“’Have we made it impossible for bright rising stars and maverick go-getters to live within our organisation?’ When we become too preoccupied with policy, procedure, and the fine-tuning of conformity to organizational standards, in effect, we have squeezed out some of our most gifted people.” – Hans Finzel, “The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make”

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The word maverick is defined by Wikipedia as “an unbranded range animal”, “One who does not abide by rules” or “one who creates or uses unconventional and/or controversial ideas or practices”.  The word originates from Samuel Maverick (July 23, 1803–September 2, 1870) who was a Texas lawyer, politician, land baron and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, “maverick” was first cited in 1867, after Samuel Maverick came to be considered independent minded by his fellow ranchers because he refused to brand his cattle.

Hans Finzel in his book “The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make” provides the following ideas to assist organisations in working with Mavericks:

Legitimate mavericks who can bring you into the future:

• care not just for their own ideas but for the goals of the organization;
• are making a difference in their position;
• are willing to earn the right to be heard;
• are influencing others and producing good results.

How to encourage the true mavericks who can help you:

• Give them a long tether – they need space to soar.
• Put them in charge of something they can really own.
• Listen to their ideas and give them time to grow.
• Let them work on their own if they wish.
• Leave them alone and give them time to blossom.

How to stifle the mavericks in your midst:

• Create as many layers of management as possible for decision making.
• Keep looking over their shoulders.
• Make your policy manual as thick as possible.
• Send everything to committees for deliberation
• Make them wait.

Mavericks are essential in every organisation. Giving them the encouragement and space to contribute makes all the difference. Mavericks matter… because they bring us the future.

“Organizations change of necessity and for a variety of reasons. But the single biggest impetus for change in an organization tends to be a new leader in a key job … someone with a fresh perspective who sees that the status quo is unacceptable.” – John Kotter, “What Leaders Really Do”

Related posts:

1. Book Review: Mavericks at Work
2. Insights into effective decision making
3. 5 tips on making a successful leadership transition

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“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you have ever been on a farm you will have noticed how cow paths that zigzag across the land. These cow paths are create by cows, who  are creatures of habit and when one cow starts to walk across the meadow, the second one follows and the third and soon the rest follows. After a short while, the cows have created a cow path, a well-worn route from point A to B. One of the most noticeable things about cow paths, is that they zigzag and twist across the land, often going nowhere in particular. The reason for this is that cows like to keep their heads down when they walk, looking for blades of grass to eat.

The interesting thing about cow paths is a that once a cow path has been created to get from one place to another, the cows will continue to follow the cow path without question. No cow is ever smart or courageous enough to try a new, potentially faster and more efficient way to the same destination again. They will continue to blindly follow the same route time and time again.

Cow Path

One day thru the primeval wood
A calf walked home, as good calves should,
But made a trail all bent askew,
A crooked trail, as all calves do.
Since then three hundred years have fled,
And I infer, the calf is dead;
But still behind he left his trail,
And thereon hangs my mortal tale.

The trail was taken up next day
By a lone dog that passed that way,
And then a wise bell-weather sheep
Sliding into a rut now deep,
Pursued that trail over hill and glade
Thru those old woods a path was made.

And many men wound in and out,
And dodged and turned and bent about,
and uttered words of righteous wrath
Because “twas such a crooked path”
But still they follow-do not laugh-
The first migrations of that calf.

The forest became a lane
That bent and turned and turned again;
This crooked lane became a road
where many a poor horse with his load
Toiled on beneath the burning sun,
And traveled some three miles in one.

The years passed on in swiftness fleet,
The village road became a street,
And this, before the men were aware,
A city’s crowded thoroughfare.

And soon a central street was this
In a renowned metropolis;
And men two centuries and a half
Followed the wanderings of this calf.

Each day a hundred thousand strong
Followed this zigzag calf along;
And over his crooked journey went
The traffic of a continent.

A hundred thousand men were led
By one poor calf, three centuries dead.
For just such reverence is lent
To well established precedent.

A moral lesson this might teach
Were I ordained and called to preach.

For men are prone to go it blind
Along the calf paths of the mind;
And work away from sun to sun
To do what other men have done.

- Sam Walter Foss

Leaders by definition choose not to follow the well trodden cow paths of life. Instead they choose to blaze new paths, to pioneer and innovate, to do different things in different ways. If you’re following the herd through the cow paths of life… you’re not leading!

“If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” – Jim Rohn

Reflect on your own life:

• Are you blindly following well-worn cow paths left by others?
• Are you blazing your own path?
• If you’re not blazing your own path can you be called a leader?

