The simple guide to being a contrarian

Sometimes it's good to be a pain in the arse. It's certainly more valuable than being a yes-man (or woman) if you do it the right way. That's what I talk about in this week’s piece that was too hot to publish in How To Get To Great Ideas. It's a call for more contrarianism in the workplace.

But, as you’ll see, it’s not about simply whinging. It’s about doing something about it.

How to be more valuable by disagreeing

A lot of creative acts are a reaction to the status quo. They involve someone looking at the world around them or the sphere they're operating within and saying to themselves "Nope. I don't like this. I want to do something different."

You can see it repeatedly in the world of art.

The best example of artistic contrarianism is the Dada movement. It started in Zurich around 1916 as a reaction to bourgeois values and the nationalism that many believed had sparked the First World War. Dadaists reacted against the aesthetic values of contemporary art, the idea of materialism and the very role of art itself. They were so reactionary they even reacted against themselves, often using the phrase "Dada is anti-Dada".

The most famous example of art from this movement is Marcel Duchamp's 'Fountain' sculpture.

In 1915, Duchamp had moved to New York and helped to start the Society of Independent Artists. The society's purpose was to hold annual exhibitions of avant-garde art and it's constitution stated that it would accept all member's submissions. In 1917, Duchamp arranged for a urinal to be submitted as an artwork by 'R. Mutt' which caused a crisis amongst the society's directors. Many felt that a piece of sanitary ware, especially one with such a base purpose, could not be considered as art. The directors put it to a vote and decided to exclude the piece from their first exhibition. So Duchamp promptly resigned from the very organisation he'd helped to start.

This was a powerful reaction against a society that was, itself, a reaction against society.

Of course, most artistic movements are a reaction to what was happening at the time. Pop Art was a reaction to Expressionism. Expressionism was a reaction to Impressionism. And Impressionism was, in turn, a reaction to the new technology of photography.

This approach isn't just limited to art. It's also at the foundation of many innovations. And even businesses.

The best example of corporate contrarianism would, of course, be Virgin's Richard Branson. He's made a career out of upsetting industry applecarts. Whereas most disruptive newcomers shake up an industry by doing things cheaper, Virgin focus on doing things better. They have tackled the worlds of finance, aviation, trains, wine, mobile phones, holidays and - in the near future - space travel. Their approach is summed up in the company's ethos of "changing business for good". And it's clearly proved to be good for their business too.

Richard Branson has recently allied himself with the ultimate contrarian of our age, Elon Musk. This is a man who doesn't just want to change industries; he wants to change the world. Or maybe, when you take his Mars ambitions into account, that should read 'worlds'. He's investing in visions that many people currently think are crazy and over-ambitious. But it will only take one successful implementation of his Hyperloop or his under-city tunnels for the naysayers to become supporters.

It's actually not difficult to become a visionary like Branson and Musk. As long as you've got the bravery and energy to keep going when everyone says you're crazy.

The opposite of negativity

It's easy to be critic. But it's not helpful. Being a contrarian isn't just about pointing at stuff and muttering "that'll never work". That's simply obstructive. The value in contrarianism is when it's constructive.

There are three steps to being a useful contrarian. And you can use them to open up opportunities for yourself, your business or to change an entire industry.

Question Assumptions 

 You need to shake the tree to see what's worth keeping. And you do that by continually asking "why?"

Some of the assumptions that need to be questioned might be pretty obvious. For example, they could be rules and process that slow things down and cause more work. These are probably things that irritate you. And you're probably not the only one who questions them.

Some assumptions might require constant vigilance. This is about avoiding the bandwagons that everyone else seems to be jumping on. You'll hear these things rattling about the industry echo-chambers. For example, the idea of defining a strong corporate culture has been a popular topic in recent years. I personally think it's damaging rather than helpful (and I'll talk about it later on). This is about applying thought to blindly repeated statements to check their validity. Brainlessly parroting this month's trendy term can do more harm than good.

 An even more active way of doing this involves listing all your own assumptions - or the assumptions of your organisation - and tackling them one by one. There will be no shortage of these. I recommend that people in business do this on a regular basis. That's how you constantly improve and find the opportunities your competitors are missing.

 If you stop at this step, you're nothing more than an irritating whinger. And that's of no value to anyone. You need to take this approach and use it to add value.

 Identify opportunities for improvement

 Now you've spotted the irritants and pain points you need to turn them into opportunities. This is when you reverse engineer these elements to work out their components. You're going to look at the thing that annoys you from lots of different angles to get a good understanding of all the moving parts.

 You're going to write a little brief that will help you create a better way of doing things. Answering these questions would be a good place to start:

• What is it trying to achieve?
• What is the input and what is the necessary output?
• What other things do you need to consider?
• What are the element that should be improved?
• Who is responsible for the thing you want to change?
• What would make them happy?
• What resistance might there be to a new idea?

 Get as much information as you can. Then simplify it as much as possible to give a clear direction on what you're wanting to address and how you'll know you've succeeded.

Come up with alternatives

The problem may be a pretty simple one you can tackle by yourself. Or it may be one that you need to put a team together to work on. But with a clear brief and the right minds, you'll have a good chance of making a positive mark on your world.

Once you've got your winning idea, all you have to do is successfully tell the right people how they'll benefit from your idea. We'll talk a little bit more about how to do this later in the book.

If you enjoy this piece, maybe consider picking up the book it didn’t make it into. You can find it here on Amazon. And maybe think about working with me to help your business get better ideas.  I do talks and workshops on all of this stuff and work with companies to help them benefit from better ideas.

As you may have noticed, this is part 6 in the series, You can find the other ‘Too Hot’ articles right here, if you're interested:

Diversity - Sheesh! Can we stop talking about diversity now?

Trauma - How to benefit from trauma tearing you in two

Upbringing - How not to be brought down by the way you’re brought up

Illness - The way business views illness is sick

Altered States - Should we consider using drugs in the workplace?

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