Book Review: Mavericks at Work

Mavericks at Work is very much like Less is More, Think Big, Act Small, Build to Last, or Good to Great. It’s an overview of some remarkable practices the authors, William Taylor and Polly LaBarre, found in a handful of companies around the world. The book covers a lot of ground, so I’m only going to share my favorite quotes (by the way, the etymology of the word maverick is quite interesting).

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“The first and most important piece of every job is to tell a unique and relevant story about the space, the product, or the experience. Story is the fundamental platform for organizing ideas. That’s how you connect emotionally with people.” (David Rockwell, founder and CEO of Rockwell Group)

“The next frontier for making products more emotional is to turn them into something social—to create a sense of ownership and participation among customers themselves. The more people you invite to shape the company’s personality, the more you enable them to share their ideas with one another, the greater their stake in what your company does—and the more invested they become in its success. In the new world of competition, generating a whole lotta love means unleashing a whole lotta participation.”

“In an age of endless choice and unrestrained advertising, companies do better when they make their customers smarter. And the most effective way to make customers smarter is to help them educate one another. The most intelligent way to stand out with customers is to unearth the collective intelligence of customers.”

“Who wants to enter a market that’s already too crowded? But even in the most crowded markets, there’s room for an innovator with something original to offer and something authentic to say.”

“If your goal is to establish a psychological contact with customers, then almost by definition you won’t appeal to all customers. […] Most of the maverick companies we’ve come to know focus on a narrowly drawn set of customers.”

“If you believe that a brand has to have a set of convictions, then you have to be prepared to piss people off.” (Peter van Stolk, founder and CEO of Jones Soda)

“One strategy for making an impression with customers, especially when rivals insist on nickel-and-diming them, is to give away something that other companies charge for—or wouldn’t think of offering in the first place. The investment can be small; the returns can be priceless.”

“You cannot have happy, satisfied customers if your organization is filled with unhappy, dissatisfied people.”

“You’re responsible for your career. You need to look at it like a business. What do you want to happen? How do you want to be known? […] You can stay in one place and become an expert and a leader. You can have a good career that way. But a great career is all about movement.” (Al West, CEO and Chairman of SEI Investments)

“The quality of a company’s performance can’t exceed the quality of performers in the company.”

“One more strategy to […] competition: as your rivals slash costs and make their products more affordable, you add features to make products more personal.”

Mavericks are so different, so edgy, and so independent of spirit that their personal style or message may not appeal to everyone. But that’s precisely the point: mavericks are defined by the power and originality of their ideas. They stand out from the crowd because they stand for something truly unique. What’s more, they take stands-against the status quo, in defiance of the industry elite-and offer compelling alternatives to business as usual.