Drawn to Eccentrics

I confess that given the choice between having a cup of coffee with the usual collection of corporate types and corner office wannabes versus Crazy Harold who's been running the tool shop for years, my tendency is to go see Harold. Not only are the Harolds usually more interesting, but they can tell you a great deal about the organization, especially if you discover that Harold isn't crazy at all.

It doesn't take much to be labeled an eccentric in many organizations. I know one utterly conventional lawyer who, as a young man, started to wear bow ties. That one fashion choice pigeonholed him as powerfully as if he'd sported a Foreign Legion tattoo. Some reputations are even based on some action taken once upon a time but which no one quite remembers. The only thing recalled is that Harold or Martha are supposed to be "different."

An organization's attitude toward its eccentrics reveals a great deal about the confidence and health of the place. If they are treated with respect and not merely tolerated, it signals that management is not wedded to a cookie cutter mentality. If there are no eccentrics to be found, the propensity for groupthink and arrogance may be high.

But if there's a technical problem and the CEO walks out of the conference room and visits Crazy Harold in the tool shop or on the factory floor, that's a very good sign indeed.