The evolution of the © Maverick Impact™

The evolution of the © Maverick Impact™. Last week I wrote an article called ‘Do you know your © Maverick Impact™? Since then several people have become curious about this measure and has asked me to explain how I came up with the concept of the © Maverick Impact™.

It’s not possible to do this without telling some of my story first. I’ve known, for just about always, that I viewed the world differently from most people, reacted differently to stimuli and thought quite deeply and quickly.

It wasn’t until 2005, when I left the corporate world and I was trying to work out what my value proposition was, that I started to seriously consider what made me different. I looked at the people I loved working with and the organisational challenges that I loved to face. I was certainly drawn to what was difficult and challenging!

It was at this time that I realised that I loved working with wilfully independent people that I termed ‘maverick’, and with challenges that required Maverick thinking to resolve. Life is but a continuum and over the years my theories about Mavericks and leadership continued to develop as I worked with clients, testing out my theories and getting good results.

By 2016 I was ready to write the Maverick book that a lot of people over the years had been asking me to write. In 2017 that book was published, The Maverick Paradox: The Secret Power Behind Successful Leaders where I explored the following:

• How successful leaders think
• The competencies of successful leaders
• The use of power by successful leaders

In this exploration I looked at (amongst other things), the Maverick Mindset, the Maverick Personality and Maverick DRIVEN Leadership™. In the research for this book significant time was spent defining the different types of mavericks, how they succeeded and how they utilised power.

It was through this research and testing of my hypotheses, I began consolidating my thoughts on Maverick DRIVEN Leadership™ and Mavericks.

© The Maverick Impact™

The evolution of the © Maverick Impact™ first arose out of analysing how (over 30 years) I think and work (Maverick Behaviour™) and then assessing how this impacted the clients I worked with. I discovered that whilst I didn’t have any terminology to use, (I hadn’t designed or discovered it yet!) the utilisation of © The Maverick Impact™ (as it was to become known) was consistent and effective. I was unconsciously teaching leaders the same way of working when I was designing and delivering programmes. The same was true when I was consulting or mentoring.

Therefore, when I was coming up with the concept and terminology, I had over 30 years of experience, knowledge and research to call upon. This was useful because I had created something that was becoming the essence of what makes an effective Maverick Leader, and it was teachable!

© The Maverick Impact Fusion™

Further thought produced the © Maverick Impact Fusion™ that fuses © Maverick Drive™, © Maverick Behaviour™ and the Game-Changing Impact (MD+MB+GCI=© Maverick Impact™) with the 3 key values of the Socialised Maverick.

Last week’s article: Do you know your © Maverick Impact™? explained its various components; today I would like to talk about my own Game-changing Impact. This, as part of my © Maverick Impact Fusion™ and my Maverick DRIVEN Leadership™ methodology has a significant affect on how I think and work with clients. It’s also how this Maverick DRIVEN Leader™ enables others to improve their own leadership capabilities. Whether they are leading their own company or working within someone else’s.

The Game-changing Impact (GC Index)

The GC Index® has created a common language and framework. This identifies five key ways (proclivities) in which people can make an impact to a role, team and / or organisation.

This understanding of impact tends to enable a minimum of:

• increased productivity
• competitive advantage
• driven transformational change

Whilst each proclivity is scored out of 10, it is individually scored. A 10 in Strategy does not preclude a 10 elsewhere. What’s important is understanding how all the proclivities working together tells your story.

Here is my GC Index profile:

It is usual to have two (possibly three) prominent proclivities. As a Socialised Maverick I have always been an outlier in any type of profiling system. The fact that despite the GC Index® being used in over 130 countries; at the time my profile was assessed, no one else had this combination, which was extremely satisfying!

Telling a Maverick that they are unique will always make them smile!

Dr John Mervyn-Smith (Chief Psychologist at the GC Index) manually wrote my profile commentary as it didn’t already exist in the system. We then spent 2 hrs in London where we discussed my profile and how my Maverick philosophy and Maverick DRIVEN Leadership™ methodology worked. This discussion enabled Dr John to check that my profile commentary was right and consistently applied. It allowed me to explore how my own maverick nature was naturally encompassing my GC Index® proclivities. Dr John remarked that the ‘deficiencies’ in one proclivity were being automatically compensated by another. He suggested that I write about how this interaction worked. Well, almost exactly 2 years later …

Judith Germain’s Game-changing Impact

I have a uniquely highly balanced profile, which means in practical terms:

• My thinking (in terms of proclivities) works in a sequence that is optimised for success
• I see things from all proclivities concurrently
• I ask questions from the mindset of each proclivity to ensure that I (or the client) can Strategise, Innovate and Execute more effectively
• I see the potential problem, solution and implementation and test them theoretically, before attempting to execute a solution. This enables a more rounded approach to a problem, as the challenge is considered from the perspective of each proclivity before time is wasted on working on possible ineffectual solutions
• Ego is not concerned in the application of the solution and true objectivity is provided as each proclivity is balanced. This is also the core to Socialised Maverick behaviour
• The deficiency of one proclivity is intuitively balanced by the strength of another (eg high Game Changers may have reduced energy in the Strategist proclivity. Whereas having a balanced profile negates this possible reduction)
• Where the client or team lacks energy in certain proclivities, I intuitively provide guidance from the perspective of the missing proclivity

Sequence of proclivities?

My thought process when analysing and assessing things follows this sequence:

SEEING …

• Patterns
• Possibilities
• Practicalities
• People
• Potential

Not a bad way in seeing the world, its challenges and possibilities!

Therefore, the evolution of the © Maverick Impact™ came from me applying my Game-changing Impact and © Maverick Drive™ to the challenge of finding a way that demonstrated pictorially, what I was starting to think of, as the © Maverick Impact™. The difference that Socialised Mavericks and effective Maverick Leaders make when addressing the challenges in their lives and organisations.

I wanted an aide memoire to help clients and other aspiring leaders learn the essential components of Maverick Leadership.

To be able to effectively: Strategise, Innovate and Execute their way to success.

The continual evolution of the © Maverick Impact™ led me to developing the © Maverick Impact Fusion™. Succinctly put, this is what drives the effective Maverick Leader, how they behave and how they leverage their ability to make a Game-changing impact. Their core values of Integrity, Empathy and Passion is the nucleus of their activities.

If you want to develop your © Maverick Impact™, leverage the way you think to better outcomes, then please contact me here: