If this is your first time visiting The Freak Factor blog, you can find a helpful introduction by reading this welcome post or clicking on the about page.
You can also download a free preview of the upcoming book.
If you like what you find here, you might also be interested the blog for my first book, The Four Factors of Effective Leadership.
Mike Lowstetter is a great friend. I've written about him, his dyslexia and his blog before. He is very smart, creative, and interesting.
He just released an excellent new audio resource.
Your Second Great Day: The Power of Personal Purpose
If you want an entertaining introduction, watch the video trailer.
You can also review the PowerPoint slides here.
My favorite part is how he explains that a good purpose statement "binds you to what is valuable and cuts out what is not necessary." That is very important. Clarity of purpose helps us determine what to do AND what not to do. We need to know what our purpose is AND what it isn't.
I strongly encourage you to let Mike lead you on this important journey to discover your second great day.
* By the way, this CD is a good example of the freak factor. Mike's dyslexia gives him trouble with writing, but doesn't negatively affect his speaking. In fact, he seems to have a special gift for verbal communication. An audio resource puts the spotlight on his abilities and makes his disability irrelevant.
Tom Morris isn't normal. He's obsessed with reading, writing, ideas, philosophy, success and happiness. He has a Ph.D. in philosophy and religious studies from Yale University and taught philosophy for 15 years at Notre Dame, where he was one of their most popular professors.
However, he gave up the security of his teaching position for a career as a speaker and author. So, Tom knows a little bit about change and has studied what the great philosophers can teach us about the subject. He just wrote a short article to help people respond wisely to recent negative economic events and the changes they have brought.
The article was originally distributed by the Washington Speakers Bureau to their clients. I've included the entire text below.
Adaptation
Mastering the Art of Change
by Tom Morris
We’re living now in a period of widespread, unsettling change and growing economic uncertainty. Every day seems to bring with it a new cause for anxiety. It’s easy to worry about the future. But the great philosophers of the past have recommended something very different from that reaction: the positive response of creative adaptation.
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A situation becomes favorable only when we adapt to it.
The I Ching
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One of the primary sources of power in life is the skill of adaptation. It’s also one of the most important contributors to long-term success. As someone who has studied for decades the wisdom of the ages on all aspects of personal achievement, I’ve come to understand something very important. Our ability to flex appropriately with changing circumstances, and our knack for transforming our circumstances in accordance with our own highest aspirations, are two distinct sides of adaptation. And they are both absolutely necessary for attaining business and personal excellence in times of change.
The good news is that there is an art of change that will give us the crucial inner keys for masterful adaptation. A consistent practice of this art can generate amazing results.
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What in the whole universe is more natural than change?
Marcus Aurelius
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The art of change, as understood by its masters, consists of three component arts:
(1) The art of self-control
(2) The art of positive action
(3) The art of achievement
Each of these component arts has a few simple rules that can be derived from the deepest practical wisdom of the great thinkers. Let’s take just a minute to consider them.
The art of self-control has three basic requirements:
1. Don’t rush to judgment. Many ancient philosophers believed that nothing is as good as it seems or as bad as it seems, so we should all just calm down. Complex situations are hardly ever what they initially appear to be. And in turbulent times, the well-known category, “A Blessing in Disguise” may have a lot of potential applications. When we stop ourselves from rushing to judgment about new developments, we empower ourselves to deal with them as they really are.
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Things often love to conceal their true nature.
Heraclitus
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2. Value the right things. We tend to value comfort and security a bit too highly in our culture. Growth and learning are also crucial for a good life. If we value the right things to the right degree, we are more open to the positive adventures that even initially difficult change can bring into our lives.
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Only in growth, reform, and change,
paradoxically enough, is true security to be found.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
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3. Use your imagination well. In economically unpredictable times, our imaginations can easily run wild, projecting worst-case scenarios, and taking our emotions to places we don’t need to go. The only reliable cure for negative imagination is positive imagination. When we use our minds to project desirable scenarios, we actually strengthen our ability to make those things happen.
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You can’t depend on your judgment
when your imagination is out of focus.
Mark Twain
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The art of positive action also has three fundamental requirements:
1. Govern your attitudes. Negative attitudes can sneak up on us and hold us back. The good news about attitude is that it’s ultimately within our control. We can choose to consider the positive possibilities of a situation, or to forgive a person who may have tripped us up. We can also take measures – such as daily walking, jogging, or meditation – that can indirectly but almost magically transform our attitudes. Good attitudes can lead to great outcomes.
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With our thoughts, we make the world.
The Buddha
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2. Look for opportunities. The churn of change always creates new opportunities. The most successful people actively look for emerging opportunities in times of change, and so are among the first to take advantage of possibilities that didn’t previously exist. In every challenging era, some people grow and benefit. By always searching for new opportunities, we can be among those people.
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Know your opportunity.
Pittacus
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3. Take the initiative. In uncertain times, people hunker down, hoping the storms will pass. A common trait of high achievers is a very different tendency to take action. By being action-oriented, we can make the most of new opportunities, which are often fleeting and must be seized quickly. Leaders always show initiative. In situations of rapid change, it’s up to each of us to do so.
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In the arena of human life, the honors and rewards
fall to those who show their good qualities in action.
