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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.
It took me a while to understand Twitter and it took me a little longer to figure out why I should use it and how to use it productively.
I read a lot of books, mostly by listening to the audio version while driving and running. I also love to listen to an eclectic mix of music.
If you want to keep up with what I'm reading or listening to, you can now follow me on Twitter.
If you are on Twitter, let me know and I'll become one of your followers as well.
I recently offered a free copy of Seth Godin's new book, Tribes, and got a great response.
Today I've got more free stuff and one very inexpensive item.
Seth just released a free e-book with examples of Tribes from all over the world including:
surfers
Prius owners
Yellow Tail wine drinkers
expectant mothers
The book is a compilation of articles from hundreds of people in Seth's tribe and one of the essays, Packing Them In, about the Green Bay Packers, is mine. You can find it on pages 156-7.
Here are three of the lessons we can learn from the Packers tribe.
As a consolation prize, if you don't win, you can download the Tribes audiobook from ITunes for just $.99
Don't miss out on free stuff in the future, get new Freak Factor posts sent directly to you via email by subscribing here. It is also free and only takes three seconds.
* Please include your mailing address in the email
In this blog I talk a lot about how successful people ruthlessly eliminate tasks that don't fit with their strengths. In my strategy classes I talk a lot about the importance of alignment between a company's vision, values and actions. I argue that what we choose to do is just as important as what we choose not to do. I tell everyone that sometimes, in trying to please one individual or group, we'll end up offending another individual or group.
I stand by those statements. However, I recognize that sometimes this is easier said than done.
I've been doing speaking and training for almost ten years. In that time, I've never encountered a situation where I felt uncomfortable with an organization's mission. I've never had to say no. I've never felt the need to.
That changed today. We were to the scheduling phase when I decided to review the company's website. I didn't like what I found. I don't support what they do. In fact, I'm opposed to it. Their values clash with my values.
The easy choice would be to do the talk, collect the fee and rationalize that I'm just doing a presentation, that I'm not necessarily supporting their mission.
The difficult choice would be to say no, to acknowledge that this presentation is not in alignment with my mission and values, that this isn't for me.
It wasn't easy to say no and it wasn't comfortable. I still have a bad feeling in my stomach. But I think this was the right choice. I chose to do what I thought was right. In doing so, I also chose to make some people unhappy.
Saying yes to anything means saying no to something else. What will you say no to? Who will you say no to?
If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I'm listening to Your Child's Strengths by Jenifer Fox. There's a lot of great stuff in the book and I'll be writing more in future posts but I had to share this quote right away.
One of the three main points of the Freak Factor is that it is good to be different. This may seem obvious but it goes against much of what we are taught in our families, schools and workplaces.
I get a lot of feedback at my seminars from parents whose children are different. They want to discover their children's strengths but everyone else is telling them that their child has problems.
Jenifer's goal in writing this book is to help parents, teachers and administrators to see that different is not the same as disabled or bad or wrong or unsuccessful. In fact, it could be good to be different.
In discussing learning disabilities, Fox writes, "perhaps there is not something wrong with people who process differently. Maybe it is not a weakness at all. Maybe it is a clue to what might be fertile ground for the sprouting of a great strength." She goes on to support her argument by explaining that many children with learning disabilities are also labeled as "gifted and talented."
This is good stuff. If you are looking for ways to discover and develop your child's strengths, I hope you'll read Jenifer's book.
If reading an entire book is not one of your strengths, you can also visit Jenifer's blog, which is devoted to The Strengths Movement in Schools.
I think that one way to be successful is to do the opposite of what most people do.
If you don't believe me, just ask Warren Buffet. He is one of the wealthiest people in the world and maybe the wisest business person in the US. Here is how he said it in a recent New York Times article.
"Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful."
What are some ways that you could start doing the opposite of what everyone else is doing?
You can read the rest of Buffet's comments here.
Thanks to Dan Pink for sharing this quote on his blog.
I just wrote an article for Andrew Galasetti over at Lyved.com
Andrew has a great story. He started Lyved at age 19. He also has some excellent goals. We could all learn a lot about effective goal setting from his example.
Freaking Out: 5 Career Success Myths is currently featured on the Lyved home page. Here is an excerpt.
When I ask my students to list their weaknesses, the most popular is procrastination. In fact, in most classes, every student admits to having a problem in this area. Books, articles, seminars and blog posts on overcoming procrastination are universally popular. Unfortunately, they don’t work. People keep procrastinating. They can’t help it. Why is it such a problem? I don’t think it is. “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can put off until the day after tomorrow and end up just as well.” - Mark Twain What do you procrastinate? If you are like most people, and I’m not recommending that (see #2), then you procrastinate activities that you don’t enjoy and that you don’t do well. You wait to do them until it is absolutely necessary because you’d rather be doing something else. You’d rather be doing something that you do enjoy and that you are good at. Procrastination is good. It is a sign that we have wandered away from our strengths, that we have strayed from those activities where we can have tremendous success. Instead of procrastinating less, we should actually procrastinate more. We should simply stop doing the activities that we usually procrastinate. If this sounds unreasonable, read Jim Collins’ bestselling book, Good to Great. He explains that successful people and great organizations have a “stop-doing” list. They deliberately eliminate activities that they don’t do well or that don’t fit with their mission. Management guru, Peter Drucker, referred to this as “organized abandonment.” Additionally, Marcus Buckingham argues that the most important thing to know about personal success is, “if you don’t like it, stop doing it.”
