Daily Inspiration: Innovation & Risk – “Do the wrong things for the right reasons!”

“Do the wrong things for the right reasons!”– Futurist Jim Carroll

History celebrates the rule-breakers who did the wrong things for the right reasons!

Rosa Parks – she defined the push for civil rights by refusing to sit where she was told. Martin Luther King for a regular series of arrests in violation of demands that he refrain from protesting. Dick Leitsch for conducting a “sip-in” at a New York bar to challenge the prohibition against serving gay patrons. The fact is, none of them were doing anything wrong, other than fighting the unjust injustice of our world. In that vein, doing the wrong thing is doing the right thing in the face of things that are simply wrong!

In business, those who succeed often refuse to adapt and align to the ‘right way‘ of doing things by doing the ‘wrong‘ thing. Steve Jobs failed to follow the traditional rules and business models inherent in the tech world; Herb Kelleher introduced Southwest Airlines, a low-cost, no-frills airline model that went against the traditional airline industry practices; Daniel Ek persisted in the development of Spotify despite being told by everyone that it was the wrong thing to do.

Indeed, Steve Jobs knew how the world works, with his most famous observation:

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

Innovators like this are not fond of rules – because they know that often the rules are illogical, irrational, and impractical. They have a mindset that rules are made to be broken – because the rules themselves are broken! They know that success is a series of failures punctuated by brief moments of brilliance that display the fallacy of the rules themselves!

With that in mind, here’s a great little article that I dug out while searching for issues are doing the wrong thing and the right thing:

I am a proud graduate of New Albany High School. While I don’t remember much from those days, twenty-ish years ago, one thing that has always stuck with me are Mr. Steve Sipes daily motivational announcements.

Every single day, not long after the bell would ring, teachers would herd us to our seats just in time for the PA to crackle to life. The illustrious voice of Mr. Sipes would remind us of the day’s happenings and the theme for that week’s basketball game. Then he would leave us with what at the time felt like a warning… “Do the right thing“.

As seniors in high school it was literally laughable. We would regularly tell one another to do the right thing, while we were in fact doing the wrong things. Our valedictorian even included it in his commencement speech so we could all have one last laugh at poor, well intentioned Mr. Sipes expense on our way out. But, as an adult it lingers. Well played.

It dawned on me recently that he never told us what the “right” thing was. Occasionally there was a nudge down the path of enlightenment. Reminders about being safe and careful leaving campus for lunch and something about walking and quacking like a duck, but otherwise we were left to our own interpretation of right. It was left entirely up to us as teenagers to decide which road to take. Bold move, Mr. Sipes.

What I learned from my high school principal
8 February 2022, Evening News and Tribune

Check that key line in the article – he never told us what the “right” thing was. In some cases, we do the wrong thing simply because we don’t know what the right thing is! How can we know we are doing the ‘wrong thing‘ if no one ever really defines it for us? We might be doing the right thing (although I suspect most teenagers are genetically engineered to do the wrong thing.)

In other cases, the wrong thing that has been defined as the ‘wrong thing‘ is the ‘right thing‘ – it’s just that some subjective determination has been made by someone or some group with an implicit bias, an inherent and hidden goal, or a specific objective! The result is that what they have defined as the wrong thing is the right thing – so that when you are doing that wrong thing you are doing the right thing. With me?

My mindset? Sometimes, doing the wrong thing in the face of the opportunities of tomorrow is the right thing to do because it is the only real way to figure out the right thing to do! Doing the wrong thing helps us to make the mistakes that eventually help us to discover the right thing! Doing the wrong thing is following a path of enlightenment! Follow that logic if you can – because often doing the right thing involves twisting yourself into a proverbial knot as you realize that the right thing in the face of the wrong thing is always the right thing because you are determining that to be the only way forward.

Still with me?

Doing the wrong thing? I got the idea for today’s post from my good friend Tom Morley, who observed in a Facebook post yesterday: “Hopefully I’ve been doing the wrong things for the right reasons.”

You certainly have, Tom!

Tom is a massively creative individual – a founding member of the 80s band Scritti Politti, a session drummer with David Bowie among other artists, a speaker, author, and teambuilder – he is a shining beacon of originality in a sea of sameness. In my view, his world of continually going forward doing the ‘wrong things‘ shows us the ‘right way‘ of doing the ‘wrong things.’ I’ve written about Tom before – the posts are well worth exploring!

I will NEVER be as original and cool as he is, but I’ve come to view him as a role model for what comes from those who are original, unique, and authentic – because they’ve often been willing to do the wrong things for the right reasons! With that in mind, that’s why Tom and I offer a unique, combined leadership meeting alternative! Learn all about it over at FutureBeat.Team – https://futurebeat.team. We’ll help you discover how to turn the magic of the wrong things into the right things!

My view of our world?

Wrong things are right!

Start your day today with that thought in mind.

Got it?