Contrarian - a person who takes up a position opposed to that of the majority, no matter how unpopular.

We all need a contrarian – a person to challenge our thinking, a devil’s advocate to propose a different point of view.   They may be older or younger, more experience or naïve, their job is to make you think.

A contrarian is not the well-meaning person who tells you it won’t work or your own “lizard brain” telling you it will fail.  They are the person who asks the questions that make you think it through and extend your thinking or open your eyes to even more possibilities.

To often we fail to challenge the status quo assuming the way we have always done it is OK, whereas we need to constantly be reviewing our thoughts and processes to see whether there is a better way.

Some years ago at the Engine Room we made the leap to becoming a “cloud based” accounting firm – this was a significant change in the way we worked ourselves and they way we worked with our clients.  We consider it to be a better way to work with our clients.  It hasn’t always been easy, but it has given us many other benefits in data security and access,  and ultimately lead us to having a “less paper” office.  We are now focused on opportunities to leverage the changes we have already made.

What changes have you made recently?  The change going on around us is one constant in our lives, and in this technological age, it is moving even faster.

So back to my original question – who do you use to challenge your thinking?