Be A Maverick

Being a Maverick takes focus, courage and patience. Here are some of my takeaways from

being a part of a team that truly emphasises making a difference.

1. Focus on Adding Meaningful Value – Solve Problems, Don’t Create White Elephants

In my experience, whenever “problems” are raised or new tasks land on my plate, they are always driven by some kind of need – some newly dreamt idea or a frustration that has yet to be satisfied by the current solution(s). It is all too easy for our plates to fill up with problems of all shapes and sizes that have to be tackled “by the end of the week” or, even worse, the ever-dreaded “yesterday”.

But rather than focusing on the task to be done or jumping straight to the solution, I’ve found it much more effective and efficient to focus on the value to be delivered:

1. What is the specific need driving this requirement?

2. Who is it for?

3. Why is it important?

Unconvincing responses to any of these questions are useful signs to me that I either:

(a) don’t understand the problem enough, or

(b) the idea isn’t important enough to be pursued now.

So why invest in a cure for a problem that just isn’t that much of a problem?

On the contrary, convincing arguments to all 3 questions make it much easier to advocate for its cure. The increased clarity not only helps the ideation process of the simplest working solution (because why get hung up on a fancy-shmancy idea when we’ve got many more people that we need to help?), but it also makes getting help and support effortless.

So if we can’t champion it, we can’t put in our best to make a real difference.

2. Be Brave – Take A Leap Of Faith, It Can’t Be Worse Than Sticking To The Old Ways

Problems and needs are signs that there is more to be desired from the current way of working. The current practices might be good enough, but why not take the chance to be one step closer to perfection?

So whenever problems and needs come up, let’s treat them like symptoms of an undiscovered disease: Take some time to observe. Speak with your peers, your fellow doctors. Analyse your findings. Become a champion of the cause. Build your extermination team (if required). Brainstorm on solutions. Design a clinical trial for the cure. Run the experiment.

Take.

The.

Leap.

If everything fails (though I’d highly doubt it), you’ve still got that backup that was kinda working but also not perfect (i.e. the old way). Most importantly, you would at least be walking away from an adventure, some ideas for your next one, and more insights about your doctoring skills.

3. Patience is a virtue to be exercised strategically – Don’t Rush! But Don’t Dawdle!

Finding solutions – or as we like to call it, Ways of Working (WOW) – is a process. It takes many many more failures to find and understand the one that works (credits go to Thomas Edison for that line).

So be patient with yourself, with your team, and just... with life. Instant results may be gratifying, but it’s so much more enriching to feel a part of a greater whole. To be able to truly understand and appreciate the heartbeat that is keeping you, your team and your company alive. To feel a sense of accomplishment from adding another chapter to your story.

Don’t Rush.

But don’t dawdle! Every opportunity missed is one you can’t get back! (And there’s plenty of people out there waiting for your doctoring skills!)