Be a rebel at work
8 ways rule breakers can create positive change
arvard behavioral scientist Francesca Gino knew she was onto something when she read a cookbook in which the author, an Italian chef, broke every rule of culinary tradition by using non-traditional recipes, and violating Italian national pride in the process.
“In Italy, you’re not supposed to mess around with traditions in general, especially when they are about recipes that have been passed on for generations,” says Gino, the Tandon Family Professor of Business Administration and co-head of the Negotiation, Organization and Markets Unit at Harvard Business School. “You just don’t do that! And yet, here was a person, a rebel, who had found success by breaking rules and breaking traditions.”
Gino decided to find and study successful rebels, including Massimo Bottura, the rebel chef. She collected stories of successful rebels and the lessons she learned from a behavioral science standpoint, which she published in “Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life.”
Gino makes the case that leaders should encourage rebellion, which can lead to a successful workplace.
“When I think of rebels, I think of people who break rules to explore new ideas and create positive change,” Gino tells Harvard’s Working Knowledge site. “These are people who are doing good in the world.”
Gino found that most rebels share five core strengths: novelty, curiosity, perspective, diversity and authenticity. She offers up eight steps to move in the direction of a rebel leadership style.
1. Break away from the routine
“It’s very easy for us all to fall back into routines and mindlessly follow them, day after day,” Gino says. She adds that when you purposely seek out new and novel ideas and strategies, you find new inspiration where routine and traditions exist.
2. Seek out differences of opinion
“As humans, we often focus on just one perspective, and generally it’s our own,” Gino says.
Rather than listen to the opinions of people who think like you, rebels fight that instinct and find ways to steer some conflict or encourage disagreement, Gino says. She references a rebel CEO, Rachael Chong of the New Yorkbased nonprofit organization Catchafire. Wong seeks out dissenting opinions from employees and job candidates alike.
“When she hires new people, she basically looks for people who disagree with her,” Gino says.
3. Use the conversational technique of plussing
Gino states that “rebels are willing to keep their minds open,” and they’re keen on keeping conversations going by expanding upon the thought, such as saying, “yes, and ...” rather than “yes, but ...” — a technique called plussing.
In plussing, the point is to “improve ideas without using judgmental language. You add to, or plus, what has been said,” Gino explains. “This encourages a collaborative attitude. Someone else might jump in and add her own plus.”
4. Display your authenticity in full view
Rebel leaders “don’t hide who they are, or pretend to know, or be something
6. Find freedom in constraints
Successful rebels are able to innovate and even find inspiration under constraints.
“Rebels work through the constraints, and, if anything, the constraints become a source for thinking differently about the problem,” Gino says. She cites Dr. Seuss, who made a bet with the co-founder of Random House that he could write a whole book using only 50 different words. The result: “Green Eggs and Ham.”
7. Lead from the trenches
“Another interesting aspect about the rebels I met is that they often take on roles or activities that you wouldn't expect them to take,” Gino says. Chef Bottura often was found sweeping the streets outside his restaurant, unloading deliveries and cleaning the kitchen.
These rebel leaders aren’t afraid of getting down and dirty, and often don’t see themselves as higher than others due to their position and status. As a result, employees respect them for that.
8. Know the value of a happy accident
Gino found that sometimes happy accidents are actual accidents that successful rebels turned into something wonderful.
She cites Toscanini’s, an ice cream shop in Cambridge, Mass., and its burnt caramel-flavored ice cream. When the chief ice cream maker accidentally burned the caramel, he decided to offer it to customers, who loved it.
Marcel Schwantes is an entrepreneur, executive coach and adviser.