Conformists Don't Make A Difference

Last night in my local area, PBS hosted the first Library of Congress Gershwin Award, which was presented to Paul Simon. Watching the musical guests honor Simon by singing his songs gifted me with two Ah-Ha moments:

1. Simon wasn't being honored for his singing, his hits, or his record sales. He was being honored as a song writer.
2. He received the honor not because he wrote hits but because his lyrics and his crossing of uncharted waters made us think. His music made a difference.

Conformists, in any industry, don't make a difference. (See how I define my terms below for this discussion.) They may entertain us, they might make us feel good, and they might get promoted for getting along and nodding their heads in agreement with their industry's executives. But they won't prevent subprime loans from smashing the banking and housing industries to bits. They won't prevent Starbucks from forgetting what made it a great third place experience. They won't prepare for energy crisis by developing innovative technologies before they are needed. And they won't stop leaders from making bad decisions.

These past two weeks, I've written about the importance of aligned business cultures. My point being that it is more important to hire for values than it is to hire for skills. But if those values call for non-risk-takers, non-creatives, and non-visionaries, en lieu of intelligent and perceptive employees willing to speak up when they see bad decisions being made, it won't matter. The culture will achieve only mediocrity. Sales might achieve revenue goals, but we will remain mediocre as a business force and few will remember our legacies, because they won't be worth remembering.

These businesses won't put people first; they won't make the world a better place to live and work; they won't be difference makers; they won't be innovators; they won't lead the way; and their visions won't build solutions for the future nor for today's needs. They, instead, will meet yesterday's wants and needs because that is a safe decision. Great companies will do both by providing for consumer's wants and needs, even though they are short-lived, but also by slowly weaning themselves away from those products and services so they can innovate for the future, which starts today.

They will be safe places to work and those who keep their mouths shut, do good work and never rock the boat, will replace today's leaders with the clones of tomorrow. They will look like today's banks, today's auto manufacturers, today's oil companies, today's elected officials and today's pop artists. These people will never become a Paul Simon, a Steve Jobs, a Bill Gates, a Thomas Jefferson or a Thomas Edison.

So I challenge you. What are your goals? Are they to get promoted first and foremost and make lots of money? Are would you rather make a difference? In most instances, I argue you cannot do both unless you are willing to jump over the rainbow to see what's on the other side instead of spending your life looking for the pot of gold at the bottom of the rainbow.

“Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
What’s that you say Mrs. Robinson?
Joltin’ Joe has left and gone away.”

Thanks, Paul, for your non-conformity and for seeing the world as it is, not as one who sees it the way our leaders ask us to.

Author's Note:

By conformist, I simply mean one who feels bound by rules, whether or not they make any sense or add to the Mission Statement. These are generally people who always follow the rules,  They almost always comply and conform to the customers, rules and styles of a group. Conformists are the backbone of a society and make the best  lawyers, technologists, and doctors. In corporations, they make the best COOs and CFOs and EVPs overseeing departments such as HR, Legal and Supply Chain Operations, and they usually make up the manager and director ranks. Conformists are not less intelligent nor productive than nonconformists but they often see things in black and white.

By nonconformist, I mean people who question rules that they believe are harmful to the Mission Statement. They do not follow group thinking, unless it makes sense. In politics they are Libertarians. In the business world, they most often are entrepreneurs, consultants and the most respected thinkers, sometimes called Thought Leaders. In the corporate world, they make the best Presidents, CEOs and EVPs over departments such as Marketing, Communications and Retail. Nonconformists are not anarchists but they seldom see black and white; their favorite color is gray.