The power of 'rogues'

I once hired someone who, in many ways, was a nightmare employee. He turned up late, forgot meetings, and struggled with even the simplest administrative tasks.

But here’s the thing—I knew that might happen before he ever stepped through the door.

He’d just been granted a presidential pardon after twenty-two years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Yet during those years, from a death-row cell, he built a feeding programme that reached across several countries during one of the worst famines in living memory, earned a law degree, and founded a charity to steer young people away from gangs.

When he spoke, people listened. His voice carried the weight of experience and the fire of conviction. He could gather the most powerful people in the country and move them to action on behalf of the vulnerable. His life had become a conduit for compassion and change.

I didn’t hire him because he could tick every operational box—I could find that anywhere. I hired him because he carried something no one else could bring. (It also helps that I love him like a brother.) You can hear his story in his TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcmxEPOQQzg.

Paradigm shift: not every area needs predictability; some need the X-factor.

We often build teams obsessed with being mistake-free. But in doing so, we risk losing our capacity for brilliance. Embracing risk doesn’t mean being reckless—it means recognising that extraordinary outcomes rarely come from ordinary safety.

People with that “X-factor” may not fit our systems neatly. They might challenge, disrupt, or frustrate us—but they often see what others can’t, build what others can only hope of and push us to better places. The real question for leaders is: do we have the courage to make room for them?

Yes, mavericks are messy. But the greater risk is what we lose by not having them.

We often assume that hiring people who think outside the box—those who disrupt, challenge, and sometimes create a little chaos—brings risk to an organisation. And it does. But what we often miss is that playing it safe carries its own kind of danger.

A team made up entirely of steady, compliant, predictable people may avoid visible conflict—but it can just as easily drift into stagnation. The risk is quieter but just as real: problems go unchallenged, creativity withers, and fear of failure replaces the courage to innovate. In striving to make nothing go wrong, we can end up ensuring that nothing truly remarkable ever goes right.

So, rather than dismiss them, walk with them.

·       Give them permission to disrupt—not always, not everywhere, but in the spaces where their energy ignites innovation.

·       Teach teams to embrace, not exile, difference—train the compliant to handle the creative and disruptive as much as you teach the creative and disruptive on how to fit in.

·       Empower people to profile risk—not to be riskier, but to think and decide for themselves. We need to grow decision makers of every profile.

·       Loosen your grip—control and leadership are not the same. Relinquish some, especially to those who see differently.

They will make mistakes. They will frustrate you. But if you journey with them, they may draw beauty out of your organisation that you never thought possible.