This TED Talk features business school professor Tanya Menon, recorded live at TEDx, Ohio State University, 2017.

I started teaching MBA students 17 years ago, and sometimes I run into my students years later.

And when I run into them, a funny thing happens. I don't remember just

their faces. I also remember where exactly in the classroom they were sitting. And I also remember

who they were sitting with as well. And this is not because I have any special superpowers of memory.

The reason I can remember them is because they have creatures

of habit. They are sitting with the favorite people in their favorite seats. They find their

twins. They stay with them for the whole year. Now, the danger of this for my students is

they're at risk of leaving the university with

just a few people who are exactly like them.

They're going to squander their chance for an international diverse network.

How could this happen to them?

My students are open-minded.

They come to business school precisely so that they can get great networks.

Now, all of us socially narrow in our lives, in our school, in work.

And so I want you to think about this one.

How many of you here brought a friend along for this talk?

And I want you to look at your friend a little bit, and are they of the same

nationality as you? Are they of the same gender as you? Are they of the same race? And really

look at them closely. Don't they kind of look like you as well? Their muscle people are together,

and the people are the same hairstyles and

the check shirts. We all do this in life. We all do it in life. And in fact, there's nothing wrong

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