What's the most common requirement listed in filling positions?  "Candidate must have X years of experience in Y industry." If the candidate has been in the industry all those years, he or she is bringing mostly the same experiences and approaches as the people already at the company.  How does that instigate adaptability? The environment for almost every industry is changing more rapidly now than ever.  While completely new ideas are needed, repurposing good ideas from another industry may be just as effective and even more efficient.  If my competitors only know one industry, but my company, through diversity of staff, know ten, who is going to be better equipped to adapt to a changing world whether those changes be big or small? 

I thought so. In other words, we need to hack the way we recruit...

1) Some alternate industries will make more sense than others.  Strong business leaders in the organization should develop a list of 5 - 10 different industries from which they could learn something related to the challenges they expect in their own industry in the next 5 years.

2) In today's world, strong candidates from different industries are not going to find you.  Before you have an opening to fill, HR and business leadership needs to be actively developing relationships and leads on the top talent in those 5 - 10 industries identified in Step #1.

3) As hiring begins for teams with sufficient Industry Y experience already, a job requirement for a new opening should be someone with X years of experience in an industry that is NOT Industry Y.

4) Finally, onboard these recruits with an emphasis on teaching industry basics and give them a direct line to more senior leaders for them to share their expertise from their prior industry.