Are you an ambitious, passionate and brave individual who is not afraid to break rules? Are you tired of following conventional norms and being misunderstood? Do you never quit in pursuing big dreams? Are you more successful on your own than a whole team of people? Guess what? You might be a maverick. If not, perhaps you would like to learn about how you might become a maverick by developing some skills.

The modern workplace is all about teamwork. Teams reduce the risk of getting it wrong and increase the certainty of getting it right. But is this always the case for everyone? Professor Chris Jackson has studied mavericks for many years. He argues that some individuals are better at doing tasks than teams and that teamwork just slows them down. He has just launched the beta version of his new questionnaire to gauge a person’s maverickism in the workplace. Take the test, get great feedback and contact Chris about how you would improve it!  

 

You can try it for free here with the password:  WhatAboutMe

 

You can share this link and this article!

What do we know about successful mavericks?

Successful mavericks are enthusiastic, open to new ideas, passionate, willing to take risks, talented, and very result-oriented. However, they can be a “tad difficult to work with” since they work best on their own and have the strength of character to overshadow others with their passion, vision and energy. This results from their unique ability to achieve more when working individually, and through having ideas and seeing things in way that others find unorthodox. They break the myth that the world of work is all about endless teams, committees and meetings!

 The late 20th century brought a lot of changes to the world of work; be it in technology, communication or the work place. To deal with change and to empower the workforce, the idea of team-based work and learning was born. The majority of corporations believe in teamwork and rightfully so! For many people, the formula works as teamwork enables good decision making and progress at a steady speed. However, mavericks disrupt, give birth to new ideas and have a vision of how they can be implemented. Their unorthodoxy may be viewed as farfetched, unfitting, and even heretical by “steady-Eddies” and the established hierarchy. Some less socially skilled mavericks may be a bit like this but the reality is that they still have the character and the wisdom to drive competitive advantage faster and better than others.  More socially gifted mavericks can fit in to corporate culture and work with existing values of colleagues such that their input into the organization will be more positively received.

Willingness To Take Risks

 Willingness to take risks means that successful mavericks are on more of a roller coaster ride than others although their propensity for success suggests more ups than downs. The downs can bring rough times but many successful business stories entail overcoming disaster before finally making a success of it. Mavericks come back fighting. In the modern work of turbulence and the global economy in which disruption can happen at any time, the successful maverick has to be an asset in any business.

And arguably it is mavericks who have changed the world. Think of the likes of Bill Gates, Herb Kelleher,  Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Sara Blakely, Oprah Winfrey, Mark Zuckerberg and many others. Even though each of these successful individuals have other skills, talents and limitations, many people would agree that their unique vision, curiosity and drive for the stars (in the case of Elon Musk take this literally!) have been central features of their success.   These mavericks have changed and are changing the world.

Creativity, Passion and Wisdom

 Creativity is not exclusive to mavericks, but the workplace maverick who creates competitive advantage has tremendous creative ability based on passion, wisdom, motivation and direction that makes them winners in the workplace. For these reasons, mavericks are entrepreneurs and can be good leaders as they are smart, inspiring and do not get discouraged very easily.

Are mavericks outcasts in the workplace?

 Overall, as unique as they are in their way of working and thinking, sometimes they might be labeled as outcasts, while other times they are hailed as heroes who strive towards making the world a better place. The question is how can coworkers, corporations and bosses embrace this unique personal character and use them to benefit a project or a company? Let’s use their dreams to create a better world.

Are you a workplace maverick?

Try the beta version of the maverick questionnaire free here with the password:  WhatAboutMe

 Please send constructive feedback and comments to Professor Chris Jackson so that he can fine tune his work. Feel free to send the article and the link to others. Have a great day!