“Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds.” Albert Einstein (quoted in Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World)

For the past couple of months, I’ve been examining (and championing) the Contrartian Mindset. Innovation — and the value that comes from it — doesn’t happen in traditional ways. Best practices don’t result in innovation. Best practices result in more of the same — mediocrity.

How does the Contrarian Mindset fit as a professional development strategy? It’s those folks who can innovate — demonstrate value — that move forward. They stand out from the crowd. They’re the ones that people who matter (bosses, clients, customers, hiring managers) want to hire and pay. No one wants to pay for average. 

In order to innovate you don’t have to create value out of whole cloth. You just need to be a leader in the mindset of Bréne Brown, who defines a leader as “…anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, and who has the courage to develop that potential.”

So developing potential — even in small increments — translates into innovation, new ways of doing what needs to be done. A Contrarian Mindset.

Speaking Truth to Power

What’s the biggest challenge for contrarians? Adam Grant tells us that it’s getting others to see, and act, on their vision. (Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World (Amazon Kindle link)).

Remember, a contrarian isn’t someone who objects just because they don’t agree — that’s a conformist of a different nature. As Naval Ravikant notes, “[a] contrarian reasons independently, from the ground up, and resists pressure to conform.” They are strategists who use insightful observations and reasoning and thinks long-term. They are the “instigators” of innovation; not beholden to conventional wisdom.

While bosses appreciate employee initiative and offers of help, they’re not so inclined to implement new suggestions — new ways of moving forward on their mission. They’re pretty invested in how they’ve managed things so far. 

So how can contrarians influence others to accept their innovative proposals?

The short answer is: “Carefully.”

When we seek to exert influence, we need to be respected by those we’re attempting to influence. If we’re not respected, we’re seen as difficult and self-serving. We might not seem to have the right to lead and we’ll experience push-back. In short, we can’t claim respect and status, we need to earn it.

One way to earn the status to suggest change is to frame that change within the context of advancing others’ missions. Contrarians need to show that they stand for something, not just against the status quo. 

By showing that their goal is in support of a broader mission, contrarians earn idiosyncrasy credits — the latitude to deviate from others’ expectations. Idiosyncracy credits accrue through respect, not rank; they’re based on contributions. 

The Upside Down Pitch or Leading With Limitations

Pitching a new idea or advocating a change in direction is often met with skepticism from those we’re trying to convince. By emphasizing the limitations of our ideas, we’re actually more likely to bring folks on board, as opposed to “selling” them.

By leading with weaknesses we tend to put our ego aside and present a problem for the audience to solve. This engages them in determining the solution, rather than having it presented to them. And, it builds trust with those folks we’ll need to implement the idea.

Leading with limitations can also make us look smart. It shows the audience that we’re aware that we may not have a perfect answer. We’ve looked at the problem and we realize that there may be pitfalls along the way.

Familiarity Breeds Comfort

The core challenge when we present new ideas and solutions is that we “wrote the song.”  

We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the issue/problem; We’ve thought long and hard about the solution, and formulated a new vision. We know this issue and it’s implications better than anyone else. Just because we can see all the implications, doesn’t mean others can as well.  

This is the challenge of Strategic Thinkers, if you remember your CliftonStrengths exercise. Strategic Thinkers tend to have a Contrartian Mindset. And we need to make sure we bring the rest of the team along with us. We need to be able to articulate the vision, and we need to make sure everyone on the team understands it. The team needs not only to know what the vision is but how they fit in — what their role is in achieving the vision. 

It’s not enough, as a contrarian to understand the vision. It’s not enough to be able to share the vision with others. The real challenge is to make sure our team understands their individual roles relative to that vision.

A version of this post was sent earlier to my email newsletter subscribers. If you’d like to get my best work first, subscribe to the newsletter. I NEVER share your information, and you can unsubscribe at any time if it’s not a good fit.

If you’re struggling with how to achieve your career goals let’s chat about how I can help. You can use this link to my calendar to schedule the best time to talk.

Image copyright: krasimiranevenova