Beware of strangers. Diversity might just upset your pitch – for good.

Don’t open up and you might find yourself quieter than you’d really like to be.

The mind is like a toolbox.

It’s a metaphor that’s particularly useful in pitch situations. It’s why having a pitch team is so important – adding more tools to the toolbox. Expanding group knowledge, skills and experience.

But what if all these additions were pretty much different shades of the same thing? All the same kind of tool you might say.

Too often challengers, subversives or strangers get left out in favour of group-think or a ‘consistent approach’ – usually short-hand for ‘we’re not ready for, or prepared to change’.

Weird eh?...

At the heart of real pitches (fake pitches are another issue) there’s always a problem that requires a solution. Actually, there’s usually at least three of them; a business problem, a marketing problem and a communications problem. Then there’s the problems that are often forgotten, like ‘who is the team answering the brief’ ‘what do we believe we’re selling’ etc. But I digress.

What we know is that true creativity requires openness, trust and courage.

It’s why I prefer Edward de Bono’s observation – ‘the mind is an environment’. This recognises that we are essentially organic and that the mind needs feeding and nurturing.

So if you put a whole load of those ‘environments’ together you get a rainforest – particularly rich in vitality if it’s grown from a diverse range of experiences, knowledge and cultures.

It’s why diversity is so critical at times of high creativity like pitches – not just broadening and deepening experience but offering totally new horizons.

It’s why accepting the ‘stranger’ into the fold can be so fruitful. You’ll get great results from your established team of course, otherwise they wouldn’t be in your business. But what might you be missing out on? 

Even the most obvious inclusion of female experience shouldn’t be taken for granted. No doubt why so many inventions, even now, seem to miss the female experience totally.

Unbelievable to think that people need reminding that women make up 51% of the population and (according to Bloomberg) ‘drive 70-80% of all consumer purchasing, through a combination of their buying power and influence’.

The same rationale goes for brands. As the ones setting the problem in the pitch they need to be prepared for challenge and subversion too. If they don’t get it from their new agency they’ll be getting it soon from their competitors – or a new entrant to the category who tears it apart.

So if you want a quiet life, then don’t worry about diversity. Don’t open up and you might find yourself quieter than you’d really like to be.

But if you believe creativity fuels competitive advantage – then open the doors of your mind wide and invite the strangers in.

They might just upset your pitch – for good.