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![Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life by [Francesca Gino]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51AVhk8NNWL._SY346_.jpg)
Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life Kindle Edition
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Award-winning Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino shows us why the most successful among us break the rules, and how rebellion brings joy and meaning into our lives.
Rebels have a bad reputation. We think of them as troublemakers, outcasts, contrarians: those colleagues, friends, and family members who complicate seemingly straightforward decisions, create chaos, and disagree when everyone else is in agreement. But in truth, rebels are also those among us who change the world for the better with their unconventional outlooks. Instead of clinging to what is safe and familiar, and falling back on routines and tradition, rebels defy the status quo. They are masters of innovation and reinvention, and they have a lot to teach us.
Francesca Gino, a behavioral scientist and professor at Harvard Business School, has spent more than a decade studying rebels at organizations around the world, from high-end boutiques in Italy's fashion capital, to the World's Best Restaurant, to a thriving fast food chain, to an award-winning computer animation studio. In her work, she has identified leaders and employees who exemplify "rebel talent," and whose examples we can all learn to embrace.
Gino argues that the future belongs to the rebel -- and that there's a rebel in each of us. We live in turbulent times, when competition is fierce, reputations are easily tarnished on social media, and the world is more divided than ever before. In this cutthroat environment, cultivating rebel talent is what allows businesses to evolve and to prosper. And rebellion has an added benefit beyond the workplace: it leads to a more vital, engaged, and fulfilling life.
Whether you want to inspire others to action, build a business, or build more meaningful relationships, Rebel Talent will show you how to succeed -- by breaking all the rules.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherDey Street Books
- Publication dateMay 1 2018
- File size1559 KB
Product description
Review
“Readers can take heart in the search for a company that believes in and practices the power of rebellion.” (Booklist)
“Entertaining and well written, in addition to being informative, this career self-help book won’t put you to sleep and might actually help you out of a rut. Recommended for business and career collections. (Library Journal )
“In this groundbreaking book, Francesca Gino shows us how to spark creativity, excel at work, and become happier: By learning to rebel.” (Charles Duhigg, New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better)
“Francesca Gino is one of the world’s most productive and creative social scientists. And with this book, she shows that she’s also one of the most persuasive. She makes a powerful and convincing case that letting loose our inner troublemaker can open up new vistas of creativity and problem-solving power.” (Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of Drive)
“Great stories, great science, and great practical advice about how, when, and why to break the rules.” (Angela Duckworth, New York Times bestselling author of Grit)
“This marvelous and mischievous masterpiece shows us how to creatively rebel without getting into (too much) trouble. Francesca Gino’s splendid weave of stories and studies unpacks why, when, and how to break the rules in order to do more successful, challenging, and original work.” (Robert Sutton, New York Times bestselling author of The Asshole Survival Guide, Scaling Up Excellence, and Weird Ideas That Work)
“Francesca has a very personal and self-aware approach to bridging the gap between the social norms that glue us together, and the acts of challenging those norms. The rebellious approach has led to great advances, and it also has led to abuse. She pushes us to allow for people who challenge what we do, but with a grounding in thinking about the use of power and status in our businesses and in our lives.” (Ed Catmull, President of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios)
“Francesca Gino is the best kind of rebel: the one who doesn’t just break the rules, but invents a better way. In this enthralling, carefully researched book, she shows you how to become one—and unleash the inner rebel in others too.” (Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals, Give and Take, and Option B with Sheryl Sandberg)
“‘To make an omelet, you gotta break some eggs’ is easy advice to give. Much more difficult is crafting a clear recipe—which eggs, when, how, blended with what?—for greatest success at it. Yet, this is precisely what Rebel Talent does for the process of breaking the rules optimally. As a result, I just ate it up.” (Robert B. Cialdini, New York Times bestselling author of Influence and Pre-Suasion) --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
From the Inside Flap
Do you want to follow a script--or write your own story?
Award-winning Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino shows us why the most successful among us break the rules, and how rebellion brings joy and meaning into our lives
Rebels have a bad reputation. We think of them as troublemakers, outcasts, contrarians: those colleagues, friends, and family members who complicate seemingly straightforward decisions, create chaos, and disagree when everyone else is in agreement. But in truth, rebels are also those among us who change the world for the better with their unconventional outlooks. Instead of clinging to what is safe and familiar, and falling back on routines and tradition, rebels defy the status quo. They are masters of innovation and reinvention, and they have a lot to teach us.
