David Giles Lewis – Mavericks: Book Review & Audio Summary

Book Info

• Book name: Mavericks: How Bold Leadership Changes the World
• Author: David Lewis, Jules Goddard, Tamryn Batchelor-Adams
• Genre: Business & Economics, Self-Help & Personal Development
• Published Year: 2020
• Language: English

Audio Summary

Synopsis

Mavericks challenges the notion that extraordinary leadership is reserved for the famous few. Through extensive research and interviews with “ordinary mavericks”—from explosive experts to education activists—the authors reveal that anyone can develop maverick qualities. The book identifies five key characteristics shared by all mavericks: belief, resourcefulness, non-conformist mindset, and the courage to challenge the status quo. Rather than focusing on celebrity leaders like Elon Musk or Steve Jobs, this book demonstrates how everyday people create meaningful change in their communities and organizations. It’s an inspiring call to embrace your inner maverick and become the change you want to see in the world.

Key Takeaways

• Being a maverick isn’t about genetics or upbringing—it’s a choice anyone can make repeatedly throughout their life
• Maverick leaders are driven by a deep belief in making things better, not by ego or personal preference
• Resourcefulness is essential for mavericks who often work against the odds with limited resources
• We all possess innate maverick tendencies from childhood; developing them is a conscious decision
• The world needs more maverick thinkers to create positive change in divided and homogenizing societies

My Summary

The Maverick Within All of Us

Here’s something that struck me immediately when I started reading Mavericks: the authors aren’t interested in telling us yet another story about Elon Musk or Steve Jobs. Thank goodness. Don’t get me wrong—those stories are inspiring, but they can also feel impossibly distant from our everyday lives. Instead, David Lewis, Jules Goddard, and Tamryn Batchelor-Adams take a refreshingly different approach.

They went out and interviewed ordinary people doing extraordinary things. And by ordinary, I mean people without billion-dollar companies or massive platforms. People like Khadim Hussain, a polio survivor from a remote Pakistani village who fought against cultural opposition to establish girls’ schools. Or Sydney Alford, an explosives expert who showed maverick tendencies as a child making firecrackers during World War II.

What these authors discovered is both liberating and challenging: being a maverick isn’t some rare genetic gift. It’s not about whether your parents encouraged independent thinking or whether you were born with a rebellious streak. It’s a choice. A choice you can make today, tomorrow, and every day after that.

This really resonated with me because I’ve spent years in the publishing world watching which books succeed and which don’t. The ones that make a real impact? They’re almost always written by people who refused to follow the conventional playbook. They saw something that needed to change and decided to be the ones to change it.

Why the World Needs More Mavericks Right Now

Before diving into what makes a maverick, let’s address the elephant in the room: Do we really need more mavericks? Isn’t the world chaotic enough?

The authors make a compelling case that yes, we absolutely do need more maverick thinking. We’re living in what they call “a divided and homogenizing world”—a paradox that perfectly captures our current moment. On one hand, we’re more polarized than ever. On the other hand, corporate culture, social media algorithms, and globalization are making everything feel increasingly same-ish.

Mavericks offer a solution to both problems. They’re original thinkers who can see through others’ eyes. They’re dissenters who challenge groupthink. They’re the people who refuse to accept “that’s just how things are done” as a final answer.

The end goal, according to the authors, is nothing less than creating “maverick societies and a better world.” Ambitious? Absolutely. Impossible? Not if enough people embrace their inner maverick.

Belief: The Foundation of Maverick Leadership

The first characteristic that defines all mavericks is belief—specifically, a deep conviction that things can and should be better. This isn’t wishful thinking or vague optimism. It’s a clear-eyed vision of what needs to change, combined with the determination to make those changes yourself.

Khadim Hussain’s story illustrates this perfectly. When he contracted polio as a child and lost the use of his legs, his friends wheeled him to school in a wheelbarrow. Think about that image for a moment. The determination it took for a disabled child to insist on education in a place where even able-bodied girls were often denied schooling.

