Lawrence M. Fisher, Geoffrey West [Archive.org URL]

Cities enjoy very long lives and keep growing in part because they become ever more diverse with increased size, which helps foster endless cycles of innovation. Companies, by contrast, tend to have a shorter, more defined life span. Successful companies focus on what they do best, casting aside fringe people and fringe projects that don’t fit the mission. But that laser-like concentration on the core cuts off the serendipitous discoveries that fuel cycles of renewal. [Geoffrey] West thus advises corporate leaders intent on taking a long-term view that they need to open up and accommodate a degree of diversity that may cause some discomfort. To keep growing, hire more mavericks and take more risks.

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