Time for Maverick to Head to School. The Maverick Paradox Magazine just turned five, and like most five-year-olds, it is time to head to school.
It may be Kindergarten, but as Robert Fulghum wrote that is where everything you need to know is learned.
Though I agree with much of what Robert teaches, I am here to tell you to resist the temptation to conform and always celebrate colouring outside the lines. The world needs more mavericks [1], so you were aptly named.
We need more people who can question old ways and define and develop new ones. People who can be resilient, creative and adaptive. People who can be comfortable with conflict and rise above it, creating opportunities for new ideas and methodologies to flourish without getting bogged down by egos and ideology.
People who are not afraid to try, fail, learn, adjust, adapt and try again.
The world needs bold people who are not afraid of change and can communicate why change is needed and lead others through it effectively.
That is what I wish for you as a five-year-old. Not to take the easy way out and live your life by someone else’s ideas of what is right or wrong. Instead, I want you to understand the rules, see what is good about them, what needs to be adjusted and be the catalyst creating change for the better with the majority’s interests in mind and not merely for self-gratification.
Congrats on turning five and may you live your life testing the corners and edges, wondering what is just beyond them and prodding to find out.
Footnote
[1] Maverick. Judith Germain has been defining Maverick as ‘wilfully independent person’ since 2005.