The Secret Power of Successful Leaders is something that many have tried to find and secure for themselves. Especially now.
In 2016 I decided that enough was enough and it was time to marshal my thoughts on leadership and the maverick nature. So I started writing and 3 months later The Maverick Paradox: The Secret Power Behind Successful Leaders was written.
Here’s an excerpt from The Prologue …
Over the many years that I’ve worked with mavericks, I’ve observed that their multi-faceted nature can often be perceived as an enigma. Their managers struggle to know how to harness the secret power that they possess and their friends have a fierce loyalty, and sometimes fear of them.
Further analysis shows that there are two types of maverick, Socialised and Extreme; which react in different ways to stimuli. They are almost two sides of the same maverick coin, although one type is highly toxic and has the capability to destroy the world if left to their own devices. The other is a catalyst of beneficial challenge to the status quo.
Mavericks can influence or manipulate situations and people to achieve what they want. They are observant and notice small nuances or changes in behaviour which they use to their advantage. Unlike Socialised Mavericks, Extreme Mavericks tend to manipulate rather than influence. This often causes havoc and bad feeling across an entire organisation. The disruption can lead to ‘the management’ being too scared to rein in the maverick’s excessive behaviour and allow the maverick to become highly successful, despite causing mayhem along the way.
Having a poor leadership cadre can and will ruin companies and lives.
It is common to see managers that tend to be inflexible in their leadership style. These managers have often chosen a style that they like, which they then try to apply to everyone and every situation that they come across.
The solution to both poor leadership and poor performance from your workforce is to encourage more managers and employees to become maverick leaders. Any individual can learn how to become one, if sufficiently motivated. Being a maverick leader is not dependent on having a formal role of authority (e.g. manager). Maverick leadership is a way of life not an organisational formal process.
The plight of the maverick has always fascinated me and during my career I’ve been bemused as to why people have struggled so much to understand and anticipate the maverick’s moods and motivations. Maverick behaviour seemed so perfectly obvious to me, although it took many years for me to realise that I too was a maverick. This was because like many people I believed that there was only one type of maverick. The Extreme Maverick, and I knew that the behavioural traits of this maverick were unlike my own.
It was only after studying maverick behaviour, motivation, and capabilities, did I come to the realisation that there was more than one type. It comes with great relief that I can declare:
I’m a socialised maverick, wilfully independent, not only in personality but in behaviour also.
Mavericks are often misunderstood with their motives misinterpreted, which can lead to disastrous results in the workplace or an individual’s psyche, especially if they are subject to an Extreme Maverick’s ire. To understand how all types of maverick wield their secret power, you need to be aware of how mavericks think, the capabilities that they have and their likely mode of operation.
I have found it is interesting to note how an individual can transverse the Maverick Continuum[1]™ and whether an Extreme Maverick can be ‘saved’ or whether the intricacies of their maverick personality will continually hamper their success.
Maverick leadership is not restricted to those working in organisations, it is applicable to all who aspire to be truly powerful, who want to challenge the status quo; to create a world that they want to live, work and play in. To be maverick, is to be a rule breaking game changer. The only question left to answer, is whether the maverick is going to create a world we all want to live in or recreate it in their own image, for their own benefit.
There is one thing that we can be clear about, is that whichever path the game changing maverick catalyst chooses, he will not be short of loyal followers prepared to follow him to the ends of the earth to deliver his vision to an often unsuspecting audience.
[1] Maverick Continuum™ – Judith Germain 2013
The Secret Power of Successful Leaders …
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