Business people have shot at big money

Thriving downtowns brimming with independent retailers. Beautiful corporate parks meeting the needs of growing organizations. Wonderful neighborhoods and schools boasting families of executives and employees.

These attributes are among the numerous benefits offered the men and women who live and work in Chester County. Ah, but that’s not all. Judging from press releases sent by various groups in the area, I suspect this locale offers as many business awards as much larger Philadelphia, Washington and New York. Think I joke? Just check out websites of Chester County Chamber of Business and Industry, Chester County Emergency Management Services (EMS), Chester County Community Foundation, Chester County Commission, Chester County Agricultural Development Council and Chester County Award Givers.

OK. I made up the last one. But you get the concept.

Each year, these groups all fete local leaders for making substantial contributions in their fields and to their communities.

Alas, I have never received an award from any of them. Heck, I have never even been nominated.

I suspect the groups have deemed me unworthy for any one of the following reasons.

I am too lazy to fill out applications. I am too embarrassed to solicit nominations. I am too untalented to meet qualifications. But guess what? All is not lost. After many years of sobbing about my award-free office, I recently stumbled across a contest where I am an absolute shoo-in.

It is the first annual Disobedience Award sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Aimed at business types

throughout the globe, the honor comes with a $250,000 prize donated by LinkedIn, the social networking and job-hunting platform.

“You don’t change the world by doing what you’re told,” award director Joi Ito writes at www.media. mit.edu. Whoa! How come my parents, teachers and managers failed to tell me that?

But why be bitter when my time obviously as arrived? Finally.

I am so elated that I intend to spend the rest of today writing an essay for the contest.

Oh, did I forget to tell you? The deadline is tomorrow. I failed to inform you about the contest weeks ago because, despite my lifetime of admirable rebellion, I saw zippo reason to encourage competition.

Businesses’ newfound respect for defiance is emanating from ongoing studies on creativity and innovation indicating that rule followers rarely come up with world changing ideas.

Iconoclasts think, look and act in unpredictable ways.

Think Facebook founder Andy Zuckerman, who refused for years to wear anything other than a hoodie. Or Microsoft grand poobah Bill Gates, who used to go without haircuts for years. Or bazillonaire investor Wasrren Buffett, who insists on living in a modest home in Omaha, Nebraska.

“Successful corporate innovators usually don’t stick to the rules,” writes Thomas Wedell at www. hbr.com. “Simply put, sometimes the right thing to do is to stop asking for permission and start bending internal rules, working quietly to help your organization succeed in spite of its own systems.”

Although surviving and thriving as a renegade is easier than in days past, it still poses many challenges.

Here are some ways to proceed if you are considering shedding your traditional mindset and getting in touch with your inner rebel:

Trust your instincts. All two often, individuals second guess their own fabulous ideas. So they keep their genius under wraps. For every computer application and architectural phenomenon that has seen the light of day, I bet my upcoming award winnings that 100 times more have never come out of the genius’ mouth.

Work up your courage. It’s never comfortable to step apart from the crowd. Realize that the very definition of creativity is the ability and willingness to see the world from a different perspective. Your ideas will die with you if you insist on staying within the narrow confines of the crowd. What a loss for everyone! “One can argue that if you are not intelligently disobeying on a regular basis, you are not progressing, evolving or helping your organization,” writes Bob Prentiss at www.batimes.com.

Pick your battles. So you have an offbeat idea for sprucing up the foliage in your lobby or hiring better entertainment for your annual picnic. But, as an engineer, you may want to mentally delegate those issues to Human Resources. Considering natural limits on your time and energy, I suggest that you save your brilliance for your areas of expertise.

Find role models. Although challenging the status quo seems to have taken on a new cachet in recent times, the pages of history contain inspirational stories. One example was author Henry David Thoreau, who refused to pay taxes until the United States banned slavery. He died a year before President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.

Join forces. Remember the old adage about being able to do together what you cannot do alone? It’s true, not just when you want to change your company but when you want to change the world. World famous rule-breakers such as civil rights leader Martin Luther King and feminist Gloria Steinem amassed supporters before throwing out their viewpoints to the masses.

Expect resistance. And maybe even brutal consequences. If your executive board has spent the past year developing a plan to construct a new headquarters, they are unlikely to stand up and cheer when you point out that the chosen site is a refuge for wildlife. Persuading the powers that be requires extraordinary preparation and patience.

Stick with principle. True innovators rarely propose products and services without an underpinning of benefit for society. Instead of getting lost on a track dedicated only to making more money, you may want to help your organization develop equipment to combat water pollution, technology to cure diseases or social media to raise money for the homeless. Speaking of money, I need to sign off now to finish my entry for the Disobedience Award. By the way, you are welcome to join me July 21 when I travel to Boston to attend a banquet and pick up my check.