Samuel Maverick was a cattle rancher in Texas who refused to brand his cows. No one knows why, but the name stuck and people with a stubborn, independent streak became known as mavericks.

Sarah Lewis, a business psychologist, describes a maverick as someone who has an unbalanced personality profile. “He or she might be a brilliant extrovert but very poor at reading other people, or very good at meticulous, analytical work, but useless with a client.”

Risky it may be, but organisations will hire mavericks on sheer talent, Lewis says. “Years ago I did some work with a consultancy where a senior person was clearly allowed to play by his own rules – he turned up when he felt like it and left in the middle of sessions when his phone went off.” He was allowed to stay because he was a brilliant salesman, she says.

Not all organisations are as understanding, says Rob Goffee, professor of organisational behaviour at the London Business School. He sees mavericks as good at being themselves, but poor at adapting their strengths to context, and even socially unaware.

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“They say ‘this is me, take it or leave it’,” he says. This can be dangerous. “Organisations want authentic people who can act appropriately and skilfully to context.”

The ability to conform is a basic skill. “You need to conform enough – not totally, because you become a nonperson. You are playing the game,” Professor Goffee says. Clever organisations assign mentors to look after unruly employees. “They are prone to getting into trouble because they challenge assumptions and create conflict.” Because of this, mavericks often go it alone. “They are very good at being themselves in organisations that they have created, [where] they can say ‘take it or leave it’.”

But the lone ranger is the exception, not the rule, says Polly LaBarre, an author and journalist. Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, is a famous example (“He cares what colour the chips are inside the computer,” LaBarre says) but she disagrees that mavericks are “creative aliens”. Successful mavericks, she says, have insider-outsider status: mixing talent and breaking the rules.

She cites Jane Harper, an IBM staffer with more than 20 years’ service, who tried to solve the problem of competing for talent against dot-com startups. Without permission or budget she founded Extreme Blue, an “anti-internship” scheme that puts interns in charge of real business projects. It was a runaway success.

In a business culture with a premium on innovation and creativity, companies can’t afford to ignore unconventional types. “It’s a diversity issue as much as race or gender,” LaBarre says.

Consultancy, despite its suit-and-tie image, welcomes mavericks, says Steve Watmough, the chief executive of Xantus Consulting. The firm prides itself on offering greater freedom than normal. “We have a relatively high number of nonconformists. The business problems are original and complex so we want people to use flair . . . rather than a predetermined process.”

Do we all have an inner maverick? “No one wakes up in the morning and says ‘I’m going to go into work this morning and be exactly like everybody else’,” LaBarre says. Lewis agrees. As we get older, certain pathways in the brain become more defined, while others are tortuous, she says. One school of psychological thought suggests that we should forget striving to be perfect all-rounders. “You’re much better off doing more with what you’ve got. Play to your strengths,” Lewis says.

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