The first, and most straightforward, is to recognise this tendency in ourselves to spend time with people who look and sound just like us. Instead we need to find the social equivalent of Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies: people or places or situations where we won’t be able to avoid new kinds of interaction. Perhaps it’s as simple as joining a new group, learning a skill or pastime with strangers. Perhaps it’s taking an extended trip to a distant city, somewhere where everyone is a stranger. Or perhaps it is being a little braver at the next networking event.