Francesca Gino, a behavioral scientist and professor at Harvard Business School, has spent more than a decade studying rebels at organizations around the world, from high-end boutiques in Italy's fashion capital, to the world's best restaurant, to a thriving fast-food chain, to an award-winning computer animation studio. In her work, she has identified leaders and employees who personify "rebel talent," and whose examples we can all learn to embrace.
Gino argues that the future belongs to the rebel--and that there's a rebel in each of us. We live in turbulent times, when competition is fierce, reputations are easily tarnished on social media, and the world is more divided than ever before. In this cutthroat environment, cultivating rebel talent is what allows businesses to evolve and to prosper. And rebellion has an added benefit beyond the workplace: it leads to a more vital, engaged, and fulfilling life.
Whether you want to inspire others to action, grow a business, or build more meaningful relationships, Rebel Talent will show you how to succeed--by breaking all the rules.
--Robert Sutton, New York Times bestselling author of The Asshole Survival Guide, Scaling Up Excellence, and Weird Ideas That Work --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.From the Back Cover
Do you want to follow a script—or write your own story?
Award-winning Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino shows us why the most successful among us break the rules, and how rebellion brings joy and meaning into our lives
Rebels have a bad reputation. We think of them as troublemakers, outcasts, contrarians: those colleagues, friends, and family members who complicate seemingly straightforward decisions, create chaos, and disagree when everyone else is in agreement. But in truth, rebels are also those among us who change the world for the better with their unconventional outlooks. Instead of clinging to what is safe and familiar, and falling back on routines and tradition, rebels defy the status quo. They are masters of innovation and reinvention, and they have a lot to teach us.
Francesca Gino, a behavioral scientist and professor at Harvard Business School, has spent more than a decade studying rebels at organizations around the world, from high-end boutiques in Italy’s fashion capital, to the world’s best restaurant, to a thriving fast-food chain, to an award-winning computer animation studio. In her work, she has identified leaders and employees who personify “rebel talent,” and whose examples we can all learn to embrace.
Gino argues that the future belongs to the rebel—and that there’s a rebel in each of us. We live in turbulent times, when competition is fierce, reputations are easily tarnished on social media, and the world is more divided than ever before. In this cutthroat environment, cultivating rebel talent is what allows businesses to evolve and to prosper. And rebellion has an added benefit beyond the workplace: it leads to a more vital, engaged, and fulfilling life.
Whether you want to inspire others to action, grow a business, or build more meaningful relationships, Rebel Talent will show you how to succeed—by breaking all the rules.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.About the Author
Francesca Gino is an award-winning researcher and teacher, and a tenured professor at Harvard Business School. Her consulting and speaking clients include Bacardi, Akamai, Disney, Goldman Sachs, Honeywell, Novartis, P&G, and the U.S. Air Force, Army, and Navy. She has been honored as one of the world’s Top 40 Business Professors under 40 and one of the world’s 50 most influential management thinkers. Her work has been featured on CNN and NPR, as well as in the Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, Newsweek, Scientific American, and Psychology Today.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Product details
- ASIN : B071HD8589
- Publisher : Dey Street Books; 1st edition (May 1 2018)
- Language : English
- File size : 1559 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 309 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #289,134 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #279 in Career Guides (Kindle Store)
- #288 in Workplace Behavior
- #355 in Popular Culture Studies (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Francesca Gino is an award-winning researcher and teacher, and a tenured professor at Harvard Business School. Her consulting and speaking clients include Bacardi, Akamai, Disney, Goldman Sachs, Honeywell, Novartis, P&G, and the U.S. Air Force, Army, and Navy. She has been honored as one of the world’s Top 40 Business Professors under 40 and one of the world’s 50 most influential management thinkers. Her work has been featured on CNN and NPR, as well as in the Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, Newsweek, Scientific American, and Psychology Today.
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Francesca Gino finds a way to bring story telling and business insight together in Rebel Talent. A book that I highly recommend!!!
Top reviews from other countries

Commodity hell
You are likely operating in commodity hell and are part of the middle. You are probably also part of the 80% whose romantic or close relationship is more often than not, a cause for worry and frustration rather than energy and joy. You might be part of the 68% of workers that do not feel involved in, is not enthusiastic about, and not committed to their jobs. You cost your employer 22 per cent less profit and 21 per cent less productivity.
Want to perform 200% better?
For organisations, the lack of employee engagement negatively affects quality, productivity, customer satisfaction, and financial outcomes. According to a study by Dale Carnegie Training, for of dollars are lost each year to employee turnover, and companies with engaged employees outperform those with employees who report lack of engagement by over 200 per cent.
