Gregerman - The necessity of strangers: the intriguing truth about insight, innovations, and success

The Necessity of Strangers bothered me in a good way, making me realize how much time I spend with people who are, quite frankly, a lot like me. Dr. Gregerman's book is not only thought-provoking, but very logical. After reading it I made deliberate changes to meet and learn from strangers.

Joseph (Jody) Giles, chief information officer, Under Armour

The Necessity of Strangers provides compelling examples and tools to look, listen, and learn from the world around us in order to create amazing opportunities and results. Alan Gregerman challenges us to think in new ways about how individuals and organizations can learn and grow.

Kimo Kippen, chief learning officer, Hilton Worldwide

The solution to the world's most difficult issues will be found at the intersection of disciplines, not inside disciplines. In The Necessity of Strangers, Alan provides powerful insight and practical tools to accelerate this essential mashing of ideas.

Ellen Glover, executive vice president, ICF International

In a reality that is constantly changing, and where tomorrow's ordinary is today's unthinkable, The Necessity of Strangers challenges and encourages us to take advantage of encounters with strangers. It's a humanistic approach and a vision that clearly appeals to me, tied to my belief in international business. Just playing it safe will never lead to success.

Jan Fager, managing director, Swedish Marketing Federation

Alan Gregerman stops you in your tracks and forces you to re-examine your behavior and ways of thinking. A wonderful and inviting read, punctuated by practical, well-founded insights, The Necessity of Strangers shows how to lead organizations that explore, connect, innovate, and grow.

Amr ElSawy, president and CEO, Noblis

Everyone looking to expand their creativity, create innovation, and improve service in the workplace will benefit from reading Alan Gregerman's insightful book.

John Dillon, senior vice president, Morgan Stanley

The world is changing! The Necessity of Strangers is a must-read to ensure that you are maximizing all of your relationships.

Ed Fuller, author, You Can't Lead with Your Feet on the Desk, and former president and managing director, Marriott International Lodging

The Necessity of Strangers will open your mind to the importance of meeting strangers and enchant you with the marvelous things that come out of these encounters. Alan Gregerman's unique gift is his ability to teach all of us how to make this happen routinely as a key to business success.

Charbel Tagher, CEO, Specified Technologies Inc.

Cover design: Adrian Morgan

Cover art: Thinkstock

Copyright 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by Jossey-Bass

A Wiley Brand

One Montgomery Street, Suite 1200, San Francisco, CA 94104-4594 www.josseybass.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com . Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions .

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. Readers should be aware that Internet Web sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read.

Jossey-Bass books and products are available through most bookstores. To contact Jossey-Bass directly call our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-956-7739, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3986, or fax 317-572-4002.

Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com . For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com .

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gregerman, Alan S.

The necessity of strangers: the intriguing truth about insight, innovation, and success/Alan Gregerman. First edition.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-118-46130-3 (hardback), 978-1-118-53459-5 (pdf), 978-1-118-53455-7 (epub)

1. Creative ability. 2. Inspiration. 3. Technological innovations. I. Title.

BF408.G673 2013

650.1dc23

2013020945

Preface

If you were asked to make a list of the most important reasons why leading companies and organizations are so successful, what would you come up with? If you are like many people, including leading business thinkers like Peter Drucker, Jim Collins, and Tom Peters, you would probably say that it has a lot to do with having

• Visionary and effective leadership
• A clear and compelling purpose and strategy
• Great offerings tied to a powerful and unique value proposition
• The right people
• Real teamwork and collaboration
• The right knowledge
• A keen focus on the needs of customers
• A bit of luck

You might also add award-winning quality to the mix, along with the right systems and processes, and cutting-edge or at least the most appropriate technology. If you had been exposed to enough TV commercials and ads for UPS, the giant parcel delivery company, you might even include logisticsthe glue that holds everything together. And if I were to ask you about the most important reasons why some people are so successful in their personal, social, and civic lives, you and many experts would probably come up with a relatively similar list. But you probably wouldn't include strangers . And why should you include people you have never met before and are not likely to go out of your way to meet? It's hard enough to get important things done by ourselves or with the help of people we know, understand, and trust, without having to worry about involving people we simply don't know. So strangers rarely figure in our thinking about business or personal success.

Now I'm here to tell you that they should. Or, better yet, to lead you on a journey to discover why strangers are the real key to our growth as individuals, companies, and organizations; to help you understand why they are our best secret weapon or greatest competitive advantage in the battle to innovate, create, and deliver greater value, and make a powerful difference in whatever we choose to do; to convince you, or have you convince yourself, that you will never reach your full potentialor even come closeby simply hanging out with the people you know or, more specifically, people who are a lot like you.