Over the past few days I have been asking myself which encounters during the summer months have been particularly inspiring for me and have made my worldview a more holistic one. Which people have particularly touched me, made me reflect, made my world view shift, and then set it straight again?

It was the encounters with people who are not omnipresent and on everyone's lips, with those who do not conform to the mainstream, and who for that very reason enriched my world view. They are the people who show other ways of living and working.

These were encounters in which I found it difficult to look,because I am not used to dealing with the handicaps of some people. The problem with looking was not with the people concerned, but with me.

There was a person who might not be the most sympathetic at first glance, and who was not particularly friendly either. A person who had changed from a professional intellectual to a naturopath, from an atheist to aJew. This person, during a hike, taught me to perceive nature in a new way.

There are "quiet" people who courageously abandon their classical, supposedly safe concepts of life, radically confront their hidden inner limitations in order to follow their own destiny.

I have resolved to invite more such people into my (working)environment. There are of course good reasons why some people are omnipresent and on everyone's lips, nevertheless the quieter, less "seen" ones should be noticed and paid attention to much more. They broaden our perspectives and help us in our inner and outer growth. That, too, is diversity in action. It also means breaking common patterns.

Who outside the popular mainstream do you invite into your(work) environment and into your companies to break through your common patterns and to expand your world views?

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