Stop conforming
You are miserable, and the company you work for is losing buckets of money. One way to help yourself and help your company is to become a rebel. Consciously choosing not to conform. Nonconformity enhances not only our professional lives but your personal life as well. Nonconforming behaviours (such as expressing true preferences in social circles rather than going along with the majority opinion) improves your happiness in your day-to-day interactions. Giving the power back to yourself. Power is typically associated with a lack of constraint, and we think of powerful people as generally having the freedom to behave as they wish.
Say yes
Following the “yes”, instead of the “no”. Breaking the status quo bias, the brules, the beliefs (read “The code of the extraordinary mind”), the rituals, the traditions. Breaking rules will enrich every aspect of your life. Living life like a rebel is energising. In fact, the traditions and rituals you encounter in your organisation and in society often endure out of routine, rather than as the result of thoughtful deliberation. You are doing everyone a favour.
You need to do five things
The first is to seek novelty, seeking out the challenge and the new.
The second is to be curious, the impulse we all had as children to constantly ask “why”?
The third is to widen your perspective. Rebels have the ability to constantly broaden their view of the world and see it as others do.
The fourth is to seek diversity, the tendency to challenge predetermined social roles and reach out to those who may appear different.
The fifth is to be authentic, which rebels embrace in all that they do, remaining open and vulnerable in order to connect with others and learn from them.
Excitement
Create excitement. It will be good for your relationship too. A recent study of one hundred couples found that those who engaged in activities that both members deemed exciting for at least ninety minutes per week for four weeks reported higher levels of happiness and relationship satisfaction. The effect lasted at least four months. Surprisingly, novelty is more important than stability.
Explore
Comfort is overrated. Go for exploration rather than exploration. Efficiency version innovation. Exploration, or looking for and identifying new ideas and ways of doing things, involves risk-taking, experimentation, flexibility, play, discovery, and innovation. Exploitation, in contrast, involves improving and refining existing products and processes through efficiency, selection, implementation, and execution.
Exploitation often crowds out exploration.
What do you need to do as a company
Hire writers, poets, and other intellectuals.
Hire what are known as “T-shaped” employees (the depth of knowledge and skill needed and inclination for collaboration across functions, which consists of two aspects: empathy and curiosity).
Encourage curiosity. Curiosity was associated with a greater creative productivity; a one-unit increase in curiosity (e.g., moving from a score of 5 to 6 on a 7-point scale) was associated with a 34 per cent increase in productivity.
Run your company on questions, not answers
Start meetings with Why?” and “What if?
Apply the “go back method,” which asked employees to go back and question the common assumptions we all tend to hold about goals, roles, and the organisation as a whole.
Apply counterfactual thinking.
Promote intellectual humility. Do not forget the experience of being inexperienced.
Have a diverse workforce. A 2009 analysis of data from 506 firms found that those with greater gender or racial diversity had higher sales revenue, a greater number of customers, and higher profits. Adding an outsider actually doubles a group’s chance of solving a mystery correctly, from 29 to 60 per cent.
Allow your people to be authentic. The more inauthentic we feel, the higher our stress, the lower our sense of well-being, and the more prone we are to burnout. Inauthenticity also works as a drag on motivation. Authenticity gives us the courage, energy, and confidence we need to rebound from negative experiences.
Focus on your staff’s strengths rather than their weaknesses. According to Gallup research, people who use their strengths daily are six times more likely to get satisfaction out of their job and report less stress and anxiety. Research by the Corporate Leadership Council found that when managers focus on an employee’s weaknesses, his or her performance declines by 27 per cent, whereas a focus on strengths boosts performance by 36 per cent.
Ensure everyone is truthful and allowed to speak out. Candour is the key to effective collaboration,
Create ideas advocates.
Create devil’s advocates charged with poking holes in the decision-making process.
Look for people that disagree with you.
Allow for creative tension. In the creative process, tension and conflict need to be embraced for good ideas to emerge. A sense of conflict triggers exploration of novel ideas.
Define your purpose when we feel that the work we do matters, our dedication deepens.
Change your organisation structure (read “Reinventing organisations”). Organisations that lack steep hierarchies are sometimes called “flat organisations.” The author prefers “rebel organisations.” A rebel organisation—be it a pirate ship or a restaurant like Osteria Francescana—exemplifies the rebel talent. It avoids the traps of routine and complacency. Read “Breaking bad habits”.
Everyone a rebel!