Aristotle
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Finally, the art of achievement requires that we focus our energies toward favorable outcomes by living in accordance with seven universal conditions for positive achievement. In times of change, we need to use “The 7 Cs of Success” constantly and relentlessly, as individuals and as teams. We need:
C1: A clear CONCEPTION of what we want, a vivid vision, a goal clearly imagined.
Goal setting is often tough in the whirl of rapidly altering events, but it’s always important. A disciplined use of our intellects and imaginations to envision new targets adapted appropriately to the vicissitudes of our day will enable us to move forward productively as great problem solvers and creative examples to others.
C2: A strong CONFIDENCE that we can attain our goal.
In situations of tremendous change, the first thing most people lose is their inner sense of confidence. Confidence is an attitude and, as such, is within our control. We can boost it by how we think, talk, and act. And we owe it to ourselves, as well as to those around us, to do exactly this, since confidence is contagious and can drive success in surprising ways.
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Fortune favors the brave.
Terence
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C3: A focused CONCENTRATION on what it takes to reach the goal.
We need to focus and refocus ourselves in times of upheaval, and concentrate our thought and energy on what’s required each day for the outcomes we seek.
C4: A stubborn CONSISTENCY in pursuing our vision.
Consistency doesn’t mean doing things the way we’ve always done them, but keeping our actions in line with our highest goals and deepest values. The most powerful adaptation requires this kind of consistency as we adjust to new realities.
C5: An emotional COMMITMENT to the importance of what we’re doing.
Passion fuels excellence. Without an emotional commitment to our work, and to the people around us, we can easily find that unexpected change saps our strength. A commitment of the heart energizes us all to do great things in new ways.
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It is always the adventurers who accomplish great things.
Montesquieu
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C6: A good CHARACTER to guide us and keep us on a proper course.
Change often calls for compromise, but never for a compromise of character. The stronger your character is, the better you’ll weather any storm. Integrity matters.
C7: A CAPACITY TO ENJOY the process along the way.
If we can laugh at the absurdities life often throws at us, and find aspects of our work to enjoy during even trying times, we can achieve creative, lasting results.
By practicing the overall art of change each day – following the simple requirements of self-control, positive action, and ongoing achievement – we can position ourselves to make the most of any change that comes our way. We can be masters of adaptation.
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Man has unrivalled powers of self-adaptation.
Charles Kingsley
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The wisdom of the past can guide us reliably into the future. If we use it every day, we can best live the adventures we’re here in this world to have, and we can attain forms of success that will sometimes surprise us even more than it bewilders our neighbors.
Please share Tom’s message with anyone who may benefit from it.
Adaptation: Mastering the Art of Change © 2008 Tom Morris
"To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail." - Mark Twain
Mark Twain was a bit of a freak during his time. He has a lot of great quotes and I used a few of them in my first book. However, I'd like to modify this one slightly.
"If you are a person with a hammer, start looking for nails."
In other words . . .
Kevin Garnett is a freak. He is 6' 11" tall and weighs only 220 lbs. He joined the NBA right out of high school and has been a star player ever since.
This year he joined the Boston Celtics and has helped lead them to the playoffs. After a win last night, here is what his coach, Doc Rivers, had to say about Garnett.
"Well, he's nuts. And that's a good thing because he cares so much. And sometimes you worry that he cares too much."
Garnett is intense, tenacious and passionate. He can also be volatile, angry and unpredictable.
As Sportcenter explained, "a frustrated Kevin Garnett is a dangerous Kevin Garnett." He is dangerous on the court. He is dangerous because he channels his frustration into the tremendous energy necessary to dominate a game.
Garnett is "nuts and that is a good thing." He doesn't "care too much." He is successful precisely because he cares so much.
Are you nuts? Can you see how that could be a good thing?
What do you care about too much? How could you channel that passion into greater success?
I try to stay away from politics on the blog but I'm hearing about it everywhere and just can't control myself.
Hillary Clinton has been criticized quite a bit lately for not giving up after recent losses to Barack Obama. Is she stubborn or tenacious? The answer you get seems to depend on who you talk to.
John McCain has been criticized, and made fun of, for being too old. Is he old or does he have valuable experience? It depends on who you ask.
The point is that, just like these candidates, none of your characteristics are completely positive or negative. They are both strengths and weaknesses. You can't please everyone.
McCain and Clinton have huge teams of people helping them maximize their attractiveness to potential voters. They are spending millions of dollars to get people to vote for them, to choose them, to like them. And they still get criticized, they still offend a lot of people.
If they can't do it, what chance do you have? Do you have a public relations staff for your life and career? Do you have millions of dollars to update your image? Probably not.
So, don't worry about making everyone happy. Stop trying to be perfect. Get comfortable with who you are and then flaunt it. You'll turn off a lot of people but you'll find a lot of fans as well.
I'm becoming a big fan of Penelope Trunk.
First, I love the title of her book, Brazen Careerist. Brazen is defined as "flagrant or insolent audacity . . . bold self-assurance." A synonym for brazen is shameless.
Trunk is encouraging people to flaunt their career ambitions, which some might see as a weakness. Instead of apologizing for it, instead of seeing it as a problem or something to hide, she wants you to be proud of being a careerist.
