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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 20^th 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!

Over the last few months, Chris Jackson has been busy hosting a couple of big events and presenting at some conferences. In front of an audience of 300, Chris was masters of ceremony of the Peter Farrell Cup (PFC) for the second time which was held in the main ballroom of the Sofitel in Sydney. This is one of the most prestigious events in the young student entrepreneurs calendar in NSW. There is a first prize of $15,000 and a total of over $30,000 in total. With dry humour and his usual generous spirit, Chris led the event through to a successful conclusion. Here is Chris introducing the competing teams.

Chris also hosted the Annual conference of the Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Group which he runs at the Business School of UNSW. Having organised the whole event and with incredible speakers, he was pleased that it was a sell-out event. The speakers at the conference included:  Jost Stollmann, Amy Cato, James Stewart, Frank Seeley, AM, Jeffrey Tobias, Dianne Welsh, Professor Munib Karavdic, David Hyman, Varina Michaels, Assoc Professor Joel Pearson, PhD. Here is a picture of the event:

Chris has also presented at recently at the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences (ISS) which is an international personality conference that was held in Warsaw. Here is presented some of his latest ideas on "Fear in the workplace" which outlined a sophisticated model for understanding how fear (perhaps bullying by the boss) influences workplace outcomes:

Following on from this, Chris has also just presented a talk on high performance and workplace maverickism to Sydney Water. Respondents had a lot of fun getting feedback on self-report measures of learning and maverickism and then finding out a lot more about these important workplace variables:

Last but not least, Chris gave a couple of presentations to the local ACPID conference at the University of Sydney. Here is Chris giving a talk to a group of psychologists on what it means to have a survivalist personality. With characteristic humour, Chris talked about his research on the kind of personality associated with people who engage in survivalist behaviour (i.e. those who plan for survival after a disaster):

Professor Chris Jackson is a renowned psychologist and a seasoned Professor of Business Psychology who has contributed a great deal to the corporate and academic world this  past thirty years. After studying  in the UK for his degree and PhD in psychology, Professor Jackson moved to Australia. Here,  he  focused more and more on business psychology and assisting businesses in the pursuit of excellence. His main focus has been on unravelling and applying processes underlying learning and personality from both biological and cognitive perspectives.

ChrisJackson.biz  is a great source of material and information for people interested in Professor Chris Jackson and his work. The site has been designed to provide useful information about Jackson’s contribution to science, present work and future plans.  Here, you can find a number of great media resources such as books, manuals, articles, questionnaires and even book chapters, all of which explore the fascinating world of theory and applications of his lifetime’s work.

On this website, you can also explore Jackson’s success stories and read heartfelt testimonials about the ways he has applied his expertise. Under the Media section, you will find a selection of his thought-provoking and intriguing videos. One is Jackson’s TV appearance on ABC News, in which he explains the pros and cons of mavericks in the workplace.  Soon, he will be launching his Maverick Questionnaire and software on www.Cymeon.com.  Contact him if interested in early access!

Professor Jackson is an excellent and engaging speaker who is available for public speeches and addresses. You can view a sample of one of his presentations on the Homepage. Please follow up with him if interested in engaging him.

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