Be Different or be dead

August 1, 2016

Why weird people are desperately needed to keep our businesses alive

Source: Unsplash

Why weird people are desperately needed to keep our businesses alive.

“The best” describes someone who conforms to rules and expectations more closely than others.

They spell more accurately; answer history questions more correctly and score the highest mark on linear algebra exams.

“The best” does a masterful job of performing their task according to the rules of the day. They colour inside the lines perfectly.

There are certain professions where we want the highest mark. It would not be comforting, for example, knowing the pilot scored a blistering 25% on his aircraft landing test. Nor would we trust our life to a heart surgeon who had a bypass surgery success rate of 4 out of 10.
These types of professions we want the best and need in-the-box thinking and performance.

In business, however, conformance to a set of rules or a set of standard operating rules does not guarantee success. When organizations conform, they all look alike; they are all the same.

They all are members of the herd who are indistinguishable from one another and struggle to gain competitive advantage.

Conformance to a best practice might improve operating performance but it will never create strategic success.

Organizations who consistently succeed are brilliant at not merely thinking outside the box, but creating a new box to play in.

They create a new form with a different set of lines to draw in.

They are masters of contrarianism and going the opposite direction to the momentum of the crowd.

They focus on separating themselves from the herd.

Don’t press yourself or others to be “the best”.

Honour the weird, odd, crazy, quirky, strange, out there, ridiculous and unusual.

Signs of weirdness.

Weird people:

- Find the notion of doing it like everyone else repugnant;
- Hang out with other weirdos;
- Aren’t taken seriously by the crowd;
- Are quite often the target of bullies;
- Are infatuated with technology and the cool things it can do;
- As young students were often In the Principle’s office;
- Hate following the rules;
- Turn out to be leaders of retro fashion;
- Invent their own language to describe the latest trends;

                          ◾️◾️◾️◾️

- Eat way too much pizza;
- Tend to enjoy their own company; they don’t have time for faceless crowds;
- Are fuelled by the art of the possible;
- Chase stuff;
- Aren’t afraid to fail; they do it all the time;
- Ask “Why?” in every conversation they have;
- Don’t use labels to define people. Weird is normal; it’s all they know;

The weird shall - no they must - inherit the earth.

Our future depends on it.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 8.1.16 at 05:08 am by Roy Osing
• Permalink