Second, she has a very unique blog. I've been a subscriber for the last month and read a lot of her past messages. She just posted Why You Already Know What You Should Be Doing Next. It offers an interesting suggestion for discovering your freak factor, focus on what you enjoyed as a child.
"Do you want to know what you should do right now? Do you want to know what your best bet is for your next career? Look at what you were doing as a kid. Nothing changes when you grow up except that you get clouded vision from thinking about what you SHOULD do - to be rich, or successful, or to please your parents or peers. . .
It's nearly impossible to eradicate our life of SHOULDS, because we all want to make the right decisions. But I think I could have figured out right decisions for me a lot faster if I had realized how much we reveal about our true selves when we're young."
It was interesting that two things she learned about her younger self included apparent weaknesses. She had no patience for group learning and was a risk taker. That didn't change as she grew up and it still defines her work. This might be a third reason why I like her. I also have no patience for group learning, unless I'm the presenter.
So, what were your problems as a child? What were people always trying to fix about you? What were your weaknesses?
I wanted to be the center of attention. I couldn't sit still. I wanted to be in charge. All those things are still true of me today and, in my career, I am the center of attention. I don't sit still. I am in charge.
How about you? Do you get the chance to embrace your inner child each day? If not, listen to Penelope and find your ideal future by going back.
* If you want more Penelope, you can check out You Get What You Are on my Four Factors blog.
Tom Morris pointed me to a great article in the New York Times entitled Can You Become a Creature of New Habits? I encourage you to read the entire article but I've posted an excerpt below.
"Humans are born with the capacity to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally, relationally (or collaboratively) and innovatively. At puberty, however, the brain shuts down half of that capacity, preserving only those modes of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life.
The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us inherently use our innovative and collaborative modes of thought. “This breaks the major rule in the American belief system — that anyone can do anything,” explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book “This Year I Will...” and Ms. Markova’s business partner. “That’s a lie that we have perpetuated, and it fosters mediocrity. Knowing what you’re good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.”
This is where developing new habits comes in. If you’re an analytical or procedural thinker, you learn in different ways than someone who is inherently innovative or collaborative. Figure out what has worked for you when you’ve learned in the past, and you can draw your own map for developing additional skills and behaviors for the future."
This article makes four important points.
One of my other top five strengths is input. This means that I love to read. I read everything. My wife once cleared off the entire kitchen table to stop me from reading the labels on various condiments.
Well, I'm back to reading packaging again. Apparently, it is one of my guilty pleasures. One of the recent objects of my input obsession was a bag of Domino sugar.
We all know that sugar is bad for us. Loving sugar and sweets full of sugar is a weakness. As a product, sugar also has some major weaknesses. It causes diabetes and makes us obese. However, it also has one tremendous strength. It tastes great and makes just about everything taste better.
There are many different artificial sweeteners but they all have their own weaknesses as well. For example, I can't handle the aftertaste of any diet product. Sugar substitutes eliminate sugar's main weakness but also destroy its main strength.
Both products are good and both products are bad. However, if you were selling sugar, what would you focus on?
Let's get back to the bag. Here is what it says . . .
"Sugar is a 100% natural simple carbohydrate. Carbohydrates are an important part of any balanced diet. Sugar contains no fat or cholesterol and has 15 calories per teaspoon."
That is a solid resume for any food product, much less pure sugar.
What does your resume look like? What does it focus on? If you were trying to sell yourself, would you be able to focus on the positives like Domino sugar does?
We all have weaknesses. So what? It's time to get over it and move on.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to have a large piece of chocolate cake with a big glass of 2% milk. They both have sugar in them so they must be good for me.
As I've discussed in the past, I have an input addiction, a reading obsession. I found this letter from Andy Puzder, President of Hardee's, on the back of the bag for my Philly Cheesesteak Thickburger.
"A few years ago when I became president of Hardee's Restaurants, we were selling so many things that we had truly become a 'jack of all trades and master of none.' Unfortunately, in today's competitive fast food world, that wasn't cutting it.
The chain needed to become known for doing something really well again . . . So I challenged my menu development folks to come up with a new line of burgers that would make people say 'Wow! I can't believe I can get burgers that good at a fast-food place.' And they did. They came up with 'Thickburgers.'"
It is important to note that Hardee's was going out of business and closing many of their stores before developing this new line of burgers. Even more importantly, most other fast food companies were furiously adding healthy options to their menu. In response to criticism about the negative health effects of their offerings, burger joints were offering water, fruit and salads. Hardee's moved in the opposite direction.
In essence, they were saying, "our food is fat and nasty and will make you fat and nasty." And it worked. They succeeded by flaunting the weaknesses of fast food while everyone else was busy trying to fix those same weaknesses. They took fast food, which was already tremendously unhealthy and made it unhealthier. They took fatty foods and made them fatter. They took nasty food and made it nastier. And it worked.
Hardee's is a fast food freak. They are not ashamed of the nutritional content of their food. They have embraced everything that is wrong with fast food because it is inseparable from everything that is right with fast food.