What do you procrastinate?
What don’t you do well?
What don’t you like to do?
How can you begin eliminating these activities from your life and work?
Myth #3: I need to stop procrastinating
Fact #3: I need to start procrastinating more
You've got to go read this post on work/life balance from Craig the Careerguyd. I'm not going to give you too much here. You need to see the whole thing but here are a few morsels.
"Career consists of all of the facets of one’s life and is not limited to paid occupations."
"Whenever my life becomes more of what I feel I have to do and less of what I want to do, I try to reassess what I am doing and regain the balance that I have somehow relinquished."
"Are you doing what you want to do with your life? If not, are you taking risks and making sacrifices that will help you grow and develop in a way that will ultimately get you there? If your life is anything otherwise, it is time for you to challenge yourself. Take a risk. Be courageous. Persevere through adversity. Dream and take charge."
There's other good stuff in between. Visit Craig's blog and connect the dots.
"I see my disability as an ability." - Tatanya McFadden, US Paralympian
I found this quote on a McDonalds' cup a few months ago. Great stuff.
Matt Jones over at the think story experience blog has some excellent quotes on how to be freak.
"The problem with making sensible decisions is that so is everyone else."
"If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules."
- Paul Arden, author of It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be
I also like the title of Arden's other book, Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite. Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where George realizes that his life isn't working and decides to do the opposite of what he's always done.
I saw Seth Godin give a great presentation today on his new book, Tribes. He is definitely a freak, showing off his mismatched socks and sporting lime-green Buddy Holly glasses. If you didn't know him and you saw him on the street, you might laugh and dismiss him as a dork. But that would be a mistake.
He is one of the best speakers that I've seen. In particular, his slides were unique, funny, emotional and imaginative. He also offered some tremendous advice for aspiring freaks.
"Heretics are the new leaders. The ones who challenge the status quo, who get out in front of their tribes, who create movements. The marketplace now rewards (and embraces) the heretics. It's clearly more fun to create the rules than to follow them, and for the first time, it's also profitable, powerful and productive to do just that. . . Suddenly, heretics, troublemakers, and change agents aren't merely thorns in our side - they are they keys to our success."
OK. So, what about the free book?
As I explained in a recent post, Seth sent me a free copy of Tribes and asked me to give the one that I'd purchased to someone else. Today, he also gave a free copy of his book to everyone at the conference and I want to share one with you, to thank you for reading my blog.
So, the first person to send an email (with their mailing address) to dave@drendall.com will receive a free copy of Tribes.
Update: Congratulations to Jennifer. She's the winner of the Tribes book. Thank you to everyone who sent messages. Keep checking for other offers in the future.
I was fortunate to see live presentations by Seth Godin and Jim Collins at the Catalyst Conference today.
Collins provided an inspiring overview of his classic book, Good to Great. One of his primary points of emphasis was to create a stop-doing list. Good people and good companies have to-do lists, but the best also have lists of what they will stop-doing. Good activities distract us from what is best. We need to systematically eliminate these things from our lives.
He made the very important point that the time we have is finite but the number of choices we have is infinite. Therefore, it is vital to choose precisely how to make the most of the limited time that we have.
You can listen to a short audio clip of implementation ideas on his website (it is the first option under the latest clips). Here is a summary:
1. Identify your priorities. What are you passionate about? What are you the best at? Where can you make a distinctive contribution?
2. Start an actual, physical list of things to stop doing.
3. Every time you add a new activity to your to-do list, select an activity to stop doing.
4. Rank each of your activities from most important to least important. Drop the bottom 20%.
5. Blank page test: If this wasn't already on your list, would you add it now? If not, drop it.
6. Don't devote financial, psychological or emotional resources to activities that don't pass the preceding tests.
In a recent post, Seth Godin made a very similar point. He offered some very specific suggestions for what you should stop doing and what you should do with the time instead. Here is an excerpt:
1. Delete 120 minutes a day of 'spare time' from your life. This can include TV, reading the newspaper, commuting, wasting time in social networks and meetings. Up to you.
2. Spend the 120 minutes doing this instead:
3. Spend at least one weekend day doing absolutely nothing but being with people you love.
4. Only spend money, for one year, on things you absolutely need to get by. Save the rest, relentlessly.
"If you somehow pulled this off, then six months from now, you would be the fittest, best rested, most intelligent, best funded and motivated person in your office or your field. You would know how to do things other people don't, you'd have a wider network and you'd be more focused."
Two very successful and influential people. Two very similar messages. One very simple suggestion.
Do more by doing less. Do more important stuff by eliminating less important stuff. Make tough decisions. What we don't do is just as important as what we do.
I've tried this before and it works. Here are some things on my stop-doing list.
1. Stop watching TV.
2. Stop accepting fantasy football and NCAA tournament bracket invitations.
3. Stop checking my Amazon.com sales rankings so often. It's an addiction.
4. Stop serving on boards that I'm not passionate about.
5. Stop socializing with negative people who constantly complain.
What should be on your list? Will you start one? If you do, post a comment with excerpts from your list.
