The Power of Diversity in Your Network

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Hi there,

Welcome to issue #42 of the Network Wrangler: It’s the Ronnie Lott issue!

Huh?

Allow me to explain, after this word from our sponsor.

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So, why Ronnie Lott?

Back in the late 1990s, I played in a regular poker game on Sunday nights hosted by a diehard Niners football fan. Every time someone revealed their hole cards to be 4 and 2, or a seven-card stud revealed the community cards to include 4 and 2, we’d yell out “Ronnie Lott!” in honor of our host’s adoration of that exceptional cornerback who wore jersey number 42 for the 49ers and Raiders, among other teams, through to his retirement and into the Hall of Fame.

Our regular poker game was a friendly one, and while money was involved, no one lost more than $20 on a given night. This combination of small stakes and a lot of circus action (wildcards, acey-duecy, “the Claw,” etc.) meant it was easy for new folks to drop in and fit right in. No matter how many showed up, we always found a way to wedge in another chair around the table.

The gathering was more camaraderie than cut-throat as we played BYOB with Sunday Night Football on in the background. My more cut-throat side would come out later in life as I started playing poker tournaments in Vegas, but that’s another story.

Back then, the common denominator across all participants in the Sunday night game was that we worked at America Online in one role or another. We had representation from across the company in our core poker group: ad sales, tech ops, product management, security ops, partner management, content production, and marketing.

And as the cards flew during the game each week, we couldn’t help but talk shop. Whose servers had melted down recently due to a load-balancing error? What partner was beginning to squawk at their promised numbers being off? What silly phishing exploit had compromised internal accounts this time?

What I didn’t appreciate at the time, in my role as a Programming Director at AOL, was the diversity of business functions around the table put me in the cat bird’s seat for gleaning corporate intelligence that allowed me to do my job better:

• Partner not pleased with how their numbers were tracking against contract? 
  I could contact the partner rep that week to discuss how we could increase their exposure and make both the rep and the partner happy.

• Tech Ops feeling the sting of a surprise marketing push sending too much traffic to a cluster of servers? 
  I made sure to give the team a heads up next time I had a programming special promoted on the Welcome Screen (You’ve Got Mail!) so they could dedicate enough servers to handle the load.

• Production resources being consumed by a big platform build? 
  I gave a friendly reminder at the card table that I had an incoming production request to ensure I had what I needed to launch my next program.

The folks around the poker table with me weren’t the ones running these business functions, mind you. They were just earnest in doing their jobs to the best of their abilities inside a matrixed organization.

By having access to hearing the pain points inside all these different business functions on a regular basis, I was able to come up with solutions that made all of us look better, and each of our careers improved because of this.

Could this effective business organizing be seen on the AOL org chart anywhere? Heck no. But if one were to map the flow of information around AOL in the years leading up to the merger with Time Warner, our poker game would’ve shown up as one of the nodes in the information flowchart.

Our poker game allowed things to run smoother because we had a weekly gathering of diverse business interests around the table, strengthening our connections and, therefore, helping the business run better at the informal leadership substrate.

Longtime readers will recognize all the benefits this confers as Marissa King’s quintessential Broker networking topology.

What kind of “weekly poker game” do you participate in, in which you bring together so many divergent viewpoints and information sources? Maybe it’s a softball game? Or a weekly watch party for a specific TV show?

If you’re not already participating in a regular gathering, maybe now’s the time to put your organizing cap on and start something new to bring diversity to your networking.

Echo Chambers Thrive in Homogeneous Networks

As I shared in my poker story above, diversity isn’t just a buzzword when it comes to networking; diversity is an essential component of a healthy, informative, and supportive network.

Conversely, overly homogenous networks can lead to what is known as the "echo chamber effect," where similar opinions are amplified, and differing viewpoints are underrepresented or absent. This phenomenon can have significant drawbacks, not only for our individual growth and mental health, but also for broader societal and political discourse.

Nowhere are we seeing the drawbacks of the Echo Chamber Effect more than in the political arena here in the United States right now.

The Echo Chamber Effect

Echo chambers occur when networks of interactions are so homogenous that members see their opinions constantly reflected back to them. This can reinforce existing views, making them seem more prevalent or correct than they are, and reduce the impetus to engage with diverse perspectives. According to a study by Barberá et al. (2015), individuals on social media tend to share and consume information that aligns with their views, which only strengthens their existing biases.

If we were ever looking for an explainer of why the US has devolved into red versus blue, the rise of social media usage is a great place to start. And it continues to hinder our efforts to blend red and blue into purple.

Impact on Mental Health

Diverse networks can enhance mental health by providing broader social support, offering a range of coping mechanisms, and presenting various perspectives that can help individuals navigate life’s challenges.

While my companions around the poker table helped with my career, they also became good friends, and our diversity of backgrounds and beliefs helped us through untold challenges as we matured into middle age.

As a parent, I was better equipped to raise my teens knowing that a 2016 study by Steglich, Sinclair, Holliday, and Moore suggested that diversity in adolescent friendship groups can lead to better psychological well-being by reducing group pressures and supporting individuality. In contrast, homogeneous networks might limit personal growth and exacerbate groupthink, increasing stress and reducing personal resilience.

Political and Societal Dangers

Politically, homogeneous networks can be particularly dangerous as they foster polarization and reduce the likelihood of compromise. We see this in highly partisan political climates, where isolated communities have deeply entrenched views that are rarely challenged. Cass Sunstein’s work on "enclaves" and polarization underscores how such settings amplify confidence in shared views, degrade the quality of decisions, and increase extremism.

It doesn’t take too much time in a newsfeed these days to see Sunstein’s work play out in vivid colors of red and blue.

The Value of Network Diversity

We combat the ill effects of homogeneity through diversity.

Diversity within networks exposes us to different ways of thinking, which can stimulate creativity, enhance decision-making, and promote empathy. By interacting with a wide range of people, we are more likely to encounter and consider new ideas and approaches, which is crucial in both personal development and collective problem-solving contexts.

I like to think that I’ve got a very diverse network, but I was in for a surprise when it came time to share content to inform voters in this upcoming Presidential election. I discovered my current network has too many people sharing a single point of view, and my efforts to change minds were thwarted out the gate because my network was all of similar mind already.

While it’s comfortable to surround ourselves with like-minded individuals, the echo chamber effect of such environments is a disservice to our personal growth, mental health, and the health of our democratic societies.

By valuing and cultivating diversity in our networks, we can not only enrich our own lives but also contribute to a more informed, empathetic, and cohesive community.

I know I’ve got my work cut out for me in the weeks ahead to reach out to and connect with folks from all political points of view. How about you?

Our Democracy depends on it.

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