Amy Kean, the CEO and Creative Director of Good Shout, says that if you want to differentiate your media business, you should hire more weirdos.
Media is a small, fairly tight-knit community, and most people want to fit in. But that can stifle creativity.
There’s been an influx of “really average people,” Amy says, and that leads to fear of failure and insecurity. Both of those lead to formulas, to the tried and tested, and to endless jargon.
“Amy cites research that … shows that the more jargon you use, the more insecure you are.”
I always thought it was because you didn’t have the intelligence to use your own words.
“Weird” can sometimes be associated with creativity and originality, and can be used to describe ideas, art, or individuals who break free from conventional norms. Weird people don’t see the world through the same filters as everybody else, and they’re not always second-guessing their ideas based on what people might think of them.
I love the idea of hiring more weird people, with some caveats.
You don’t want a weird accountant unless you’re doing something illegal. And you don’t want majority weird, because you’ll never get anything done. Most of your staff needs to be stable, reliable, by the book, follow the rules kind of people.
But in many areas, we do want fresh, creative, out-of-the-box ideas.
So think about your staff for a minute and ask who’s challenging the narrative. Who’s coming up with new ideas?
Sometimes the new idea is unrealistic, but it might nudge you in a new direction.
We usually think of “diversity” in such bland terms. There are so many ways to encourage diversity that will give you a competitive advantage.
- Personality differences, like extroverts vs. introverts
- People who were raised with money vs. people who grew up poor.
- Country folk vs. city folk.
- Natives vs. foreigners.
- Young and old.
- Different levels and types of education.
- Different professional backgrounds.
- Religious and non-religious people.
And yes, as Amy Kean suggests, sometimes you need a weirdo.
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Thanks to Katie Paine for sending this article.