One last dilemma from Collins, should you add "create a stop-doing list" to your to-do list?
People think I'm disciplined. It's not discipline, it is devotion. There is a great difference. - Pavarotti
Devotion is a great substitute for discipline.
Discipline is scarce. Devotion is abundant.
Discipline is painful. Devotion is enjoyable.
Both act as fuel for our activities.
We can choose which one we will use.
It takes tremendous discipline to fix our weaknesses but devotion provides the energy for building on our strengths.
As the entire world begins to search for alternative fuels to power our vehicles, maybe it is time to consider an alternative fuel for powering our lives.
Robert Merrill over at Be Useful just posted some great stuff. He took me up on my challenge to define who he isn't and what he doesn't stand for.
He's got some great stuff and you should check it out. Here are some samples.
"If you can't fix it, feature it." - Gerald Weinberg, Secrets of Consulting
Robert isn't competitive or assertive. He doesn't like telling people what to do, he doesn't make a great first impression and he doesn't handle stress well.
But, like any good freak, his weaknesses are clues to his strengths. For example, because he doesn't make a good first impression, he is "persistent in relationships and doesn't jump to conclusions." Those sounds like strong qualities.
His post closes with these lines, addressed to potential consulting clients.
"If you invite me into the executive circle of your software-intensive business, you will probably find that I am different from most of you. That’s precisely why I will be useful."
I admire Robert for having the awareness to identify who he isn't and what he doesn't stand for. I admire him even more for the courage it took to share his apparent flaws with everyone, including potential customers.
He is different and that is precisely why he will be useful. Your differences are also what make you useful. If you can't fix it, feature it.
I use an illustration about airplane oxygen masks in my leadership book. Recently, Ella James heard me share the illustration and then presented it to a ladies group. After the talk, a participant informed her that it wasn't my idea. A similar analogy appeared on Oprah eight years ago.
This was not surprising. Marcus Buckingham and Randy Pausch have used the same idea since my book was published. I guess great minds think alike.
However, it is bittersweet to discover that an idea is not completely original, even if you didn't get it from anyone.
I just finished reading Seth Godin's new book, Tribes*. A lot of his ideas about leadership are similar to mine. He also talks a lot about leaders being different. He calls them heretics. I call them freaks.
He also has a section on why you don't want to be like "most people." I've been working on a similar section for my book. Kind of cool. Kind of disappointing.
And then I checked Seth's blog. Today he has a riff that plays with old saying, "to a person with a hammer, everything looks like a nail." As usual, he turns this conventional wisdom on its head. Here's a sample.
But what if you've decided that in fact, a hammer is exactly the tool that will solve your problem? My advice: hire a guy who only uses a hammer. Odds are, he's pretty good at it.
Finally, proof that someone's getting useful ideas from my blog. OK, probably not. But I do have proof that I posted a message with a similar theme, Get Hammered, back in May.
As Seth explains in his new book, great leaders don't care who gets the credit, as long as the idea spreads and the movement expands. That is a tough lesson to accept when you are trying to build a business, but I think he's right.
Share good ideas. Give them away. Don't hog the credit. Give it away.
Oprah, Marcus and Seth are all doing much better at spreading their ideas. . . for now. But maybe I'm on the right track. That's the way that I'm going to think about it.
* By the way, after ordering Tribes from Amazon.com, I was surprised to get a free pre-release copy from Seth. He wants me to give the other one away. He wants me to share his ideas. He's practicing what he preaches.
Sharing ideas. Creating a movement. Letting profits take care of themselves.
At a time when so many leaders and celebrities are demonstrating such an extreme lack of integrity, I can't help but be impressed.
As a professor, I teach strategy to college and graduate students. One thing that I notice about a lot of company strategies is that they are generic, bland, ambiguous, vague, uninteresting, undifferentiated and monotonous.
The biggest mistake seems to be that they don't want to offend anyone. They don't want to exclude any potential customers. They don't want to miss out on a sale. So, they try to become the ultimate company where everyone shops for everything all the time. This never works. Even the biggest (Walmart, Starbucks, McDonald's) don't appeal to everyone. In fact, many people actually hate these companies.
Seth Godin has a great post about this on his blog today and I've included an excerpt below.
It's frustrating to watch marketers, politicians and individuals fall into the obvious trap of trying to stand for something at the same time they try to please everyone or do everything.
You can't be the low-price, high-value, wide-selection, convenient, green, all-in-one corner market. Sorry.
You also can't be the high-ethics CEO who just this one time lets an accounting fraud slide. "Because it's urgent."
You can't be the big-government-fighting, low-taxes-for-everyone, high-services-for-everyone, safety-net, pro-science, faith-based, anti-deficit candidate either.
You can't be the work-smart, life-in-balance, available-at-all-hours, high-output, do-what-you're-told employee.
To really stand for something, you must make difficult decisions, mostly about what you don't do. We don't ship products like that, we don't stand for employees like that ("you're fired"), we don't fix problems like that.
It's so hard to stand up, to not compromise, to give up an account or lose a vote or not tell a journalist what they want to hear.