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“It’s a lonely road for those of us who choose to be remarkable, and the path of convention can sometimes be appealing. That path is paved with safe lives, middle of the road monotony, and little chance of failure. But where’s the fun in being like everyone else out there?” – Chris Guillebeau

I stumbled across a really great blog “The Art of Non-Conformity” by Chris Guillebeau, who has written a manifesto titled “A Brief Guide to World Domination”, it has really got me thinking and I encourage you to download a copy and read it. It will challenge your thinking and encourage you to greatness…

“If you want it badly enough, and are willing to make some changes in your life to cause it to happen, you too can take over the world… or do anything else you really want to do. Yes, you really can have it all. The only things you’ll need to give up are assumptions, expectations, and the comfort zone that holds you back from greatness.“

Consider the following “11 ways unremarkably average” from Chris’s manifesto:

1. Accept what people tell you at face value
2. Don’t question authority
3. Go to college because you’re supposed to, not because you want to learn something
4. Go overseas once or twice in your life, to somewhere safe like England
5. Don’t try to learn another language; everyone else will eventually learn English
6. Think about starting your own business, but never do it
7. Think about writing a book, but never do it
8. Get the largest mortgage you qualify for and spend 30 years paying for it
9. Sit at a desk 40 hours a week for an average of 10 hours of productive work
10. Don’t stand out or draw attention to yourself
11. Jump through hoops. Check off boxes.

Looking at the above list, how many of these ‘ways’ describe you? I think that if you find more than two or three, you need to read this manifesto! Can you clearly and succinctly answer the following two questions…

1. What do you really want to get out of life?
2. What can you offer the world that no one else can?

A true leader is an original, he is not and cannot be a copy! Download and read this manifesto, it will challenge and inspire you to be the change you want to see in the world…

Related posts:

1. Positive or negative: What world view are you creating?
2. Four principles leaders can use to guide employees through disconcerting change….

“The more you are like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique.” — Walt Disney

Warren Bennis one of my favourite leadership authors and in his book “On Becoming a Leader“, he discusses how leaders are originals and not copies. To be an original, a leader must know and understand what and who he is. In the book Warren spends time talking about how important it is to understand who we are, some of his insights….

“Leaders have nothing but themselves to work with…. we are our own raw material. Only when we know what we’re made of and what we want to make of it can we begin our lives – and we must do it despite an unwitting conspiracy of people and events against us….. To become a leader, then, you must become yourself, become the maker of your own life….. Know thyself, then, means separating who you are and who you want to be from what the world thinks you are and wants you to be….. Until you make your life your own, you’re walking around in borrowed clothes.”

These are great insights. We too often either go with the flow or adapt ourselves to the environment, and if we do this too often, eventually we lose ourselves.

• How are you doing in his area?
• Do you spend time reflecting on who you are and who you want to be?
• Are you striving to become more of who you are?
• Are you an original? Are you unique?

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Seth Godin has a great post on “Sheepwalking” which he defines as:

“..the outcome of hiring people who have been raised to be obedient and giving them a braindead job and enough fear to keep them in line.”

This is true of many organisations today, looking for people who can “fit in”, get with the programme and not rock the boat. Conformance to the organisation’s expectations is what’s required. Seth goes on to say that…

“many organizations go out of their way to hire people that color inside the lines, that demonstrate consistency and compliance. And then they give these people jobs where they are managed via fear. Which leads to sheepwalking. (“I might get fired!”)…… What a waste.”

The solution…..?

“Step one is to give the problem a name. Done. Step two is for anyone who sees themself in this mirror to realize that you can always stop. You can always claim the career you deserve merely by refusing to walk down the same path as everyone else just because everyone else is already doing it…… The biggest step, though, comes from anyone who teaches or hires. And that’s to embrace non-sheep behavior, to reward it and cherish it.”

I think that this post impacted me because I see sheepwalkers at work everyday! People content to conform to the expectation of management. In so doing we lose, in that we settle for second best, we trade our passion and vision, for the perceived safety and security of a job. The result is wasted potential, we fail to fulfill our purpose, we live a life of mediocrity and apathy. I think the price we pay is huge. It’s definitely a greater price than I’m willing to pay!

“As long as we wish for safety, we will have difficulty pursuing what matters” – Peter Block, “The Answer to How is Yes“

Recognise that You Are Powerful Beyond Measure

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be – brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so small
that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It’s not just in us, it’s in everyone.

As we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

- Marianne Williamson, 1992

So, Are you a sheepwalker?

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