Are you willing to do the same in your personal life? Are you willing to do the same at your company? Are you willing to move in the opposite direction of everyone else? Are you willing to flaunt what everyone else is trying to fix? It worked for Hardee's and I think it will work for you.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my Thickburger. I think I see something interesting written on the bottom of the box.
Yahoo! wants you to help you flaunt your weaknesses. I found this invitation at the bottom of a recent email message from a Yahoo! user.
"Fussy? Opinionated? Impossible to please? Perfect. Join Yahoo's user panel and lay it on us."
Wow! When was the last time that you were praised for being fussy or impossible to please? When was the last time that someone thanked you for being opinionated?
I think there are two lessons we can learn from Yahoo!
As we can see in this post, The Freak Factor has important applications for both individuals and organizations. This isn't simply a self-help concept. Businesses can benefit from applying these concepts to their employees and customers.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go tell Yahoo! why I prefer Google.
I was reading Rolly Keenan's blog today and discovered a wonderful post about the upside and downside of being an activator, which is one of Gallup's signature themes from their Strengthsfinder profile. (If you haven't already completed this assessment, I strongly encourage you to do so).
People who have the activator theme are described this way. "You are impatient for action. You may concede that analysis has its uses or that debate and discussion can occasionally yield some valuable insights, but deep down you know than only action is real. . . Once a decision is made, you cannot not act." (In the interest of full disclosure, I should admit that activator is one of my top five strengths).
Rolly's post has some great stories about how being an activator has been great and how it has also been painful. The part that really struck me was the following quote.
"It is important, I think, to note that my talents in the past were noted as negatives. Instead of seeing my action-oriented nature as a talent, I was called impulsive or reckless or sometimes crazy."
So, is Rolly action-oriented or impulsive? Does he have initiative or is he reckless? Is being an activator positive or negative? Is he strong or is he weak? Is he talented or flawed?
The answer to all these questions, for Rolly and the rest of us, is yes.
All of us are strong AND weak, talented AND flawed, positive AND negative. We can't separate the good from the bad, the right from the wrong, the brightside from the darkside, the blessing from the curse. They are inseparable. Fortunately, Rolly has discovered this truth and now comfortably flaunts his weaknesses and promotes his strengths.
Are you ready to do the same? Can you embrace both the upside and downside of your unique qualities? Can you flaunt your weaknesses? Can you find fulfillment in becoming a freak?
In my management and strategy classes I ask students this question. To maximize individual or company success, should you:
Which do you think is the most popular answer?
It is #3, doing both. Most people want to be well-rounded and flexible. They want to keep their options open. They want to be balanced and not too extreme. Unfortunately, this doesn't work.
A recent flurry of blog posts reinforce the problems with trying to "do both" and support the wisdom of building on strengths.
John Leary at Tom Peters' blog wonders whether Apple should pursue the corporate market for its computers, even if it requires significant changes to their products and support. Apple already does a great job of pleasing their existing customers. Should they "do both" and try to please businesses as well or should they continue to focus on what they are already doing well?
I think Apple has had success because they are the anti-establishment brand. I think it would be a bad idea to jeopardize that in pursuit of corporate sales.
You might be wondering why they can't do both. I'll let Seth Godin answer that.
Seth started a great discussion a couple days ago about whether companies should pursue customers that are passionate/educated about a particular product (Apple) or a more popular market (Dell). He uses the passion/pop curve (left) to explain his idea. He doesn't recommend a particular market but he ends the post with this quote. "The best choice is to choose."
In a follow-up post he addresses some comments that he got from readers who are "going for both." Their strategy is to pursue both markets. Godin responds that "going for both is rarely the right strategy."
Today, in a post about the New York Times, Godin concludes by saying "if you obsess about doing the thing you are great at and let the mediocre stuff go, you'll do far better. What are you great at? What if you did it exclusively?"
We dilute our efforts and minimize our success when we try to do both. We all have limited time, energy and resources. We need to discover what we do best and focus our attention on that, to the exclusion of other seemingly valuable opportunities. One of my favorite quotes reminds us of this truth.
"When you choose anything, you reject everything else . . . So, when you take one course of action, you give up all the other courses." - G. K. Chesterton
I think we are uncomfortable with choosing because we are concerned about "rejecting everything else" and "giving up all the other courses." However, in seeking to do both and have it all, we often end up with nothing.
It has been less than a year since I started (or re-started) The Freak Factor blog. Since last August I've posted 85 messages, which means that I'm just 15 away from 100 posts. I think #100 will probably be a list of the top ten posts so far.
I'd love to hear your ideas.
What is your favorite post? What needs to be in the top ten?
Register your vote today.
P.S. I also hope to have some big news by the time we get to 100. Keep checking in to find out more.
The first person to respond to the manifesto was Tai McQueen, a copywriter from Australia. I love the quote at the end of his message!
"As someone who spent years banging his head against the wall trying to be 'normal' to little avail, I'd like to thank you for your essay, which helped consolidate a lot of things I've been thinking about lately.
In the words of that great freak, Hunter S. Thompson, 'When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro' (bearing in mind that the going is always a bit weird)."
Are you ready to go pro? Instead of trying to fix your weaknesses, are you ready to flaunt them? Have you seriously considered the possibility of turning your flaws into a career? If not, I hope you will. It's no use being an amateur freak when you have what it takes to become a professional.
