In Praise of Eccentricity

Eccentricity is something like nuclear fusion– uncontrolled it could end civilization as we know it, but contained and controlled, it provides boundless energy. Today, let’s celebrate “good eccentricity”.

I’ll bet you’ve never met a boring genius. Almost without exception, really bright people have a broad weird streak– they do stuff that is completely off the wall, bizarre, but always brilliantly executed. Judges, industry leaders, fishing guides, and inventors, every one of them has a zany bag of tricks which comes out when they let their hair down.

I remember a top appeal court lawyer who often showed up to deliver important talks dressed in full Scottish regalia. Another very successful lawyer who can still do a rolling three-sixty on his skateboard. A CEO who can ride a double-tall unicycle while juggling bayonets, and another who joyously pounds out honky-tonk piano in the happy-hour after a serious conference, not to mention a judge who does stand-up comedy which easily rivals that of the pros.

Even in death, one of my favourite clients, a man of staggering intelligence and talent, had arranged for a full pipe band to usher him into the church in a grey-painted plywood coffin he had built himself. The hundreds in attendance grinned to one another and shook their heads, all thinking “Good for you, Jock!”

If it is observable that most, if not all, highly successful individuals have eccentric habits or skills, one has to wonder if there is a connection. Is there a reason why people who display genius in business or in a profession also seem to display some off-the-wall behaviour? I think there is, and I think there are four things at work, here.

First, highly successful entrepreneurs and professionals are rule makers, not rule takers. They create their own pathways. They make their own success and they create their own destiny. They love the edges and hate the center. Spontaneity identifies these people.

Second, most highly successful people don’t get uptight about themselves or their world. They find joy in everything they do and everyone with whom they interact. They laugh often and easily. For them, the world is an intriguing place, full of neat things to do, to learn, and to enjoy.

The third thing is simple: eccentric behaviour allows release and blows off steam in a too-busy, too-demanding world.

The last may not be as obvious, but it’s this: more often than not these idiosyncratic behaviours look easy, but are anything but. Stand-up comedy, honky-tonk piano and juggling bayonets on a unicycle don’t happen on the first attempt, or the tenth, or even the twentieth. People with these eccentricities may look a little crazy and utterly spontaneous, but there has to be an underlying steely determination to stick with something until it is perfected. That’s also a marker of the very successful.

These lessons, I think, speak for themselves.