But those are the only moments where standing for something actually counts, the only times that people will actually come to believe that you in fact actually stand for something.
As I share the Freak Factor concept with audiences, most people are comfortable with the idea of building on their strengths. But everyone seems to really struggle with accepting their weaknesses, with not being well-rounded, with not being the perfect person, parent or employee. As Seth explains, success is dependent on our ability to make difficult decisions about what we aren't going to do and who we aren't going to be.
What don't you stand for? What don't you care about? What aren't you good at?
Admit it. Accept it. Appreciate it. Flaunt it.
Here's a helpful quote from my friend, Tom Morris.
It seems that the freak factor is an ancient idea.
"Learn what you are an be such."
- Pindar, The Odes (5th Century) translated by Richard Lattimore
Great post about work on Peter Shankman's blog. Here's an excerpt.
"Look, I talk all the time about how I have ADHD, how I use it to my advantage, blah, blah, blah, but let’s seriously consider this for a second: What does that actually mean?
I don’t do well in offices, I don’t do well in a structured environment, I sure as hell don’t do well in a cubicle, and the last time I had a “job” with a “boss,” I quit within three months of starting. I’m very fortunate to have realized it as early as I did, because what it tells me is that I’m simply not designed for working the way you work, but I’ve been smart enough to learn from it, and adapt my lifestyle to not only meet my needs, but exceed them, all while having fun."
Amen! Peter is a freak. He knows what he does well and what he doesn't do well. Most importantly, he knows where he fits and where he doesn't fit. Instead of trying to force himself into situations that don't match his unique style, he has created a distinctive way of working that is suited to him.
He is flaunting his weaknesses and having tremendous success . . . another freak factor role model.
Alex Bogusky and his ad agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, are the creators of some of the most well-known and successful advertising campaigns of the last few years. His successes include the resurrection of Burger King and the introduction of the Mini to America. Here are some great freak factor quotes from a recent profile in Fast Company.
"His control-freak tendencies are widely known - and desired - by clients." Maybe I should add creative director to the list of jobs for control freaks.
"Instead of hiding qualities that may seem negative - such as Mini's tiny proportions or Burger King's fat content - Crispin exploits them. 'It's part of your job as a marketer to find the truths in a company, and you let them shine through in whatever weird way it might be.' Naturally, that risks pissing someone off."
The freak factor works with both people and organizations. Apparent weaknesses are strengths. This truth applies in a wide variety of setttings. If companies can increase their success by exploiting their weaknesses and letting their weirdness shine through, imagine what would happen if you did the same. It might piss some people off, but it will cause others to love you even more.
One last warning from Bogusky . . . when you start maximizing your freak factor, you're going to run into resistance. He says it this way, "life conspires to beat the rebel out of you."
I agree. Life conspires to beat the freak out of you. Don't sit back and let it happen. Mediocrity is not inevitable. Fight back! Freak out!
I recently explored the tradeoffs between power and freedom. Let's continue that discussion as it relates to time and money. We can either ignore tradeoffs and fail to recognize the consequences or we can recognize them and choose the tradeoffs that we are most comfortable with.
In my DDIY Network post earlier this year, I argued that doing it yourself (plumbing, carpentry, landscaping, repairs, etc.) is often a poor decision. It seems to be cheaper but actually costs far more of a much more valuable resource, your time.
Daniel Hamermesh, at the Freakonomics blog, explores the time vs. money decision as it relates to his laundry. I think you'll enjoy his article titled, "I'm not cheap enough for a six-hour laundry session."
He points out the tendency for us to value our money too highly and fail to place the proper value on our time. I agree. It is a difficult habit to overcome but you'll see new options everywhere once you start looking.
From a freak factor perspective, I'd encourage you to start by outsourcing the tasks that you dislike the most. They probably aren't a good fit for you and they cost you time, energy and stress.
Once you pay to save yourself some time, invest the time in an activity that you are good at and that you enjoy. You'll be rewarded with additional energy, fulfillment and confidence, which will lead to more money in the future, either directly or indirectly.
Jessica Stillman, my new favorite blogger, points us to Bob Sutton's recent post about the tradeoff between power and freedom. Sutton, in turn, is discussing Jeffrey Pfeffer's new book on the subject of managerial power, which has yet to be published. As usual, Stillman pulls out the key quote.
Pfeffer's argument is that "you can have influence or you can have freedom, but you can’t have both."
I think this is true. I choose to work for myself and by myself because I don't enjoy the requirements of organizational power and influence. It isn't a good fit for me because I value my freedom too highly.
As we all learned from watching Spiderman, either the old-school cartoons or the new movies, with great power comes great responsibility. It would follow then that giving up power might also reduce your responsibilities and give you more freedom. I believe that it does.
So, which do you prefer, power or freedom? You can't have both. Which is the right fit for you?
Yesterday I wrote about why it was good to be a control freak. Then I found another great blog post at Business Pundit offering ten great jobs for control freaks. The primary arguments of the freak factor are that there is nothing wrong with you and that apparent weaknesses can actually be strengths when you find the right fit. I tried to illustrate this by finding jobs for the lame team members in the FedEx Kinko's commercial.
