1950s re-vealed how we prefer to conform even though weare wrong. Attachment theory also suggests thatwe have a tendency to build strong attachments tobosses and team members because of the safety andprotection offered by a group. Gregerman recom-mends collaborating with others who are very differ-ent. He also sees the irony in organizing brainstorm-ing retreats to innovate. It would be preferable, hebelieves, to take a fresh look ahead in an environ-ment filled with distractions.

In Gregerman’s view, the best thing to spark more in-novation and action is travel, near and far, but witheyes open to everything, childlike, with a sense ofawe and wonder. Most new ideas are based on anidea or practice that already exists somewhere. Wecan gain insights and inspiration simply by walkingabout without a predetermined destination, if we areopen to anything that we come across, whether it is aperson, a business, an exhibit, a concert in the park,or something in nature.

In a 2007 experiment, Gene Weingarten of theWashington Post arranged for Joshua Bell, theworld-famous violinist, to play during rush hour ata busy subway station in Washington, DC. Attiredin clothes similar to those worn by street perform-ers, Bell played the same pieces he played in con-cert halls, as more than 1,000 people walked by.Twenty-seven people left $32 and only seven peoplestopped to listen for at least a minute. Weingartenconcluded that context matters: most people werenot able to appreciate genius where they did not ex-pect it. Gregerman adds that we are not sufficientlycurious and open-minded to stop and listen to themusic: we are too busy and task-focused to alter ourplans in order to experience new people and newpossibilities.

He argues that people should become “en-trepreneurs of their jobs.” Leaders should encouragetheir teams to embrace the notion of discovery, ofconnecting and collaborating with coworkers whomight be strangers. Both Apple and REI connectwith “stranger-customers” in deep ways to maketheir companies smarter and more successful. Forexample, Apple’s in-store training and help activitiesresult in better informed and enabled customerswho are extremely loyal and more likely to referothers to the brand and increase their own Appleexpenditures.

Thanks to the power of the web, crowdsourcingplaces strangers at the heart of business: they in-fluence our buying decisions and the success of our

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organizations. Among strangers, the web facilitatesthe sharing of insight, feedback, and investments inbusiness ventures, creative projects, and social initia-tives. For example, Kickstarter is a funding platformfor creative projects.

The young Middle Eastern entrepreneurs studiedby Schroeder are part of the Arab “digital gener-ation” studied by Booz & Company in partner-ship with Google in 2012. This research revealedthat in the MENA region, the number of Inter-net users is growing faster (at 23 percent) than theglobal rate (14 percent). More than 50 percent ofthe “digital generation” research products and com-panies online and also spread the word about theirexperiences with companies, both good and bad.Forty percent would like to start their own busi-ness. Although the entrenched powers in the re-gion still aim to control their societies’ agendas intop-down fashion, bottom-up, technology-enabledproblem solving and opportunity building continueapace. Schroeder distinguishes among three types ofentrepreneur:

• Improvisers adapt models already successful inEnglish-speaking markets and Arabize the ex-perience. For example, Souq.com, the largest e-commerce site in the Middle East region, con-fronts the challenge of low penetration and usageof credit cards in the region by allowing customersto pay cash on delivery or with cashU (a regionalprepaid card) as well as credit cards.

• Problem solvers see local and regional challengesand have insights regarding how to deal withthem. An example is RecycloBekia.

• Global players start unique companies that canhave an impact in any market. Clear Day is aweather app produced by Vimov, an Egyptiancompany. Half of its downloads are in the United

States. The winner of the MIT Enterprise Fo-rum Arab Startup Competition in 2012 was HindHobeika, a student on the swim team at Ameri-can University of Beirut, who developed Butter-fleye, goggles that read the pulse in the tempo-ral artery and provide a swimmer with real-timecolor-coded feedback on the lens.

In Startup Rising, Schroeder notes that when West-ern business executives look at emerging marketssuch as those in the Middle East, they think eitherof large market opportunities to exploit or sites foroutsourcing because of cheap labor. He advocatesconsidering what can be learned together. Futureinnovations will come from unexpected places andwill mandate that we embrace other cultures, expe-riences, and locations.

Gregerman would agree, as he asks in The Necessityof Strangers: how can we reach our full potentialby being only with people who are like us? Kieferand Constable add that we tend to be thoroughlyand exclusively trained in analytical methods. Thisapproach limits us to ideas and strategies thatare neither inspiring nor insightful. In The Art ofInsight, they urge us to develop the disciplinedpower of reflection and listening in all experiencesand encounters, so that we will be better able to findinsights and make smarter decisions more quicklyand confidently.

Gillian Rice, PhD, a member of the Global Business and Or-ganizational Excellence Editorial Advisory Board, is Profes-sor Emerita at the Thunderbird School of Global Manage-ment and was a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University ofBahrain in 1996–1997. Her doctoral degree is from the Uni-versity of Bradford, UK. Dr. Rice is co-editor of Handbook ofIslamic Marketing, published by Edward Elgar in 2011. Shecan be contacted at gillian.rice@thunderbird.edu.

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