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sessions. But it is vital to instil disciplined collaboration, which is about working in a smarter and leaner way. Collaboration is, in its essence, about doing more with less. That's paramount not only in a recession, but also post-recession. To do more with less will become a 'new normal'.
Living outside the box - INSEAD alumni stories wanted! So you think living abroad made you more creative? Perhaps you're a better problem solver or negotiator as a result of moving to Fontainebleau or Singapore. Or maybe you had an ex-pat experience entirely unrelated to INSEAD that turned you into an entrepreneur or a writer. Well, prove it then. That was the challenge Will Maddux, INSEAD Professor of Organisational Behaviour recently set himself. Working in collaboration with fellow psychologist, Adam Galinsky, from the Kellogg School of Management, he devised a series of experiments to test the common assumption that living overseas makes people more creative. June 2009 Their investigations, partly carried out at the INSEAD Social Science Research Centre in Paris, left them in no doubt. On one standard psychological test for creativity, the Duncker candle problem, 60% of subjects who had lived abroad experiences successfully solved the challenge, compared to 42% of those who hadn't. And in a negotiation simulation, 70% of pairs where both parties had ex-pat experiences reached a creative compromise. Among those pairs where neither member had lived abroad, precisely 0% succeeded! Prof. Will Maddux More details of the research are available in the official INSEAD press release. But the underlying explanation could be quite simple. As Professor Maddux puts it, 'When you live abroad, you're out of your comfort zone. You have to figure out from scratch how to live, how to behave, how to think. Once you've been abroad long enough that becomes part of who you are. You start to look at the world differently.' The study was in fact inspired by his own experiences as an American living and working in Japan in the 1990s – a time which he believed irrevocably changed his own identity and shaped his perspective on the world in general (and presumably his creative abilities as well). The research has already received a great deal of attention. You might have read about it in The Economist, The Financial Times , USNews and World Report. Professor Maddux was also interviewed by BBC Radio 3 at the end of May, discussing his findings with British novelist, Sarah Dunant, who confirmed them anecdotally. And that's exactly where you might come in too! Professor Maddux is now working on new articles and looking for further anecdotes and perhaps even 'mini cases' to confirm his experimental findings about living abroad fostering creativity. In short he's challenging INSEAD alumni to prove it too! Professor Maddux is particularly interested in stories of business creativity – in other words, insights that are not only novel but commercially useful, such as an idea for a new business or new product. These experiences should ideally be directly inspired by time spent overseas or simply follow on from it. The main thing is that they're specific, concrete and linked to living abroad, as opposed to simply travelling. If that resonates with you, please send a brief email to william.maddux@insead.edu outlining your experience and providing contact details. The idea is ultimately to use the anecdotes and mini cases to illustrate the research findings for managers and leaders in outlets like the Harvard Business Review, as well as to develop practical guidelines for companies and individuals about overseas assignments. Rest assured that no stories will be used without seeking permission and that names can be changed to preserve anonymity if preferred. And if you have friends or family with similar stories to tell, so much the better. Put them in touch. After all, everyone knows that INSEAD alumni are a creative bunch and that pretty much all of them live abroad at some point in their careers.
Page 1 and 2: INSEAD News and Past Events Busines
Page 3 and 4: INSEAD Leadership Summit Europe 200
Page 5 and 6: Alumni Reunions Weekends 2009 - Fon
Page 7 and 8: Make sure your details are up-to-da
Page 9 and 10: For the latest news about the Tsing
Page 11 and 12: INSEAD Business Journalists Seminar
Page 13 and 14: . CEO dinner series with Professor
Page 15 and 16: 7th INSEAD Private Equity Conferenc
Page 17 and 18: . INSEAD Healthcare Alumni Summit 2
Page 19 and 20: Retiring and new National Alumni As
Page 21 and 22: National Alumni Association Canada:
Page 23 and 24: National Alumni Association France:
Page 25 and 26: National Alumni Association USA: Fi
Page 27 and 28: Meet Franz Humer MBA'71, Chairman o
Page 29 and 30: FH: When I took my MBA at INSEAD, F
Page 31 and 32: Meet Andrew Alli MBA'95D, President
Page 33 and 34: International Executive Programme (
Page 35 and 36: Faculty publication - Humanitarian
Page 37 and 38: oles and responsibilities? LVW: Inc
Page 39 and 40: Faculty publication - Global Latina
Page 41: Faculty publication - Collaboration
Page 45 and 46: INSEAD alumni - powering the world

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