So, if you are a control freak, don't despair, just seek out one of these career opportunities.
This list reminds me of a great tip for finding the right fit. Just take the term that people use to criticize you and look for jobs that use the same term.
"Control" is a key element of controller and air traffic controller.
Are you too "critical?" Maybe you should be a critic.
Do you over-analyze things? Maybe you should be an analyst.
There are all sorts of freaks out there but we tend to hear a lot about control freaks. Cheryl Cran over at the Brazen Careerist blog thinks that it is good to be a control freak. She offers five reasons.
Cran ends with these words of encouragement. "If someone calls you a control freak, don’t freak out. Instead . . . stand proud!"
I couldn't have said it better myself.
I owe a hat tip to Jessica Stillman at BNET1 for synthesizing Cran's message. I'm about to blog about one of her other blog posts in a few minutes. Great stuff.
A recent Men's Health article discussed why wealthy people are often healthier than their financially challenged counterparts. It includes a number of suggestions for achieving health, even if you don't have the wealth.
#5. Find A Job That Fits
Marc Cullen, M.D., a professor of medicine at Yale University, explains that "the amount of stress you feel from your job has a lot to do with whether the job fits you -- that is, whether it matches your personality and style and other demands of your life. . . If you come home at the end of the day feeling angry, alientated, and exhausted, maybe you need more than a new job; you need a new line of work. 'The biggest problems are with a misfit.' If you're a misfit, fix it -- or you'll die trying."
Notice that he didn't say to change your personality or your style. He said to change your line of work. Find the right situation. Find a better fit.
What they say
What they know
What they think won't ever bring me down
This life is mine and I am my own
I'm trying to be somebody
I'm not trying to be somebody else
This life is mine I lead
Don't you know me?
- 3 Doors Down, Be Somebody
I seem to have a special gift for noticing similarities in people's appearances. My wife frequently disagrees but I persist in asking, "doesn't that person look just like . . . ?"
So, I'm starting a new feature on the blog to show off my skills and test them with people that I'm not married to. Let's start with an Olympics meets the Presidential Election edition.
I couldn't help it. I was watching Men's Beach Volleyball and Phil Dalhausser was looking a lot like James Carville. What do you think? Can you even tell me which one is which? OK, the one without the shirt kind of gives it away.
Update: It looks like I was right about this one. Sports Illustrated just published an article called Olympic Ringers and pointed out the similarity between these two and others. Unfortunately, the online version of the article didn't include pictures. Guess who looks like Captain Kangaroo.
This political website saw the possible genetic links between Dalhausser and Carville as well.
Let me ask you a question. What's your problem? I'm serious. What do you wish you could change about yourself? What is the complaint that you hear the most from those closest to you, your friends, co-workers, and family members? Are you too loud or too quiet, too hyperactive or too sedentary, too organized or too messy? You get the idea.
So, what should you do? Most people think that they should find and fix their weaknesses. Unfortunately, this just leads to frustration and failure. Your weaknesses are actually the best clue to your strengths. Furthermore, building your strengths, not fixing your weaknesses, is your best strategy for success.
This seminar is designed to encourage you to become more of who you are, not to turn you into someone else. It's about becoming more different and more unique, not more average and more mediocre. You will learn how to:
You can watch a free preview of the new Freak Factor seminar here.
Get 25% off the CD or DVD at Createspace with coupon code UUHEHPLU
If you'd like, you can also pay full price for the CD or DVD at Amazon.com
For easy reference, links to all my resources are on the left side of my blog.
"To be yourself is all that you can do." - Audioslave, Be Yourself
More from Keith Ferrazzi
"Know yourself and your talents. I had no chance competing with the science geeks at ICI. In developing an expertise that highlighted my strengths, I was able to overcome my weaknesses. The trick is not to work obsessively on the skills and talents you lack but to focus and cultivate your strengths so that your weaknesses matter less."
From Keith Ferrazzi in his book Never Eat Alone
"Be distinct or be extinct."
"The best brands, like the most interesting people, have a distinct message."
"The notion that everyone can be everything to everybody at all time is completely off the mark. . . When it comes to making an impression, differentiation is the name of the game. Confound expectation. Shake it up. How? There's one guaranteed way to stand out in the professional world. Be yourself."
Yesterday, I posted a quote from Laurence Peter, creator of the Peter Principle, which states that "every employee tends to rise to their level of incompetence." In other words, we move up in organizations until we find ourselves unable to do the work that is required.
I think this is true and that there is a simple explanation. People who are successful get promoted. Unfortunately, the positions that they are promoted into often require different strengths than those they possess. As they move up, they gradually move farther away from the situations that made them successful, the situations that fit their unique characteristics.
The best example is the salesperson who becomes the sales manager. The strengths, and corresponding weaknesses, of a great salesperson aren't necessarily suited to effective management.
What is the lesson? We need to be more concerned about finding the right fit than about moving up. Moving up usually means moving out of our sweet spot and might actually undermine our long-term success.
I just ran across this quote from Laurence J. Peter.
"Every man serves a useful purpose: A miser, for example, makes a wonderful ancestor."
What a great reminder that even seemingly negative traits can have positive effects!