One of my strengths is that I am an achiever. I love to see results. I love to track progress. I love to move forward. Because of this, I obsessively track my products' sales rank on Amazon.com, my blog stats and my manifesto ranking.
ChangeThis ranks each manifesto on how many times it has been downloaded, emailed and blogged about. There are currently 255 manifestos. Mine was #252.
Today, three weeks after being published, The Freak Factor manifesto's email rank is #127, which puts it in the Top 50% of all the manifestos on ChangeThis.
Thank you for reading the manifesto and sharing it with your friends and associates. It is fun to watch this idea spread.
A lot of people use proverbs to support their actions. The proverbs usually reinforce their way of doing things and are often employed when criticizing others. For example, as an impatient person, I've often been told that "patience is a virtue." That is hard to argue with . . . or so it seems.
What I've discovered is that, just like weaknesses have corresponding strengths, each proverb seems to have a corresponding proverb that contradicts its wisdom. In this case, "patience is a virtue" is countered by "he who hesitates is lost." This isn't very helpful. What should I do? Should I develop patience or should I get moving?
Patience is a virtue but it can be a vice. It depends on the situation. Hesitation can cost you but it might also save you. It depends on the situation. There are no strengths that are universally good and no weaknesses that are universally bad.
Another example is "better safe than sorry" and "nothing ventured nothing gained." Is it better to be safe or to venture out? If I am safe will I be sorry that nothing was gained? If I venture and don't gain, will I be sorry?
Playing it safe can be a good strategy and it can also cause you to miss out on major opportunities. The right choice depends on the situation. Risky ventures can cause you to lose big but they can also help you to win big. Choosing correctly depends on the situation.
I think there are three lessons here.
First, find your proverb. Look for wisdom that confirms your strengths.
Second, ignore the contradictory proverb. It was probably written by someone who didn't have your strengths.
Third, find situations that fit your proverb. If you are patient, become a counselor. If you are impatient, then choose activities that reward your initiative, like starting a business or turning around troubled companies. If you like to play it safe, get into the insurance business. If you like to take risks, start day trading or move to Vegas or flip houses.
Don't let proverbs convince you that you have weaknesses that must be fixed. For any proverb you hear that criticizes your style, there is probably another one that supports it.
You can read a good example of this from John Stackhouse at the Morris Institute for Human Values. Compare his article, He Who Hesitates is Smart, to Malcolm Gladwell's thesis in Blink and you'll see that there is solid wisdom behind both thoughtful analysis and intuitive judgments.
Can you think of any contradictory proverbs? I'll be including a list in my book and I'd love to hear from you.
I hate meetings. They put a spotlight on all my weaknesses and obscure all of my strengths. They require sitting, listening, teamwork and patience. These are skills and qualities that I do not possess. If you are a meeting freak like me, then you might like Seth Godin's Let's Skip the Meeting post.
I love his final suggestion. "Skip at least one meeting every day for the next two weeks. Watch what happens."
This is great advice. You probably don't need to get better at meetings. If meetings are a bad fit, do everything you can to avoid them.
Meetings used to consume most of my time and energy when I was a manager. I probably attended at least two meetings per day and some of them lasted for three hours or more. Now I am a college professor. There is a maximum of one meeting per week and it only lasts an hour. I didn't need to change. I needed to find the right fit.
"It's up to each of us alone to figure out who we are, who we are not, and to act more or less consistently with those conclusions." - Tom Peters
Take a minute to consider who you are and who you are not.
Are you acting consistently with what you know about both your abilities and your limitations?
The folks at 800-CEO-Read are major business book freaks. If you share their passion for reading and business development, you need to subscribe to at least one of their many blogs.
Main Blog - Get updates on new and upcoming books, like Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers and find answers to business and management questions. By the way, thanks to Dylan for including The Freak Factor in his Friday Links last week.
Excerpts Blog - Read chapters from new books for free. Need I say more?
Author Blog - If you are a business author or want to write a business book, Jon has great advice and links for you. I recommend his interview with Tom Peters. You can also learn three lessons about spreading your ideas from Jon's recent post about The Freak Factor.
Phil Myers is co-author of Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities that Lead to Business Breakthroughs. He had a great blog post on Saturday, called Don't Try to Fix Your Weaknesses, which reviewed my Freak Factor manifesto.
He had some excellent observations and applications for businesses and managers.
"Rendall got me to thinking about how much time we spend in upgrading products by adding features that address the latest complaints. Or hiring people into the company to fix a discipline that you are executing poorly. Or teaching technical professionals how to be more people and sales-oriented. Or sales folks to be more technical. To what end? Does it ever occur to us that maybe there is an underlying reason to begin with that is hard to change and maybe not worth changing?
I love one of the 'Freak Facts' buried in Rendall's manifesto ... "every weakness has a corresponding strength." Find it and you can begin the process of creating something valuable and unique for not only yourself but also for your business. The simple fact is that we are always intrigued and attracted to the ones that stand out. But, we seem to have been educated more often than not to be similar and well-rounded. Why? Mediocrity is never rewarded in the long run. Getting the growth, profit and satisfaction rewards we saw with those who got Tuned In always had a little bit of the Freak Factor built in to them."
