I met an entrepreneurial headmistress recently. A few years ago she was appointed to rescue a failing school, which suffered chronic problems with pupil discipline. On her first day she shut the doors and asked every teacher to identify the worst offenders. They provided 72 names. She excluded every disruptive teenager, saying they would not be readmitted until she had met them and their parents for individual sessions in her study. Over the coming days she saw each one and in time almost all returned to finish their education. Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the school improved radically.
The really interesting aspect of her dramatic actions was that they broke all the rules. She had to ignore the system to fix the mess. Her methods were tough and unorthodox but highly effective. The school is now far improved and she has been feted.
Of course, complete rejection of all authority can lead to prison. There is sometimes a fine line between being an independent spirit and a criminal. A recent study at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business suggests that many successful entrepreneurs share a history of getting into trouble as teenagers. I know of two billionaires who were expelled from school. Clashing with institutions – big companies, government, schools – is almost expected of self-made men and women. The need for autonomy is a compulsion among business founders – they have to build their own structures rather than fit in with someone else’s.