Everyone has value.
That is one of the main premises of the freak factor. We need to recognize that value and find ways exploit that value to our life and work.
So, next time your spouse, coworkers or friends complain that you are stingy, cheap and a miser, just tell them that you will make a wonderful ancestor.
I grew up in Wisconsin, but my dad liked to listen to Chicago area radio stations. One of the most interesting advertisements was for Irv's Men's Store. Their tagline was "inconveniently located."
Every ad ended with that line declaring that it would be hassle to get to their store. They didn't try to hide that weakness, they flaunted it.
And it worked.
It worked because their strengths (selection, service and price) were so powerful that their weakness (bad location) was irrelevant.
It worked because it was honest and people like companies that are authentic.
It worked because it was memorable. Few other companies will admit, much less brag about, their weaknesses.
And it still works.
I know that it still works because my friend Stosh called me the other day to tell me that he heard their ad. Thirty years later they are still successful. They haven't moved. They haven't fixed their apparent weakness. They still use the same tagline, "inconveniently located."
If Irv's can do it, you can to. Stop trying to hide what is wrong with you. Admit it. Brag about it. Flaunt it. Make it your slogan. Maybe you could even put it on a t-shirt.
From an advertisement for Fleet Feet Sports, a running apparel retail chain.
"MARTA IS SLOW. She used to be a barista. A really slow barista. She wanted the coffee to be really good, her boss wanted it to be really fast. He fired her. We hired her. Now she takes her time finding the right shoes for our customers. They don't mind the wait. You can't hurry fit."
Marta had an apparent weakness. She was slow. But her slowness wasn't a weakness. It was just a bad fit for her situation. It wasn't the right fit for a job as a barista.
She didn't need to get faster. She didn't need to hurry up. She needed to get out. She needed to find a job that valued her unique style, one that valued patience and attention to detail.
She found that job at Fleet Feet Sports. They don't want her to change. They don't want her to fix her weakness. In fact, they don't see it as a weakness at all. They see it as an essential qualification for the job.
If you are struggling in your current job, if you are on the verge of being fired, you might need to change your job instead of trying to change yourself.
If you are fast (impatient, hurried, anxious, frenzied), find a job that values speed.
If you are slow (lazy, unmotivated, particular, perfectionistic, detail-oriented, analytical), find a job that values accuracy, quality and/or patience.
You'll be happier. Your former employer will be happier. Your new employer will be happier. What could be better?
Oscar Pistorius is fast. And because he is one of the fastest men in the world for 400 meters, he wanted to go to the Olympics. Unfortunately, the IAAF wasn't going to let him. They thought he had an unfair advantage.
Was he taking steroids or human growth hormone? No. Was he doping his blood? No.
His unfair advantage is that he is a double-amputee. He was born without a fibula in either of his legs. As a child, both of his legs were amputated below the knee.
His prosthetic legs, called cheetahs, are custom-designed carbon fiber blades. These artificial legs are the supposed source of his unfair advantage and the source of the controversy surrounding his efforts to make the South African Olympic team.
Ross Tucker, PH.D. offered this assessment in the April 2008 edition of Runner's World. "While it's impossible to determine exactly how much time the physiological differences save Pistorius in a 400-meter race, it's clear we're talking about seconds rather than milliseconds."
In other words, Pistorius is actually faster without normal legs than he would be with them. His disability gives him a super-ability. His apparent weakness is a strength.
Specifically, his artificial legs give him the following advantages over normal runners:
You can't make this stuff up. Scientists are arguing that his artificial legs are better than legs! If there is a better example of the freak factor, I haven't found it. I doubt that any runner is going to trade in their normal legs for some artificial cheetahs, but, given what some athletes will do to get an advantage, I bet a few of them have thought about it.
By the way, it has been a rollercoaster ride for Pistorius. After the IAAF ruled that he could not compete in the Olympics, their decision was overruled by the Court of Arbitration. Unfortunately, Pistorius then failed to qualify for the Olympic team by less than one second. He will try again in 2012. Meanwhile, he plans to dominate the Paralympic Games. Maybe they'll ban him for not being disabled enough. I hope not.
Even though I knew it was coming, I was saddened to learn that Randy Pausch passed away last week. The Carnegie Mellon professor, husband, and father of three young children died of pancreatic cancer on July 25. The video of his Last Lecture has been viewed more than five million times on YouTube and The Last Lecture book is currently #1 on Amazon.com.
I read the book earlier this summer and was inspired and deeply moved by his story. I also discovered that Pausch was a self-described freak, nerd, know-it-all, and inflexible contrarian who was also quirky, wonky, arrogant and tactless. These unique characteristics, which some might see as weaknesses, are the primary reasons that he was recently named one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time magazine.
Here are some great Freak Factor quotes from the book.
"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."
"I was trying to put myself in a bottle that would one day wash up on the beach for my children. If I were a painter. I would have painted for them. If I were a musician, I would have composed music. But I am a lecturer. So I lectured."
"'What makes me unique?' That was the question I felt compelled to address."
"I asked myself: 'What do I, alone, truly have to offer?'"
