"Too many people still work in organizations that resemble the IBM of their grandfather's (or great-grandfather's) day -- organizations designed to exert tight control at the expense of autonomy, to maximize compliance over individual expression and discretion.
Yet if we want originality and invention, we need to fill our organizations with people who ignore the rules, flout convention, question constantly, and experiment fearlessly. We need the rebels and the troublemakers because, as Apple's Think Different campaign put it, "they change things. They push the human race forward."
So starts a great article by Polly LaBarre in today's Fortune Magazine. Polly highlights some examples or organizations that realize that companies need rebels -- they don't need you, including IBM's John Patrick, Kim Spinder, a Dutch Ministry employee whose small rebel action transformed 400+ government offices to collaborate, and our own Carmen Medina of the CIA.
Especially interesting was Seth Godin's view on what it takes to make an organization safe for rebels and heretics:
"There's a big difference between religion and faith," he said. "Religion is the set of rules created to maximize the chances that you will do what the manager wants you to do. A heretic is someone who has faith but could care less about religion."