Stephen ShapiroFAST Innovation® · Innovation made practical, personal, and playful—with lasting impact. Hall of Fame Speaker. Author of seven books on innovation. Creator of Personality Poker®.

Opposites Dont Attract - and This Kills Innovation

Name: Opposites Dont Attract - and This Kills Innovation
Uploaded: 2026-10-15T14:21:09+00:00
Duration: 1 min 57 s
Channel: Stephen Shapiro
Description: In this solo talk, Stephen Shapiro challenges the popular saying “opposites attract” by citing scientific research that shows people are naturally drawn…

15 Oct 2026 · 2 min

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In this solo talk, Stephen Shapiro challenges the popular saying “opposites attract” by citing scientific research that shows people are naturally drawn to those who are similar to them—a phenomenon known as homophily. He explains that while this tendency makes personal life comfortable, it becomes a liability in organizations: hiring and promoting only like‑minded individuals leads to a “moldy” culture with stale ideas and limited innovation. Drawing on his experience leading a 20,000‑person innovation practice at Accenture, Shapiro argues that every employee is creative in their own way and that true innovation requires deliberately embracing divergent viewpoints, personalities, and “superpowers.” He urges leaders to identify both their own and others’ unique strengths to unlock collective creativity.

Chapters

So I want you to think about the people in your life, your friends, your family, coworkers. Are they similar to you or are they dissimilar? Now, if you're honest with yourself and you look at your family members, the ones you actually get along with, they're probably a lot like you. The coworkers that you actually like to work with, they're probably a lot like you. We've heard the expression opposites attract. There is actually irrefutable scientific evidence that opposites don't attract. They detract. They repel. Birds of a feather like to flock together. And if you don't believe me that opposites don't attract, just spend some time on Capitol Hill like I have. Opposites don't attract, and we need to understand that. Maybe in our life it doesn't matter. So here's the thing, you like your— if your friends are like you, they have the same interests, the same values, that's good because life is easy. You'll enjoy it. But in the workplace, if you only hire people who fit the mold, eventually the organization will grow mold. You're going to get these stale ideas, the same things you've always thought of. We are in an environment where we need innovation, we need collaboration, we need people working together. And in order to do that, we need to embrace divergent points of view. divergent perspectives, and divergent personalities. Now, about 30 years ago, I was leading a 20,000-person innovation practice at the consulting firm Accenture. And when I first started doing this, I thought there are some people who are innovative and then there's everyone else. You are all innovative. You are all creative. You all contribute to the success of your organization just in different ways. And what we need to do is understand if we're gonna tap into the power of the collective, we need to understand what's your superpower, And what's the superpower of others?