The Tuned In site includes an excerpt from Chapter 1 of their book. I loved the section explaining why simple ideas don't get implemented by more companies. I discussed a similar concept in my first book, The Four Factors of Effective Leadership.
The Freak Factor manifesto was published two weeks ago. Since then, it has been traveling around the United States and the world. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go along. If you'd like, you can click on the links to take the trip.
Brazil - Eduardo Fernandes wrote an article in Portuguese about The Freak Factor. You can read my post about it here.
Australia - Tangerine Meg from South Australia listed The Freak Factor as her favorite manifesto from the April edition of ChangeThis.
Malaysia - Alpha Lim from Kuala Lumpur is worried that too many people are involved in the "defreaking process" instead of "letting freaks be freaks."
Israel - Gittit Shwartz is concerned that I am arguing that people can't change by conscious effort. I posted a comment in response.
Stanford University Library Blog - This post provides a summary of Bob Sutton's post below.
Bob Sutton's Blog - Bob is the author of the provocatively titled book The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't. He compares ChangeThis manifestos to the Harvard Business Review and wonders aloud if the manifestos (including mine) sound more interesting. I recommend his 15 Things I Believe, which are posted along the left side of the blog.
Coachbrain.com - My manifesto is posted along with only five others, including one by author and venture capitalist, Guy Kawasaki.
Do Life Right Blog - Lisa writes "a recent ChangeThis article titled The Freak Factor is fantastic. In not so many words, this is exactly what I do with my kids. Applying it to myself has been the real challenge. Of course I have strengths, yet for years all I could see were my weaknesses (although I would never have admitted this at the time). I love the idea of not worrying about my weaknesses and making time to build my strengths to make them even stronger. That’s basically what I do with my kids! So, why not me too?"
BNET Business Network - Michael Fitzgerald applies The Freak Factor to business management. We've had a brief discussion in the comments section since then.
I am the proud father of three girls (no boys). My youngest daughter, Sophia, is 11 months old and was wearing the I'm Not a Boy shirt from WryBaby today. This is an important disclaimer because my children stay mostly bald until their third birthday and this leads people to identify them as boys.
The shirt was a gift from her aunt Amanda. Other shirts in the WryBaby collection proclaim proudly:
This got me thinking. We need similar shirts for adults. We should be able to proudly proclaim what we are not. We should have t-shirts that help us flaunt our weaknesses. Here are a few suggestions. Maybe you have some ideas of your own. I'd like to hear them.
Instead of being afraid of our apparent weaknesses, we should celebrate them. As George Eliot said "Every limitation is a beginning as well as an end." This is because accepting our limitations allows us to stop trying to be perfect and to start pursuing those activities that we enjoy and do well. Embracing our limitations liberates us. It frees us to focus our time and energy on maximizing our strengths and achieving our potential.
What aren't you? Are you ready to put it on a t-shirt?
I was presenting The Freak Factor to one of my classes a couple weeks ago and one of the students shared this great quote.
"Your strengths have the capacity to become so dominant that they render your limitations irrelevant." - Dr. Lance Watson
Thanks Nikki!
Michael Fitzgerald at BNET Business Network just wrote Freak Management, an article about The Freak Factor manifesto. He offers a concise overview of the key concepts.
Eduardo Fernandes at Magaiver also discussed the manifesto in an article called Como escrever para quem nao quer ler. I'm not exactly sure what he said because the article is in Portuguese. However, here is what I've been able to figure out.
I'm not sure if he liked my manifesto. However, he talked about Peter Drucker and Seth Godin's book, Purple Cow, in the same post. That's not bad company. I also think it's cool to have someone in Brazil blogging about The Freak Factor.
I've had some interesting responses to The Freak Factor. A lot of people seem to think that the concept is good for individuals but won't work for organizations. They argue that organizations want and need well-rounded, balanced, flexible, multi-talented, interchangeable employees. It's a legitimate concern and deserves a thoughtful and well-reasoned response.
However, I'm not going to respond to it . . . I'll let Peter Drucker handle it instead. Here are a few classic quotes from the Father of Modern Management.
"The effective executive fills positions and promotes on the basis of what a man can do. He does not make staffing decisions to minimize weakness but to maximize strength."
"Every one of (Robert E.) Lee's generals, from Stonewall Jackson on, was a man of obvious and monumental weaknesses. But these failings Lee considered - rightly - to be irrelevant."
"Organizations exist to make peoples’ strengths effective and their weaknesses irrelevant."
It is important to note that the first two quotes are from The Effective Executive, which was originally published more than 30 years ago in 1966 and it is still in the top 100 management books on Amazon.com and has a five-star rating from all commenters.
I think we can learn three things from the success of Drucker's book.
I just finished reading Johnny Bunko, the latest book by Dan Pink. If you want a great (and funny) overview of the book, you can watch this video trailer or check out 23 sample pages.
The book is the story of Johnny Bunko, a struggling cubicle dweller, written in manga, a type of Japanese comic book, and offers six lessons for career success. Below is a review of two lessons that fit with the Freak Factor. I'll be reviewing some others on my Four Factors of Effective Leadership blog.
Lesson #2: Think strengths, not weaknesses.