"I had just learned that I would soon die, and in my inability to stop being rationally focused, I found myself thinking: 'Shouldn't a room like this, at a time like this, have a box of Kleenex? Wow, that's just a glaring operational flaw.'"
"Anyone who knows me will tell you that I've always had a healthy sense of my abilities. I tend to say what I'm thinking and what I believe. I don't have much patience for incompetence. These are traits that have served me well. But there are times, believe it or not, when I've come across as arrogant and tactless."
"My good friend Scott Sherman . . . recalls me as 'having a total lack of tact, and being acclaimed as the person quickest to offend someone he had just met.'"
"Like many people, I had strengths that were also flaws."
"Though Jai wasn't thrilled with my bluntness and my know-it-all attitude, she said I was the most positive, upbeat person she'd ever met."
After his wife, Jai, accidentally crashed one of their cars into the other, Pausch didn't get upset. This surprised Jai, who was afraid of his reaction. She was even more surprised when he explained that he wasn't even going to get the cars fixed, since it was just body damage. "Jai was a bit shocked. 'We're really going to drive around in dented cars?' she asked. 'Well, you can't have just some of me, Jai,' I told her. 'You appreciate the part of me that didn't get angry because two things we own got hurt. But the flip side of that is my belief that you don't repair things if they still do what they are supposed to do. The cars still work. Let's just drive 'em.' OK, maybe this makes me quirky. . . Not everything needs to be fixed."
"Scientists like me probably aren't always easy to live with. . . I'm a spreader. My clothes, clean and dirty, are spread around the bedroom, and my bathroom sink is cluttered. It drives Jai crazy. Before I got sick, she'd say something. But Dr. Reiss has advised her not to let small things trip us up."
"This particular bunch of current students was still unsure what to make of me. I'd been my usual self - a tough teacher with high expectations and some quirky ways - and they weren't at the point where they appreciated that. I'm a bit of an acquired taste."
"I'm an efficiency freak."
"Don't obsess over what people think."
"Look for the best in everybody."
The theme of his book is achieving your childhood dreams. In the last few pages he cautions . . .
"It can be a very disruptive thing for parents to have specific dreams for their kids. As a professor, I've seen many unhappy college freshmen picking majors that are all wrong for them. Their parents have put them on a train, and too often, judging by the crying during my office hours, the result is a train wreck.
As I see it, a parent's job is to encourage kids to develop a joy for life and a great urge to follow their own dreams . . . So my dreams for my kids are very exact: I want them to find their own path to fulfillment."
Randy Pausch is gone. But his words, ideas and inspiration live on. I encourage you to consider the lessons that he shared and apply them to your life. We can all learn from Randy's example. As you increase your freak factor, your happiness and fulfillment will grow as well.
"To them you're a freak . . . like me." - The Joker to Batman in The Dark Knight
It seems that all superheroes are freaks. Their powers are both a blessing and a curse. If they want to live a normal life and have normal relationships, then they would have to relinquish their roles as heroes. Like all of us, their biggest strength is their biggest weakness and they can't deal with one without affecting the other. Being a superhero is a package deal. They have to take the good with the bad and so do we.
The theme of Spiderman, and to some extent the theme of all superhero stories, is that with great power comes great responsibility. The only way to reduce the burden of responsibility is to decrease or neglect the power.
They are connected, inextricably. I haven't seen Hancock yet, but it appears to be about a superhero who doesn't want the responsibility that comes with his power. My guess is that, in the end, he realizes that he can't avoid the burden that comes with his strength.
None of us are superheroes but all of us are freaks. As you watch this summer's movies, The Incredible Hulk, The Dark Knight, etc., it is easy to wish for super powers, for great strength, for unique talents, for fame. But remember that these figures aren't always happy, fulfilled and confident. There are two-sides to their special status.
Similarly, I want to challenge you to consider the two-sided nature of your life, your personality, your skills, your talents. What are the tensions that your unique strengths and weaknesses create? Instead of trying to escape this tension, how can you embrace it?
I'm a big Counting Crows fan. I've bought every one of their albums since the first one came out in college. (If you are interested, that should give you enough information to determine my approximate age).
Their newest release is Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings, which includes the song Insignificant. The chorus includes the following line:
"I don't want to be so different but I don't want to be insignificant."
One major premise of the freak factor is that it is good to be a freak, it is good to be different. Lead singer/songwriter Adam Duritz seems to capture that premise in reverse. He seems to be arguing that significance and difference are related and he fears that if he stops being different, he will stop being significant. I think this is a legitimate fear and acknowledges a real dilemma.
I also think too many of us are singing a different lyric. We're singing "I want to be significant but I don't want to be different." I don't think we really have a choice. I think they're connected. It seems that throughout history, significant figures have always been different, they've been freaks.
Are you ready to be a freak? Are you ready to be different? Are you ready to be significant?
Recently . . .
- Derek Jeter hit his 200th home run
- Alex Rodriguez hit his 500th home run
- Ken Griffey Jr. hit is 600th home run
- John Smoltz threw his 3,000th strike out
- The Freak Factor blog had its 10,000th visitor
Thank you for visiting.
I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.
I wish each of you the best as you freak out.
