Published:

02/08/2012 07:45pm

Lead Unconventionally and Beat the Competition!

Leaders inspire people to do amazing things; the type of things that their followers would not do on their own. With leadership, a vision and competitive advantage becomes reality. The more change an organization is facing, the greater the need for leaders. The more flexible a firm must be to survive in its environment, the greater the need for leaders. Given that today’s environment is characterized by frequent change, leadership is more important than ever before.

Unconventional leaders go a step further. They lead their companies to repeatedly create things that people love, but no one expected, especially their competition. Unconventional leaders focus on providing the best products and services, rather than profit, yet they tend to lead the most profitable firms in their industries. They create organizations built on innovation, flexibility and risk-taking which redefine their industries and sometimes the way people live. Through their companies, they often lead other firms in terms of technology, customer service, etc. Unconventional leaders beat the competition on a regular basis.

Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg are prime examples of unconventional leaders. They do not look like typical business leaders and their leadership style is anything but conventional. In fact, their backgrounds are both contrary to what most people would expect of such successful corporate leaders. They both dropped out of college and have no formal management training. Despite this, or maybe because of this, they have unconventional leadership styles that have led to the creation of unconventional firms. In fact, the people with the most education and experience are often the most conventional thinkers.

Unconventional Thinkers
Unconventional leaders are unconventional thinkers, but what does that mean exactly? Unconventional thinkers stand out compared to most people. Their ideas are an amalgamation of ideas from a wide range of areas. They often use bits and pieces of very simple concepts in unique combinations to create new solutions to new or old problems. Their unique thinking is often reflected in their eclectic mix of interests and people with whom they form relationships. They like information and ideas, and often focus on things that most people overlook. Unconventional people like to think about things and understand them fully. To illustrate further, below is a comparison of conventional and unconventional thinkers.

Conventional Thinkers

• Like safety, avoid risk
• Say things like, “this is just the way we do things” and “everyone does it this way”
• Accept things as they are presently
• Will avoid expressing their ideas unless agreement is likely
• Follow trends, there is safety in numbers
• Are less willing to think, rather continue doing things the same way
• Agreement is very important, as is consistency
• Have a negative perception of differences; these are weird, strange, odd, etc.
• Do not question why things are the way they are, do not think of a better way
• Value established knowledge

Unconventional Thinkers

• In the quest for improvements or even perfection
• Think and act differently from most people
• Re-evaluate everything, including their beliefs & assumptions, and change them if necessary
• Integrate disparate ideas and knowledge into new ideas and solutions
• Are not restricted by other people, do not care what they think or do
• Like change, see it as an opportunity for improvement
• Willing to try new things & learn from them whether or not they work out
• Believe that constructive conflict is good, leads to more ideas and a better understanding of issues
• Openly express what is on their mind
• Value thinking and creating new knowledge

Although it might not be an easy change, conventional thinkers can become more unconventional in their thinking. Everyone is born unconventional an thinker. Just observe very young children and you can see the amazing creativity and free thinking they have. Unfortunately, as kids g