Don’t Be a Maverick

Top Gun is a favorite show in my house. My wife is a big Tom Cruise fan and I like the military scenes. One part of the story revolves around Cruise’s call sign of Maverick. Some definitions of a maverick include nonconformist, individualist; free thinker; loner, lone wolf.

Back in my Special Forces days, we had call signs and code words too. We actually made one up of maverick. When someone called maverick everyone else would stop and let that person go into the building to clear it themselves. It was an inside joke to make fun of those teammates that got too over eager to do it all themselves.

In real life, you don’t want to be a maverick. There are many practical lessons to be learned from the maverick example…Here are two:

1. No matter how good you are (and Green Berets are the best of the best), it’s hard to succeed all by yourself. As a matter of fact 1 is the WORST number in life and business. One of anything is a recipe for disaster: one main source of
   revenue, one big customer, one supplier. One anything means if that one thing were to disappear you could out of business FAST!

There is always a “band of outlaws” (competitors, politicians, etc.) out to ambush you. When you go maverick, there is no one to have your back, to check your blindside. This is true both in life and business. Plus, it gets awful lonely and tough when you operate by yourself. In Special Ops, we had Ranger buddies. Your Ranger Buddy was there to keep you going ,to make sure you keep going when you wanted to quit.

Don’t be a maverick when it comes to your life and business. Diversify. Don’t depend on just one thing or yourself. Find yourself a mastermind, a coach, a community of people to collaborate with.