This article was originally published on our retired site, maverickparadox.com, on 28 November 2017 and has been updated to reflect our current leadership frameworks and lexicon.
Everyone is curious about the Maverick Personality. This article is an excerpt from my book, The Maverick Paradox: The Secret Power Behind Successful Leaders. It first appeared in Training Journal.
In any discussion about mavericks, two things must be acknowledged from the outset.
- There are two types of mavericks: Socialised and Extreme.
- There is a difference between those who have a maverick personality and those who simply demonstrate maverick traits. To truly understand the maverick mindset, you must separate these two concepts.
The Big 5 Personality Traits
The most popular personality theory right now is the Big 5 Personality Traits:
Openness to experience (inventive/curious vs consistent/cautious)
Conscientiousness (efficient/organised vs easy going/careless)
Extraversion (outgoing/energetic vs solitary/reserved)
Agreeableness (friendly/compassionate vs analytical/detached)
Emotional Stability (secure/confident vs sensitive/nervous)
If there are no strong preferences in any of the five dimensions, an individual’s personality can be viewed in one of two ways:
Adaptable, moderate, reasonable
or
Unprincipled, inscrutable, calculating
When we consider the maverick personality, we can see that mavericks score highly in the Openness to experience trait. They are more likely to be creative, curious and aware of their feelings than other people. They are more likely to hold unconventional beliefs or ideas and prefer novelty over routine.
Mavericks hate any routine determined by others with a passion and are always searching for new challenges. If unchallenged at work, a Socialised Maverick will disengage from the organisation, withdraw their effort and look for challenges elsewhere. Eventually the unchallenged and bored Socialised Maverick will leave.
It is likely that if an Extreme Maverick is unchallenged, the maverick will start to unravel things to cause some excitement for themselves. This unravelling could be a colleague’s emotional state, as the maverick manipulates them into doing things that the maverick wants; or the maverick could break something at work so that they can fix it. This enables them to do something interesting and challenging for a while. It is common for a maverick to set in motion a cycle of fixing and breaking work processes (or people) for want of something to do.
The maverick’s love of adventure, abstraction and intellect can lead to a surprisingly complex and challenging maverick nature. This specific trait of the maverick is one of the things often admired and loved by non-mavericks (conformists).
Conscientiousness – Living by their own standards
The personality trait Conscientiousness, in this context, relates to the tendency to strive for achievement, to be self-disciplined, organised and determined. It is worth noting that the maverick will always measure themselves against their own measures and standards and no one else’s. They are internally motivated and, as such, generally have little concern for what others think, unless confronted by someone that they respect.
Mavericks will, however, move into action if someone’s perceptions are affecting something or someone they care about.
Be aware: to anger the maverick is to awaken the beast.
All maverick personalities are highly determined to get their own way, with only the method of achievement differentiating Socialised and Extreme Mavericks. Whilst Socialised Mavericks will consider other people’s feelings, wants and desires, and do their best to accommodate them whilst ensuring that the maverick’s goals are met (rarely at the maverick’s expense), Extreme Mavericks will focus solely on achieving that goal at the expense of others if necessary.
Agreeableness – The crucial difference between Socialised and Extreme Mavericks
I think that the biggest variable between Socialised Mavericks and Extreme Mavericks is how Agreeable they are.
Socialised Mavericks will value getting along with others and cooperating rather than competing, especially when compared to Extreme Mavericks (but never as high as a Conformist). Socialised Mavericks are highly competitive, but will hide this competitive streak if it makes it easier for others to cooperate with them and be more easily influenced.
One of the peculiarities of the British people is that they do not like to see, and are indeed suspicious of, overt competitiveness. British Socialised Mavericks have therefore learnt to adapt and often hide their competitive nature to increase their level of success and influence.
Socialised Mavericks will have more empathy towards people, even those not in their social or friendship groups, than Extreme Mavericks. Extreme Mavericks will always place their own self-interest at a premium to others and are not shy in showing or expressing this. They have little concern for social harmony unless it fits neatly into their plans. They tend to be more sceptical of others and are therefore likely to be more uncooperative.
Emotional Stability – Calm at the centre of the storm
Mavericks tend to have high Emotional Stability, which in this context means that they tend to be calm in tense situations and rarely lose confidence in their own ability or control of the situation. Mavericks tend to be carefree and optimistic and have a high tolerance for stress. This self-confidence and high self-esteem is often seen as intimidating or arrogant by others, leading to the maverick once again being misunderstood and immensely frustrated.
An Extreme (extraverted) Maverick may, however, demonstrate behaviour that looks like they are unable to control high emotion such as anger. This is often a ruse employed by them to manipulate other people’s behaviours. An explosion of anger from an Extreme (extraverted) Maverick is hardly ever truly spontaneous; it is more likely part of a plan to change someone else’s mindset or behaviour. An Extreme Maverick often sees intimidation and domination as an effective tool to get what they want.
Mavericks and transformational leadership
E Joyce and A Timothy found in 2004 a correlation between the Big 5 Personality Traits and transformational leadership. It seems that the Socialised Maverick’s personality lends itself directly to someone who is likely to practise transformational leadership.
This type of leadership can inspire positive changes for their followers, as the Socialised Maverick focuses on helping every member of the group succeed and develop. Socialised Mavericks always work for the greater good; if it is not possible in the environment they find themselves in, they leave.
Below is a summary of the maverick personality in chart form:
When considering a maverick’s personality, it is worth determining whether they are demonstrating a Maverick Personality or maverick traits.
Modern interpretation – Where the Maverick Personality sits now
Today, the Maverick Personality sits at the intersection of my four pillars of Maverick Leadership:
- Strategic Influence – the ability to see what others miss and move systems that others cannot.
- Liberated Leadership – leading without inherited constraints or outdated expectations.
- Culture by Design – creating environments where Mavericks do not have to mask their edge just to survive.
- Executional Leadership – turning challenge-drive into movement that actually delivers.
Mavericks carry edge intelligence. They notice distortions, challenge comfortable assumptions and instinctively push against systems that no longer make sense. Left unmanaged, that energy is labelled as difficult. Designed well, that same energy becomes one of the most powerful levers of calibrated influence in your organisation.
The Maverick Personality is not a quirk on the fringes of leadership. It is a strategic asset. The real question is not, “How do we control the Maverick?” but, “How do we design our leadership system so that Maverick energy upgrades it rather than breaks it?”
When you can answer that, you stop wasting Maverick potential – and start using it to move your organisation forward.
Your organisation already has Mavericks. The question is whether they’re driving progress or creating friction. Learn how to calibrate their energy so it becomes an advantage, not a liability.