When the teacher sent him home with the message that “people like you can’t go to school,” Khadim could have accepted that verdict. Instead, he turned his personal struggle into a broader mission. He didn’t just fight for his own education—he campaigned for girls’ schools in his village.

For two decades, Khadim faced fierce opposition from religious leaders and community members, including his own father. But his belief in education’s transformative power kept him going. Today, thousands of female students have graduated from the school he helped establish.

What strikes me about this characteristic is how it differs from ego-driven ambition. Maverick leaders aren’t motivated by personal glory or proving themselves right. They’re motivated by a genuine desire to make things better for others. Gandhi’s famous quote, “Be the change you want to see in the world,” captures this perfectly.

In practical terms, developing this kind of belief requires honest self-reflection. What really bothers you about your workplace, community, or industry? Not surface-level annoyances, but deep-seated problems that affect people’s lives? And more importantly, are you willing to do something about it?

Resourcefulness: Making Something from Nothing

The second maverick characteristic is resourcefulness. This makes perfect sense when you think about it. Mavericks are often working against the grain, challenging established systems that have plenty of resources behind them. To succeed, they need to be exceptionally creative with whatever they have at hand.

This reminds me of the scrappy independent publishers I’ve worked with over the years. They don’t have the marketing budgets of the Big Five publishing houses. They can’t afford prime bookstore placement or massive advertising campaigns. But the best ones find creative ways to reach readers—building genuine communities, leveraging social media authentically, and creating books so distinctive that word-of-mouth does the heavy lifting.

Resourcefulness isn’t just about making do with less money. It’s about seeing possibilities where others see limitations. It’s about combining things in unexpected ways. It’s about persistence when the conventional path is blocked.

Sydney Alford demonstrated this quality even as a child during World War II. While other kids might have been frightened by the bombs falling on London, young Sydney was fascinated. He collected materials from bomb sites and taught himself to make fireworks and firecrackers. This childhood experimentation laid the groundwork for his later career creating devices to destroy terrorist bombs—turning his unconventional curiosity into life-saving innovation.

The Maverick Mindset in Modern Organizations

One of the most valuable aspects of this book is how it addresses maverick leadership within existing organizations. You don’t need to start your own company or nonprofit to be a maverick. In fact, some of the most important maverick work happens inside established institutions.

However, this is also where things get tricky. Most organizations say they want innovation and fresh thinking, but their structures and cultures often punish exactly those behaviors. Conformity is rewarded with promotions. Challenging the status quo is seen as not being a “team player.”

The non-conformist mindset that characterizes mavericks can be particularly challenging in corporate environments. It requires a delicate balance—being different enough to drive change, but strategic enough to maintain the influence needed to implement that change.

I’ve seen this play out in publishing repeatedly. The editors who champion weird, boundary-pushing books often face resistance from sales and marketing teams who want “something like that bestseller from last year.” The maverick editors who succeed are the ones who can articulate why different is better, who can build coalitions of support, and who pick their battles wisely.

Practical Applications for Everyday Mavericks

So how do you actually develop your maverick qualities? The book offers several practical approaches that anyone can implement:

Start With Small Acts of Non-Conformity

You don’t need to revolutionize your entire industry tomorrow. Begin by questioning one assumption everyone takes for granted. In your next meeting, ask “Why do we do it this way?” and actually listen to whether the answers make sense. Challenge one process that seems inefficient. Suggest one unconventional solution to a persistent problem.

These small acts build your maverick muscles. They help you get comfortable with being the person who thinks differently. And they often reveal that others have been thinking the same things but were afraid to speak up.

Cultivate Curiosity Like a Child

The authors point out that we’re all born with maverick tendencies. Children are naturally curious, experimental, and original. They ask “why?” constantly. They try things that adults know won’t work. They haven’t yet learned that there’s a “right way” to do everything.