Johnny is working in the finance department, despite the fact that he loves art, learning about people and developing creative ideas. His job makes him miserable. However, instead of seeing that he is in the wrong spot, his solution is to get better at working with numbers and spreadsheets. He decides to take a series of training seminars to improve his skills.
His strategy is "to work harder . . . to get better at what I stink at . . . If I want to succeed, I need to focus where I'm weak and make sure that my weaknesses don't hold me back." This is a very common approach and it usually fails.
Johnny's career advisor, Diana, suggests a new perspective. "Steer around your weaknesses and focus on your strengths. Successful people don't try too hard to improve what they're bad at. They capitalize on what they're good at."
Lesson #4: Persistence trumps talent.
Because I believe strongly in the importance of finding and applying our unique talents, I was skeptical of this lesson, at first. Then I read this, "That's why intrinsic motivation is so important. Doing things not to get an external reward like money or promotion, but because you simply like doing it. The more intrinsic motivation you have, the more likely you are to persist. The more you persist, the more likely you are to succeed."
Great point. I like to say that passion produces perseverance. Without an emotional connection to an activity, we won't be able to stick with it long enough to succeed.
Dan does a great job of making this topic interesting and accessible, especially to a younger audience. This book would make a great graduation gift for high school and college students, as well as anyone else that wants to make a career change. If you've got an hour and you need some inspiration, and some entertainment, this book is a great choice.
Last year you voted for The Freak Factor manifesto at ChangeThis and it was published today. Thank you!
The full book isn't available yet, but this essay is the next best thing. It is a 20-page (4,000-word) overview of the upcoming book. You can download it here.
I'd love to hear your comments after you've read it. Feel free to save it, copy it and/or forward it to your friends, family and co-workers. This is a great way to share the Freak Factor.
Heather just posted a great quote on her Leadhership blog.
"I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is to try to please everybody." - Herbert B. Swope
If you are looking for a sure thing, this is it. We will fail if we believe that we can please everyone by becoming perfect, by fixing all of our weaknesses. We will fail if we imagine that it is possible that everyone will like us, respect us and appreciate us.
Everyone doesn't like Starbucks or McDonald's or Apple or Walmart. It's true that a lot of people do, but not everyone does. We can't make everyone happy. It is futile to try.
However, we don't have to stop there. If Swopes is right, then the formula for success is fairly straightforward. Don't try to please everyone. Choose a small group of people and find ways to please them.
Kevin Kelly, over at The Technium blog, argues that all you need to be successful is 1,000 True Fans. That isn't even close to everyone. In fact, it's almost no one. It is less than .01% of the population of the United States. Some people have that many friends on Facebook.
I'll take it one step further. If Kelly and Swope are right that we just need to please a few people, then this means we can succeed even if the vast majority of people don't like us. We can be successful even if almost everyone dislikes us.
The Heath Brothers make this point very clearly in their Polarize Me article. They suggest that "if you want people to like you, first decide who needs to hate you." Don't just choose who to please, choose who you will displease. Intentionally select a group or groups that you do not intend to help or satisfy. How many of us are ready to implement that suggestion?
To summarize, here is the formula for success:
For more on this you can check out my previous post on being All-Purpose.
Tom Peters is one of my favorite authors and he is also a freak, in the best sense of the word. He has a unique perspective and he is passionate, obsessive, even a little crazy.
I recommend that you read anything that he has written. You can't go wrong. However, if you're hesitant to spend your own money, you can get a peek at Peters for free. He has written a great two-part manifesto called 100 Ways to Help you Succeed/Make Money.
While reading his suggestions, I noticed that many of them supported the Freak Factor. For example, #49 is FREAKS RULE!
So, over the next few weeks, I'll be doing a series that focuses on his 100 Ways. I'm also doing a similar series on The Four Factors of Effective Leadership blog.
Here is #37:
TO LIVE IS THE RAREST THING IN THE WORLD
"Nobody can prevent you from choosing to be exceptional." - Mark Sanborn, The Fred Factor
Call this Success Tip #37, and NYResolution #1.
Okay?
(Hinkt: I have tried using this as a Right Breathing Mantra: NOBODY CAN PREVENT ME FROM BEING EXCEPTIONAL. It works wonderfully.*) (*And is still worth repeating at age 62.)
After completing my first ultramarathon, a 40-mile trail race, my brother-in-law Brian told me "You are crazy . . . and awesome." That is still one of my favorite compliments.
Recently, he found a great ultramarathon article titled Are these runners ultra-tough . . . or ultra-crazy? I think the answer is both. They are tough and crazy . . . and awesome.
One of the quotes that stuck out to me was from Yiannis Kouros, a Greek ultramarathon runner and the current record-holder for every distance from 100 to 1000 miles. He doesn't think ultra running is for everyone.
"Ultra running is a metaphysical event. If you don't have that kind of idiosyncrasy, you will never become an ultra runner, even if you train all your life. I am one of those people who recommend and try to inspire people to get involved with running. But ultra is not a fun-running sport - it's only for unique souls."
This is a great lesson and it true for more than just ultramarathon runners. Certain activities are designed for certain people and exclude other people. I think a fulfilling life involves discovering meaningful pursuits that match the uniqueness and the idiosyncrasy of our souls.
