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Brian lets his entrepreneurial spirit shine through as he talks about his career history and more with Randy Wilburn, host of The Zweig Letter Podcast. Want to stay up-to-date with my latest blog posts and news right in your mailbox? Resources and insights for young professionals, rising managers, and entrepreneurs. Quick Take Mavericks often make for a great storyline.
Most people love the idea of a maverick. The idea of the maverick employee makes a great storyline, but are they good for a company? In my experience, being a maverick can be a risky venture, and in most cases can do more harm than good.
A few of the ways I have seen mavericks damage a company is when they: Ignore or refuse to follow policies and procedures, causing chaos within the structure of an organization. Show a disregard for authority, thus losing the respect of their bosses and co-workers.
Give the impression that work and success are more about them, and less about the company. I pursued clients and market sectors that were outside the company norm.
I took on certain risks that were not typically tolerated. Gardiner: They are famous examples that everyone knows about. Part of being a maverick involves being a risk-taker. For example, Richard Branson took a huge financial risk creating Virgin Atlantic and entering the aviation industry as a direct competitor of the then giant British Airways. In the early stages, Virgin Atlantic endured significant financial losses and many were pessimistic about the future of this new venture.
However, despite these early difficulties, Virgin Atlantic, as well as the Virgin brand, is now well known and well-respected all around the world. Similarly, Steve Jobs made a lot of risky decisions, such as setting high price points for some products. He also made the risky decision of excluding features that were, at the time, thought of as essential, such as removable batteries and the floppy drive from portable computers. I think we would all agree that those risks worked out fine.
At the time though, we might have been sceptical. Mavericks are interested in being creative and innovative, always wanting to do something new, and looking at situations from a different angle. Another trait that distinguishes mavericks is perseverance. They have a goal in mind and they want to do it at all costs. They have a goal in mind and somehow persuade people and bring people on their side, to help secure the resources and momentum needed to go forward.
A lesser-known maverick, but still a very good example, is Australian entrepreneur Paul Cave who founded BridgeClimb that allows tourists to actually climb the iconic Sydney Harbor Bridge. When he first came up with this innovative idea he began pitching his idea to investors to secure start-up funding. He actually gave over 50 presentations before he had any takers. He also faced a lot of opposition from the government about whether he could use the bridge or not, in terms of safety and other legalities.
He addressed every single concern until the business was finally sanctioned to operate. This is now a very successful business and Cave has been incredibly innovative and focused. There are millions of people who have climbed the bridge. And now the idea has really taken off. Even cities like Brisbane, Australia, also have a similar setup where people can climb the bridge there. So I think this combination of innovation, risk-taking and perseverance to achieve a goal is really dynamic and is really the essence of what being a maverick is about.
Arabic Knowledge Wharton: What made you interested in studying this trait? Gardiner: My general interest is looking at dysfunctional impulsive behaviors that may seem a little left field. I think that this same concept applies well to maverickism in the workplace. Mavericks have a really strong drive to achieve, to follow their goals. Sometimes, however it may seem quite dysfunctional, quite maladaptive.
However, I wonder whether this is always the case? Jobs was someone who was described as being abrasive at times and not always a team player. So when it comes to something that they feel passionate about, perhaps being an individualist and being able to break the rules has some potential benefit. But I would argue that we could be missing out on people with special talents. However, because he did it successfully, we see this perseverance as quite functional.
I am not suggesting that we should blindly persevere with every decision or course of action we take, but what I am suggesting is that determining what the boundaries are to functional and dysfunctional perseverance would be useful. Arabic Knowledge Wharton: How did you measure personality in your study? Gardiner: We used a personality test based on the five-factor model of personality. The five personality traits that were measured were neuroticism, extraversion, openness-to-experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness.
HR practitioners will very well know these traits as they tend to use tests that are based on this model for development or recruitment purposes. But to make history, you have to take risks. For mavericks, taking risks and defying convention comes with the territory. Don't just take my word for it. Do you have maverick tendencies? Have they helped you to get ahead? Let us know in the comments section below.
Related: 10 Legendary Maverick Entrepreneurs. Brenton Hayden is the founder and chairman of the board of Renters Warehouse.
Jason Hennessey. Entrepreneur Insider. Jonathan Brooks. Max Pecherskyi. Alp Mimaroglu. Julia Weikel.
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