The Courage to Think Differently

A note to young leaders.

No matter what the sign says you should or shouldn’t do, your first duty is to think for yourself and act on your own judgement.

I saw this principle in action early in my career, fresh out of university and newly arrived at Macquarie Group.

Late one Friday afternoon, the head of HR emailed the whole Bank announcing upcoming changes to our superannuation arrangements.

The email explicitly said “do NOT reply to this email or make contact with the author” – and that an HR executive would be in touch next week to meet and brief each division.

Within seconds of receiving the email, a colleague of mine – who was only at this stage a junior manager – picked up his phone and called the head of HR.

“Sorry, I know you said in your email that we shouldn’t contact you – but I thought it was important that I give you some feedback straight away …”.

I don’t recall exactly what he said – but I recall being amused by his chutzpah.

He not only got a one-on-one meeting with the head of HR, he also managed to get the policy tweaked to accommodate his special circumstances.

That same colleague went on to become a very successful Executive Director at Macquarie.

I learned an important lesson that day: a sheep-like tendency to follow the rules will get you nowhere in life, other than at the back of a queue.

By all means, pay heed to instructions – but sometimes, despite what the sign says, you should walk on the grass.