Tom Peters has a great post today about the value of people who do the last two-percent. The people who make sure it is just right, the people who take care of the seemingly minor details, the people who ensure that everything is perfect before a presentation is made or a project is submitted. (full disclosure: I am not one of these people).
In the last few lines he says "sometimes we call the last two-percenter a 'pain in the ass.' True, but no one is of greater importance to the success of what we do."
Are you a "two-percenter" or are you a "pain in the ass?" You're probably both and that is OK. In fact, Tom thinks it's great. The biggest strength of a two-percenter is also their biggest weakness. You don't get one without the other. Don't apologize. Embrace it. Flaunt it.
If you aren't a two-percenter, consider the possibility that the pain caused by two-percenters is a small price to pay for the value they deliver. If we want other people to accept our freak factor, we need to be willing to accept theirs as well.
From a commercial for the new Gong Show . . .
"One man's freak is another man's star."
Are you a freak or are you a star?
It might depend on the audience.
Who sees you as a freak? How can you spend less time with those people?
Who sees you as a star? How can you spend more time with those people?
A few months ago, in A Sure Thing, I wrote about the futility of trying to make everyone happy. Today, Seth Godin offers a great post that supports my argument.
He sums it up by saying "If you are willing to satisfy people with good enough, you can make just about everybody happy. If you delight people and create change that lasts, you're going to offend those that hate change in all its forms. Your choice."
Notice that he said "you can make just about everybody happy." Good enough doesn't make everyone happy and often it doesn't make the right people happy.
Success is about making the right people happy. It is about delighting the right people and being willing to make other people unhappy. You have to decide who the right people are, but the right people and most people are not always synonymous.
Someone will always be unhappy with what you do. The great thing is that you can often decide who will be happy and who will be unhappy.
What will you choose? Are you willing to offend some people? Or will you settle for good enough?
Do you have a drinking problem? Maybe it's a drinking opportunity.
Zane Lamprey's new television show, Three Sheets, follows him "around the world, one drink at a time."
Maybe you can turn your problem into a career, or fame, or both.
My planner includes a quote at the top of the page for each week. The quote for this week caught my attention. It is from Charles M. Schwab of Bethlehem Steel fame, not to be confused with Charles R. Schwab, the investment broker.
When I investigated the quote, I found another one that I liked.
"A man who trims himself to suit everybody will soon whittle himself away."
In other words, if you keep trying to eliminate the parts of you that others don't like, then after a while there won't be anything left.
"The first essential in a boy's career is to find out what he's fitted for, what he's most capable of doing and doing with a relish."
What are you fitted for? What are you most capable of doing? What do you enjoy doing?
You have two basic choices in life:
One choice leads to happiness, fulfillment and success, the other leads to sadness, frustration and failure. Which will you choose?
Meraki is trying to accomplish something that no other company or government agency has been able to do. They want to create wireless internet access for an entire city and do it better and cheaper than anyone else can. Their first goal is to prove the viability of their idea by creating a wireless "cloud" above San Francisco.
The core of their strategy is a small gadget, called a "repeater," that expands the wireless network from a primary DSL line. The repeaters are installed in and on peoples' houses, and, this is the important part, the company relies on volunteers to allow the repeaters on their property.
While evaluating Meraki's use of volunteers, Esme Vos, affirmed the primary premise of the freak factor. "Its (Meraki's) greatest strength is also its greatest weakness." In other words, the use of volunteers has a lot of advantages and corresponding disadvantages. However, paying people to host repeaters or buying sites would also create various advantages and corresponding disadvantages. This is why most other similar wi-fi projects have failed.
There is no perfect approach. You can't eliminate weaknesses. You have to accept the good with the bad. They're a package deal. It appears that Meraki will succeed because they have chosen the right package of good & bad, strength & weakness, for the situation they are facing.
My brother-in-law, Dan, loves Chipotle. He loves their burritos. He loves the experience. He loves the company. So, I was interested to read a recent Fast Company article, Ode to a Burrito, about the strategy that has led to Chipotle's dramatic success.
They have grown from 14 stores to more than 800 stores in just ten years and have seen a 500% increase in their stock price. "Chipotle has achieved these impressive stats by spurning fast-food orthodoxy." They are a freak in the fast-food industry. They use "naturally raised meat," make all the food by hand and have long lines. Their success has come, not in spite of these unorthodox decisions, but, because of them.
Additionally, this quote stuck out. "CEO Steve Ells staunchly refuses to expand his menu beyond four options (burrito, burrito bowl, taco, salad). 'We want to do just a few things better than everyone else.'"
This is great advice for any person or company. Do a few things. Do them well. Do them better than everyone else.
Don't try to do too much. Don't try to do everything.
What can you do better than everyone else? How you can focus more on these activities in your life and/or work?
What can't you do better than everyone else? How can you begin to eliminate these activities from your life and/or work?
"The White Collar Revolution will wipe out indistinct 'workers' and reward the daylights out of those with True Distinction." - Tom Peters
Sometimes we are hesitant to be truly distinctive because it doesn't seem safe. It seems risky.
That is why Tom's quote is so powerful. He argues that it is no longer safe to be the same, to be normal, to be indistinct.
Let that sink in for a minute. He is saying that the only safe move, the only prudent choice, the only wise decision is
