When I was a kid, I would tell my Mom, “You’re weird.” She would look down at me smiling and say, “Thank you” and I’d go about whatever I was doing, probably shaking my head at her. I didn’t get it until years later, being weird is awesome, not an insult.

Thankfully, I work at a place where your inner weirdo can feel at home. I mean this in the most grateful and appreciative way. I’m not normal, never have been and thankfully never will be (and I think I can safely say the same goes for some (or most) of my coworkers).  SLPowers fosters the weird in a fabulous way, and has a collection of some of the coolest eclectics and eccentrics. We are fortunate to have some incredibly talented people who bring so much (weird) talent to the table. We can approach things from a different perspective and come together to come up with some kick-ass stuff! Who wouldn’t want that?

I am always looking for interesting posts about kooky comrades, so when I saw the article on Fast Company about “Why Channeling Your Inner Weirdo Helps You Get Ahead at Work” I was stoked!

I completely agree with the author, John Manley who writes,

“Being weird, I’ve come to realize, is only weird if you don’t use it to better yourself and those around you. Weird is the spark in innovation that separates the good from the great. Weird is the muscle behind adaptability and progress. Weird makes us broader thinkers, stronger leaders, and more adventurous co-conspirators. And while it’s been years since my Montessori days, I continue to channel my inner weird today with pride and purpose.”

Now let’s be clear, when I talk about being wonderfully weird, I am referring to those creative, outside the box thinkers, the color outside the lines, funky-original fashion, type weirdos. The people that you look at and think, how does she pull that off? Or why didn’t I think of that? The answer for you non-weirds out there, we have the chutzpah to try new things, go where other people are too timid or worried for their reputation to try. We don’t worry as much about looking foolish or shying away from a challenge. We will take on a new perspective and give it a unique twist. That’s the kind of weird I want to be part of.

I think to be successfully weird you have to embrace your creativity and find a way to focus that into something that makes you happy, fulfilled and successful– in both your personal and professional life. SLPowers is the perfect place to make that happen.

When I think of companies run by eccentric, weird and extraordinarily brilliant people, Steve Jobs comes immediately to mind. Jobs was a pioneer of the different, the innovative and the creative, as evidenced in his wildly popular quote (which never gets old for me).

“”Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do”

Not that I am, by any means, putting myself in the company of the  likes of Jobs or his contemporaries, but it’s nice to know there are people out there pushing for the individuals who think differently and embrace  innovation.

Manley goes on to say,

“We all have a major in our professional lives, our vocation, our professional purpose. But we all have another side–a pursuit, a passion, a drive or interest in something of inexplicable origins. It keeps us up past normal bedtimes and nags at us when we don’t feed it. We are rare birds with passions, interests, and pursuits that sometimes may feel singular in their pursuit. We want to codify this personal passion as our minor.”

To work and play in the same place, with fun people, who can engage their major and minors is rewarding in so many ways. Creativity and talent at SLPowers move from the conference room to the stage. There are several  amazing musicians here at SLPowers, evidenced by our weekly Guitar Night. If you are ever in the area on a Wednesday evening and hear some sweet tunes piping into the streets of West Palm Beach, it’s our dudes rockin’ out to their favorite songs in our Beer Garden. How cool it that?! That can’t be normal, right?! How many workplaces are you familiar with that have something so cool, and culturally supportive?

It’s really pretty incredible when you can combine your purpose with your pursuits and passions, to launch yourself into a creative network that can yield  some incredible product.

As Steve Jobs said in 1982, ““It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy.”  Ahoy!

–Anna van Tonder, proud weirdo

So, we’d like to know…who is your weirdo and what do they bring to the table?

Do you foster your inner weird’s urges or try to put out that kooky fire?

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