In last Friday’s Lavin Weekly, we told you all about “Rebel Talent,” Francesca Gino’s groundbreaking new series for Harvard Business Review. Every day from October 24 to November 1, the magazine will release new content related to “constructive nonconformity”—in essence, how your employees’ weird, wacky, unique strengths can actually help your company thrive. The first two pieces are already live; both penned by Gino, one champions curiosity as the bedrock of “rebel talent,” and the other asks the question, “Are you a constructive nonconformist?”
Curiosity is the lifeblood of innovation, Gino says, “yet few organizations and leaders think systematically about it.” In her first article, she focuses on one company that does: global executive search firm Egon Zehnder. Where other businesses tend to evaluate potential hires on broad competencies like being results-oriented and having influence over others, Egon Zehnder has adopted a four-point approach that stresses curiosity, insight, engagement, and determination—crucial skills for employees facing a novel challenge or problem. Curiosity, it turns out, is at the center of it all: not only did it prove the most important of the four traits, but it actually predicts the other three.
Jump over to HBR to read the rest of the article, then take the quiz to get in touch with your inner rebel. And stay tuned for more from Gino every day this week: tomorrow (Oct. 26), she’s hosting a webinar on how to foster rebel talent in the workplace, and on November 1, she’ll lead a roundtable discussion featuring Pixar president Ed Catmull and HBR editor-in-chief Adi Ignatius.
To book Harvard Business Review’s Francesca Gino for a keynote speech on rebel talent, or decision making and bias, contact The Lavin Agency, her exclusive speakers bureau.
