CHAPTER ONE

A RESOURCE HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

Multiculturals and Innovation

There was a time when all an organization needed to succeed was to improve. But in today’s dynamic and complex competitive environment organizations need to innovate, and most of them know it. What many don’t know is that there is a largely untapped source of innovation that is hiding in plain sight. These are individuals with multiple cultural identities,1 such as:

Carlos Ghosn, born in Brazil to Lebanese parents, educated in France, and is now a superstar CEO in—Japan? He is so famous for turning around the fortunes of Nissan that his life story has been made into a Japanese comic book series. He is the CEO of Renault-Nissan Alliance.

Ralph Baer (born Rudolph Heinrich ...

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