We can cling to our own opinions. Even if we have developed strong habits of concentration productivityit can feel like familiar grooves have been drilled into our brains. We may return to the same solutions and even the same teammates for perspective.
One way to get out of work is to introduce ourselves to new ways of thinking and new partners through cross-pollination.
Clarence Birdsey discovered this more than 100 years ago. He traveled among the Canadian Inuit in 1915 to trade furs. He came back with a revolutionary method of freezing fish. He noticed that his Inuit guides instantly deep-froze their freshly caught fish in -40°C water, and that the fish retained their texture after thawing. He translated this observation from one culture to a completely different context by inventing the flash-freezing process. Frozen food is never the same.(1)
Birdseye has essentially become what IDEO founder Tom Kelly calls a cross-pollinator: “the unexpected joining of unrelated ideas or concepts that can create something new and better.”
Cross-pollination is a psychological strategy to stop thinking out of date.
Cross-pollination and busting biases
Creative cross-pollination is a diverse process in which two or more people from different backgrounds, disciplines, and/or industries collaborate or exchange ideas on a common problem.
In psychology, cross-pollination disrupts several common cognitive biases. You may notice how often you fall back on the same assumptions. Psychologists call it familiarity bias. As the name suggests, familiarity bias refers to the fact that most of us choose what is familiar. We take the same route to work. We solve problems in the same way. Needless to say, if we don’t unplug these wires from time to time, we can miss key opportunities and limit the psychological richness of our lives and work.
Another bias at play is mental retardation, sometimes called the Einstellung effect. If you have successfully solved a previous problem in one way, your mental set will try to solve another problem in the same way. This natural bias can blind you to a better, unfamiliar solution.
But cross-pollination brings together different people, fields, and settings to help people break free from outdated thinking.
I consulted with communities on ways to create conditions for more cross-pollination, but let’s look at other methods of cross-pollination.
Conditions of cross-pollination
In the bosses and inner circles I’ve formed over the years, I wanted to bring together a variety of people who could “play well” together under certain circumstances. Participants often refer to this as “alchemy”. It turns out that circumstances can be just as important as people. A recent study on collaborative civic design in 2025 (Aleksiou et al., 2025) found that effective cross-sector. cooperation depended on several conditions. The five key conditions relevant here are experience, reflection, inclusion, trust and relationships developed over time.
Although the study focuses on citizenship issues innovationthose terms describe some of the healthiest communities, advisory groups, classrooms, and mentors I’ve worked with. Creative people need an environment where different perspectives can be honestly exchanged to change each other.
The interdisciplinary project 2024 (Puntawe et al.) reached a similar conclusion, but from a different perspective. Artists, environmental educators, and well-being practitioners have described richer learning, stronger relationships, and well-being when they work intentionally across disciplines. boundaries. The project suggests that cross-pollination changes not only what we think, but also how we interact with each other.
Cross-pollination practices
Here are three cross-pollination practices you can try and bring back to your partners, advisors, or teams:
First, dust your entries.
Start by expanding the things that affect you. Study outside your field. Attend a conference outside of your field. Follow a serious interest in a topic that is new to you without immediate practical benefit. Cross-pollination begins with a willingness to accept ideas before evaluating them. Openness one aspect of wonder is the practice of suspending belief.
Second, pollinate your conversations.
Expand your conversations. Look for people who think differently than people who agree with you. Ask open-ended questions that are not easy to answer. Stay with the uncertainty a little longer before jumping to conclusions.
In an MBA course I teach, I share with would-be strategists that radical curiosity is the discipline of caring about a problem long enough to continue to explore the best options before jumping to a solution. Cross-pollination depends on such curiosity, another active aspect of wonder that challenges the status quo.
Imagine a lawyer and a leadership mentors pair up to cross-pollinate on relevant business challenges. It turns out that a lawyer saying, “This is how we solve this problem in law” can spark a new insight in a lead coach that may require cross-industry translation.
If you’re working with a business consultant or coach, look for someone with an eclectic background that doesn’t overwhelm you and your situation.
Third, grow the circle of cross-pollination.
Develop a framework that values thoughtful, diverse perspectives. Over the years, I’ve come to believe that the greatest value of a long-term master is more than accountability. This is more stable cross-pollination. Members gradually learn enough about each other to translate concepts across professions. A musician revisits the problem of leadership. The teacher opens a business problem. Such exchanges happen when people trust each other enough to offer ideas generously and receive them carefully.
A well-maintained group can become a living ecosystem and cross-pollination chamber characterized by psychological safety, belonging, and courage.
Some of us spend our middle decades improving our experience. But perhaps the next breakthrough is to allow our thinking to be partially influenced by someone we least expect. We are such wonderful, diverse creatures. Why shouldn’t we use this kind of cognitive ecosystem from time to time?
(1) The story of Birdseye was originally inspired by a similar story Ten faces of innovation.