"Education is emancipation from herd opinion." - Everett Dean Martin
As a college professor, I am interested in the purpose and value of education. This quote was included in a recent paper by one of my colleagues, Paul Cwik, and I thought it fit nicely with my own perspective and the primary theme of this blog.
To build on the classic idea that "knowledge is power," education can give us the power to think for ourselves, to be creative, to be individuals, to be freaks. Unfortunately, the aim of many supposed educators and educational institutions is to get people to conform, to be obedient, to be normal, to be mediocre.
As teachers, parents and leaders, we would all do well to remember that "education is emancipation from the herd," not indoctrination into the herd.
As a recent transplant to the South, I am enjoying the many new types of foliage. After four years, I am still amazed to see flowers bloom on bushes in early January.
One very popular southern tree is the Crepe Myrtle. It caught my attention because of the way it is pruned. In the winter, you can see rows and rows of trees that have been cut back severely, with only the largest branches remaining. This annual pruning maintains the health and appearance of the tree.
I think it is the same for our lives. In our efforts to be well-rounded and multi-faceted, we often develop branches that are unproductive. Unfortunately, we don't prune them and they end up sapping our strength.
I want to encourage you to take a look at the branches in your life and then answer the following questions:
We all have a limited amount of time, energy and resources. Seasonal pruning allows us to avoid wasting those precious resources and, instead, focus on the areas with the most potential.
Obsession is a word that has gotten a bad reputation. We use it most often in a negative way. The most notable example is the psychological diagnosis of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, which is so well known that most people just use the acronym OCD.
However, just as with the term freak, I think obsession can be a very positive thing. As I have mentioned before in my CandyFreak post, some very successful people are obsessed with what they do.
Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, just posted 12 rules for start-up businesses on his blog. Here are the first two rules.
1. Don't start a company unless its an obsession and something you love.
2. If you have an exit strategy, its not an obsession.
What are you obsessed with? Make a list.
Instead of trying to get over it, how could you get into it?
How can you turn your obsession into a business or a career?
Based on the popularity of the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Network, it seems that Americans love to do it themselves. Every weekend people overcome the temptation to hire qualified and experienced tradespeople to complete plumbing, electrical and carpentry projects, choosing instead to do it themselves.
It is an understandable impulse. It costs a lot to pay someone else to do the work. It is much cheaper to just do it yourself. Or so it seems.
I'm going to start a new cable channel called the Don't Do It Yourself (DDIY) Network. I believe that it only seems cheaper to do it ourselves because we don't really calculate the cost. We calculate the cost of the materials but not the cost of our time. We also fail to count the cost of the opportunities that we miss while we are studying the subtleties of begonia fertilizer.
Is it really cheaper to do it yourself if you include your hourly rate in the cost? Although you might earn less per hour than the plumber, it will surely take you longer to complete the same task. It will also require you to buy tools or equipment that you will probably never use again.
Consider lawn care. How much does it really cost to mow your own lawn? You have to take into consideration the cost of the mower, weed-eater, edger, spreader, blower, gas, oil, repairs, etc. If you have a riding mower, the initial investment is huge. What if you would have invested that money into a good mutual fund? The earning alone might have been enough to pay someone to cut your grass.
Additionally, a competent plumber or carpenter can probably do it better than the weekend amateur. What will it cost if you do it wrong?
I think it is even more important to think about what you could be doing instead of doing-it-yourself. Instead of learning a little bit about something that you'll never do again, could you be increasing your expertise in a more relevant arena? How much more could you make if you got more education or earned additional certifications? How much more effective could you be if you read a good book about your industry or profession? What is the long-term financial cost of missing out on those opportunities, while you are learning to install replacement windows?
Instead of making friends with the clerk at the hardware store, could you be building relationship with your children or spouse? What are those relationships worth? What will it cost in the future if you don't build and maintain those relationships now?
Which is worth more, your time or your money?
Think about it. We already outsource many life activities because we recognize that it isn't worth our time to complete them or because they can be done better by someone else.
These may seem like obvious examples but they illustrate the wisdom of this approach. We just haven't taken it far enough. We have many more opportunities to stop doing it ourselves that we take advantage of.
Now, add up how much time you would save each week if you stopped doing these activities. Then, start a new list. What could you do instead? How could you invest your time and energy so that it will pay off over the long-term? Here are some ideas.
I have to admit, I am a recovering Do-It-Yourselfer. I used to do everything by myself until I realized what it was actually costing me. Now, I am trying to eliminate every conceivable activity. Laundry seems to take a long time but taking all the clothes to the cleaners seems extreme. Unloading and loading the dishwasher is a constant hassle but I can't figure out the logistics of gettng someone else to do it. Any suggestions?
If you think I'm wrong, or if you think I'm right, check out these great articles to find out just how far the DDIY revolution can take you.
Stosh has a great post about goal setting, parenting and the freak factor. Here is the punchline:
"What is important here is that real goals are not assigned, they are chosen. My son helps people, and therefore sometimes fails to mind his own business, because he wants to. No measure of intervention will change that. It is my job as his father, and our job as leaders, to assist people to be more of who they are, not less. <
