Monday Memo 307: Be A Deviant!

I am in Chicago right now, but I want to write about something I learned this week in Seattle at The Pacific Institute. Lou Tice, the founder and president, talked to us about being a deviant. No, he wasn't urging us to get involved in some deviant or unacceptable behavior or lifestyle. In Lou's opinion, most people tend to stay in their comfort zone, doing pretty much what they know to do or have always done. When he talked to us about being a deviant, he was exhorting us to be high achievers and went on to outline the five aspects of this kind of deviant behavior that he felt were critical. Would you like to learn what those five aspects are? If so, read on. If not, read on anyway -- you may learn something!

FIVE POINTS

Here are the five characteristics common to all high-end achievers:

1. Purposeful - Now there's a novel idea! Purpose! Being a deviant starts with some overarching reason for doing what you do. Of course, I am interested in seeing the will of God be the purpose that drives you beyond what is considered normal. I have devoted the last 16 years of my life to helping you and others like you clarify their purpose. I was delighted to hear Lou say that purpose is where it starts. I am signing my latest book, Beyond Purpose, however, with this motto: "It starts but it doesn't end with purpose."

2. Others-focused - If you are or want to be a high-end achiever, you are motivated by purpose, but your purpose always helps other people. In my Seven Steps of a PurposeQuest seminar, I teach that when you know your purpose, you often become a servant-leader because you know who you are and you have something that others need. Thus you can't help but devote your life to making the world a better place for other people by serving their highest priority needs.

3. Self-determined - If you are a deviant, you find the energy and motivation to do what you do from within. No one can force you to do what you do, not even the Lord. You are self-driven and that generates the creativity and energy to succeed. No one forces me to write this Memo every week, or my books for that matter. I write because I choose to write. I hope the results bear out that reality.

4. Self-efficacious - Efficacy is a word you may not use every day, but it simply means to make things happen. Efficacious people pull things off, usually things that others consider impossible. If you are efficacious, you try and don't worry about failure. You think, "I can do that" or "I am good at this or that." You don't look for reasons why things won't happen; you look for ways to make things happen.

5. Courageous - If you are a deviant, you go where angels fear to tread! Someone once said that courage isn't the absence of fear, it's learning to function in the midst of fear. If you wait for your fears to subside or lessen, you may never try anything out of the ordinary. People who make a difference often have to face criticism as they become positive change agents. I hope that you are exhibiting courage as you make your best effort to clarify and fulfill your purpose.

DEVIANT BEHAVIOR

I guess the bottom line is that deviants don't follow the norm; they do things that others can't or won't do. Again, I trust you understand that I am not urging you to engage in bizarre behavior. I am, however, recommending that you follow your heart and see where it leads you. If you do, it may just cause you to do something that those around you never considered or imagined. You will then move beyond the norm to deviate from everyone else.

As you start this week, you may want to give yourself a score in the five areas above. Go back and give yourself a number from one to five for each of the five characteristics of a deviant, five being the most and one the least. What is your total score? The goal, if you want to be a person of purpose, is to have a score as close to twenty-five as possible. Are you satisfied with your score? If so, good for you! You are a deviant! If not, what can you do this week to help earn you that label? I truly hope that you understand what I am urging you to be and that you will join with other deviants as together we move forward to change our world. Have a great week!

Comments

[Brian Francis Hume]

It seems that this idea of deviance has picked up steam in recent years when Dr. Pascale and Jerry Sternin co-authored an article in the May, 2005 issue of Harvard Business Review that is worth reading: “Your Company’s Secret Change Agent.” They exhort readers to look on the periphery of every organization to find people who are getting the job done with astounding results while others continue to make excuses even though they have the same resources. They coined these workers as “positive deviants”—these deviants embody the necessary solution that needs to be implemented on a whole-scale level. I even wrote a paper on this concept within the context of the church.

Also I like Lou Tice’s emphasis on self-efficacy, which I myself have found extremely useful in teaching on leadership. I have come across this concept in quite a few of Lou’s writings. Surprisingly it is given little attention (in my estimation) within leadership thought as a whole. I think it will serve you well, especially as a Purpose Coach to study this further and implement it within your core conceptual framework.

Keep up the great work Dr. Stanko! Your writings have been a source of tremendous blessing in my life during the past few years. Thank you!

[Cleophas Wanyonyi]

Stanko!
I want to agree more with you on both memos; becoming a deviant and the fat duck.

It takes deviance to get things going as I have experienced in my responsibilities that settling for the ordinary gets one stagnant and that it is easier asking for forgiveness than getting permission to start.
Cleophas