Yes, inbreeding is about preserving characteristics perceived to be invaluable and keeping those undesirables at bay. But guess what? Defects commonly occur leading to certain devious traits coming to the fore including undesirable ones too that were previously unknown.
And if these defects do not occur, inbreeding definitely leads to copies of the identical traits. So, the question is do we really need multiple identical traits? Or do we need diversity? The answer lies in the benefits of diversity, not just the perceived ones but the real and practical ones.
Indeed, diversity comes to mind when talking migration and undoubtedly it is responsible for all the successful migration tales contributing to the developed economies, but no I have no intent of making this a political debate. The corporate yield of diversity is what this blogpost is about!
So, what do entities look for when recruiting talent? What causes entities to be economical yet effective on their human resources? And what helps entities achieve their goals and objectives while being resource constrained? What’s common about multitasking and multiskilling?
Each following question answers the one before it and the answer for the last one is, definitely, Diversity. Yes, it all ends here. In times of resource rationing, it has become a far greater need than it used to be before. Earlier, recruiters were simply fascinated by coming across talent who could demonstrate multiskilling abilities and productivity reflecting multitasking. Now it has become a requirement, because of hiring limitations and budget freeze.
But then, it’s a rather regressive standpoint to think of diversity fulfilling budgetary constraints. Diversity is what brings quality, productivity and possibilities to the table. A diverse skillset doesn’t just get more done, but also with an improved quality, thanks to its inherent integration ability, yet another benefit on economy. For instance, a resource competent in both the global internal audit standards and the ISO 9001 standard would be able to integrate requirements for both and allow the entity to benefit from an integrated and consolidated approach to improvement through auditing!
A diverse imagination on the other hand allows identification of a greater number of ideas and their downsides, for instance in risk management. Diverse imagination would help in identifying both upside and downside risks. Diverse experience and exposure are what lead entities far and beyond.
In business terms, defects from inbreeding would mean regression in capabilities of the resources leading to diminishing potential of achieving goals and objectives, inability in competing for the same market share and lack of wisdom and foresight in identifying emerging opportunities and risks.
But multiplying identical traits is no lesser evil either! ‘Workalikes’ and most importantly ‘Thinkalikes’ can only ensure that the entity they work for, remains bogged down in how they approach work or what they think is imperative.
So how do we achieve this diversity? The answer is simple, by not ‘Inbreeding’! Or by ‘Outbreeding’. Imagine if everyone on the meeting table has the exact same idea to offer to resolve an issue. There would be no novelty, no innovation, whatsoever! That’s what inbreeding does.
And how do we do ‘outbreed’, you may ask? Well, here are some examples:
- By not settling for the skills, we already have, but by pursuing those we do not have.
- By not counting on the people having similar experience profiles for ideation but by taking those with remarkably diverse exposures or even inexperienced people on board.
- By not relying on the same thinking hats, but by encouraging ideas from different members of the team.
- By not applying the same approach and methodology to accomplish tasks, but by exploring different approaches and following these.
- By not relying on the same source of information, but by identifying and utilizing other sources.
- By not choosing identical datasets for analyses, but by exploring and including different datasets.
Of course, these are some of, not all of the ways!
Recently, I came across an interesting read. Inbreeding in AI. What started through Machine Learning in the form of reviewing and acquiring knowledge from human datasets which once fully covered started shrinking in diversity is now facing a new challenge. Human created datasets are now being replaced by Generative AI based datasets and AI has thus started replicating the same content, less and less of which could be called original!
More of such fictional content would lead to artificial reality away from the factual accuracy of happenings and events. Facts will become elusive, and illusion will become clear as day! Of course, algorithms could be improved to distinguish between human and generative AI based content, but guess what, most power of the systems would be consumed in segregating fact from fiction rather than the core purpose of analysis and results.
Certainly, the goal of progressing by harnessing the power of AI will take a backseat and we’ll be back vying for the use of human intellect. Though to me, this failure will be for a good cause, since we must learn from our mistakes, especially a mistake as big as Inbreeding.
Now to Internal Auditing. Let’s pause for a moment and think what would Internal Auditing be if it was left to ‘inbreed’ and not ‘outbreed’? Maybe an internal version of external auditing? But even external auditing seems to be evolving. So, would it be an assurance only model? Or an assurance and advisory only model? Or a review that only focuses on past transactions? Or a pre-auditing service? Or a review of certain functions only? Or a review of policies and procedures compliances?
Yes, it could have been anything of the sorts mentioned above. But instead, it morphed into so much more:
- Assurance and Consulting
- Governance
- Risk Management
- Internal Controls
- Audit Charter
- Risk Universe aligned Audit Universe
- Value Addition
- Improvement
- Business Advisory
- Technology Auditing
- Performance Auditing
- Quality Auditing
- Bespoke Methodologies
- Process Approach
- Operations
- Hot Reviews
- Compliances
- Policies and Procedures Advisory
You name it, it has got it! That’s how diverse it is. That’s because it continues to evolve. That’s because it learns from the dynamic and ever-changing needs and aspirations of the entities it serves and creates a customized value proposition.
Internal Auditing doesn’t learn from what it has already offered, except only to improve it further, tweaking it with the requirements of its clients.
That’s what outbreeding has done to Internal Auditing. It continues to outbreed with domains that were thought to be immune from its outreach. And in so doing, it’s even creating newer domains!
But yes, Internal Audit’s outbreeding causes a lot of “what the heck” moments for entities it serves. It triggers them to pause and rethink how they’re breeding!