Embrace novelty, curiosity, perspective, diversity, and authenticity. What is fascinating, though, is what binds all these “talents” together: They are all paths to engagement. When our attention is focused, we reach a state of absorption and time passes quickly. The handwritten notes also likely made a difference. When we receive expressions of gratitude, we are more likely to persist when the road gets tough. As energy and mental resilience increase, we experience vigour. At their core, rebels are engaged. They have abundant energy and mental resilience, they invest in their work and in their personal relationships, and they persist even when the road gets tough. They have an emotional connection with what they do.
Managing rebels has leadership challenges. Here are the rules
1. Seek out the new
Adriano Olivetti extended lunch breaks so that workers could eat lunch for an hour and then “eat culture” for another hour. Guest speakers included philosophers, writers, intellectuals, and poets from across Italy and the rest of Europe. If workers preferred to read, they could visit the factory library, which was stocked with tens of thousands of books and magazines. Meanwhile, the company prospered. This embrace of the arts by people in two very different lines of work demonstrates the first principle of rebel leadership: Always look for the new. The rebel is voracious, with interests that are wide-ranging. A new interest does not need a justification, for it might lead to a larger insight down the road.
2. Encourage constructive discontent
One of the most remarkable details about President Kennedy’s management of the Cuban Missile Crisis was what he sought from his advisors: disagreement. First, each member would take the role of a “sceptical generalist,” approaching a given problem in its entirety, rather than focusing only on one department’s perspective (usually their own). Second, to encourage freewheeling conversations, the members would use settings free of any formality, with no specified procedures or formal agenda to follow. Third, the team would be divided into subgroups that would work on different options and then come back together to discuss them.
3. Open conversations, do not close them
The point of plussing is to improve ideas without using judgmental language. You add to, or “plus,” what has been said.
4. Reveal yourself and reflect
Leaders understand the power of showing themselves—and knowing themselves.
5. Learn everything than forget everything
The legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden would open the first practice of every season by having his players practice putting on their socks and lacing their shoes. Master the fundamentals, Wooden figured, and the team would prosper.
6. Find freedom in constraints
When we are faced with constraints, we dedicate our mental energy to acting more resourcefully and doggedly, and surpass expectations—or better. Research examining how people design new products, cook meals and even fix broken toys finds that budget constraints increase resourcefulness and lead to better solutions.
7. Lead from the trenches
The best way to lead is from the trenches. Rebel leaders are comrades, friends, and fellow enthusiasts. Napoleon would not have spent all his time in the executive suite. Chef Bottura is often found sweeping the streets outside his restaurant, unloading deliveries, and cleaning the kitchen. In Navy SEAL teams this hands-on philosophy is ingrained in candidates from the first day of training. Indeed, naval officers are taught to lead by example in everything they do. You’ll find them at the head of the pack during runs and swims.
8. Foster happy accidents
Know the value of happy accidents. They believe in workspaces and teams that cross-pollinate. A mistake may unlock a breakthrough.
9. Do more
What seem like tangents, or doing extra, or helping someone when it seems that there is no time, become paths to a more vibrant life. Doing more gives us more. People who give more time feel more capable, confident, and useful.
Other books
The book combines some of the lessons of “Legacy”, “Fusion” and “The subtle art of not giving a f.ck”. The key message is that you need to unleash the rebel in yourself and your organisation. If you do so, the result can be amazing. I leave you one last thought. There is no such thing a rebel-AI (yet). Being a rebel will make you more future proof and definitely happier.
Embrace the rebel!

There are several authors of this genera that I had read with interest and that always gave me a new perspective or a condensed and accessible summary of a vast range of scientific papers, such as Nate Silver, Matthew Walker, Daniel Kahneman, Daniel Goelman and even if as outsider, Nassim Taleb.
Dr Francesca Gino tried to follow this trend in alternating anecdotes and research, but in this case the science is in support of anecdotes rather than the other way around.
Scientific resources disseminated in the books are difficult to access (in the kindle edition) due to lack of foot-notes, but this is not the main issue. The worst part, and the reason why it deserves a star, is that literature is cherry-picked to support the anecdotes that turns into personal perspectives and opinions. The studies against the vision of the writer are totally ignored.
Probably I was expecting a different scientific rigour in addressing the study of a wide range of social behaviours, but even when getting at the main topic the rebel attitude is often stereotyped, and always considered superficially, despite the writer is advocating for it. Through the anecdotes, rebellion is a confused idea, never disentangled from hard work, skills, responsible behaviour, curiosity or creativity.
If interested in the rebel talent, would suggest instead "The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved" by Mario Livio (by accident another Italian origin writer... no conflict of interests here!!).


