The Orange Chair

Over at businessweek.com is a good article by Sharon Allen from Deloitte on The Death of Groupthink . Allen’s article is diversity, and how diversity…

isn’t just the best way to guard against the proliferation of Groupthink—it’s also good for the bottom line.

Allen has some great examples of how diversity is good for your bottom line.

One great way to introduce more diversity in your organization is to use Web 2.0 tools and techniques to tap into your social networks and get their thoughts and ideas about you, your organization and your products and services.

Reading this, you may worry: what if they complain about my products and services?

This is an understandable fear. However, if their complaints are unwarranted, they are relatively straightforward to deal with. But if they are warranted, it is likely that if they took the trouble to provide you this feedback, they are likely providing the same feedback in other places as well. Places you may not know about. Places you cannot respond to.

By capturing and (more importantly) responding in a positive way to their feedback, you not only address the issue with them, but you send a powerful message to others who are taking the time to read what you say and do. You get a great opportunity to take a negative situation and turn it into a positive one.

Tapping into your community can yield many benefits for you and your customers. Better still, the technology to do this is easily accessible to you now.