Anonymous 1
HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE A MAVERICK?
“An expert problem solver. Sometimes there are a lot of fancy words thrown around that intimidate people about what a maverick is, but the reality is that the person is able to look at a situation and apply experiences and lessons into that situation that may have been applicable in a completely disconnected way. And they’re able to see the connections between those and then apply them and understanding into the situation which makes it feel incredibly breakthrough, but probably the person, it’s like yeah no kidding, I just did this right?”
BIO
Respecting wish of this maverick to remain anonymous.
WHY A1 WAS INTERVIEWED
I met A1 at a Girls Raising an event for female entrepreneurs. I heard her thoughtful responses to the presentations and asked if I could interview her for the project. A1 is thoughtful, direct and true to who she is.
HOW ARE CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION RELATED TO BEING A MAVERICK?
“Creativity, I’m learning to understand the definition of it. So when I was a younger person it was I must be a fashion designer right? I must create an item that someone must wear. That’s creativity. I’m learning more about myself to understand where to put those outlets, because I know I need them right? I’m starting to define creativity as more and more being fascinated by puzzles right. Well that might be a puzzle, or might be you’re constructing an item, or it might be that you’re writing a speech, or it could be any number of things. I could be as simple as hey I’m going to reflect on my business and find new ways that I can approach from that angle. If you’re not wired that way I don’t think you would be interested to take those steps. It is a very selfish kind of, you’re scratching an itch all the time. You know when some people bless their souls, they’re hard wired that way…I don’t think you know innovation until it’s happened. You always look back and say that was innovative. I don’t know that everything a creative person does is innovative either. I’ve seen more innovations come out of again a random conversation or someone makes one statement and you happen to be going down a direction only later do you realize, wow what a turning point that was. So if I think about that question a different way, does innovation come out of anything else? Probably not.”
IS THERE ANYONE WHO’S A MAVERICK THAT INSPIRES YOU?
“Pam Slim author, speaker, business consultant.”
ADVICE FOR OTHER MAVERICKS
“I would share the rocking story of looking back on life and not having regrets. I would tell them to continually look for areas where they can explore that, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be the big idea all at one time. That they look for and commit to continually finding outlets for that energy, but that they also not worry about whether it all happens at once…The easy answer is just to tell everyone to go for it. And while that may work for some, again I think through even in my own story, the layers of experience I’ve gained by not always being just on one path, they’ve all been valuable. So I wouldn’t want to tell someone don’t listen to anyone else around you, just follow your own heart and go and explore all these thinks and make it your whole life and don’t worry about the consequences. I would probably say find those spots, when you find continue to test out some of those ideas that you have. Don’t commit to every single one of those as the only way you can show whether or not you’re designed to live this lifestyle and allow all those smaller shots to give you a chance to be somewhat detached from which one of those is going to be breakthrough so that you don’t declare failure too soon. It’s almost like this thing is a bit more of a slower river. This is not rapids going down. There’s a simmering that happens in all this.”