Reconnecting with that childlike curiosity is essential for maverick thinking. When you encounter something that doesn’t make sense, don’t just accept it. Investigate. Experiment. Ask questions that might seem naive—those are often the most penetrating questions.

Find Your Cause

Maverick leadership requires knowing what you believe in deeply enough to fight for it. This isn’t something you can force or fake. It comes from paying attention to what genuinely moves you—what problems keep you up at night, what injustices make you angry, what possibilities excite you.

For Khadim Hussain, it was education access. For Sydney Alford, it was using explosives knowledge to save lives. What’s your cause? It might be improving customer experience in your industry, making your workplace more inclusive, or solving an environmental problem in your community.

Build Your Resourcefulness

Practice working with constraints. The next time you face a problem, challenge yourself to solve it without the obvious resource (more budget, more time, more people). This forces creative thinking and helps you discover capabilities you didn’t know you had.

Some of the most innovative solutions I’ve seen in publishing came from severe constraints. When you can’t afford traditional advertising, you get creative with content marketing. When you can’t compete on price, you compete on community and connection.

Develop Resilience

Every maverick in this book faced opposition. Khadim Hussain’s own father opposed his work. Mavericks in corporate settings often face skepticism or active resistance from colleagues invested in the status quo.

Building resilience means expecting setbacks and not interpreting them as signs you should give up. It means finding support systems—other mavericks who understand what you’re trying to do. It means celebrating small wins along the way to larger goals.

What This Book Gets Right

There’s a lot to appreciate about Mavericks. First and foremost, the decision to focus on ordinary people rather than celebrity leaders makes the entire concept feel accessible. When you read about someone like Khadim Hussain, you think “I could do something like that” rather than “I could never be like them.”

The research methodology is also sound. Rather than just theorizing about what makes a maverick, the authors actually interviewed diverse maverick leaders and looked for common patterns. This grounded approach gives their conclusions real credibility.

I also appreciate how the book balances inspiration with practicality. Yes, it’s inspiring to read about people creating meaningful change. But the authors also break down the specific characteristics and mindsets that enable that change, giving readers a roadmap for developing their own maverick qualities.

The emphasis on choice is empowering. By arguing that being a maverick is a decision rather than an innate trait, the authors put agency in readers’ hands. You’re not off the hook because you weren’t “born that way” or because your circumstances aren’t ideal.

Where the Book Could Go Deeper

That said, there are areas where I wanted more from Mavericks. The summary I read focused heavily on just two of the five maverick characteristics (belief and resourcefulness), leaving me curious about the other three. A more complete treatment would explore all five in equal depth.

I also would have appreciated more discussion of the potential downsides of maverick thinking. Not every non-conformist idea is a good one. Not every challenge to the status quo leads to improvement. How do you distinguish between productive maverick thinking and contrarianism for its own sake?

The book could also address the privilege dynamics at play in maverick leadership. It’s easier to take risks and challenge authority when you have certain safety nets—financial security, educational credentials, racial or gender privilege. Khadim Hussain’s story is powerful precisely because he succeeded despite lacking these advantages, but more analysis of how privilege affects maverick leadership would be valuable.

Finally, while the book discusses maverick individuals, I wanted more concrete strategies for creating maverick-friendly organizations. How do leaders foster environments where maverick thinking thrives? What policies and practices support rather than suppress non-conformist ideas?

How This Book Compares to Similar Works

Mavericks fits into a broader genre of books about innovative thinking and unconventional leadership. It shares DNA with books like Adam Grant’s “Originals,” which explores how non-conformists move the world forward, and Malcolm Gladwell’s “David and Goliath,” which examines how underdogs and misfits succeed against the odds.

What distinguishes Mavericks is its democratic approach. While “Originals” draws heavily on academic research and high-profile examples, and Gladwell tends toward counterintuitive storytelling about exceptional cases, Mavericks insists that maverick qualities are available to everyone. It’s less about being exceptional and more about making exceptional choices.

The book also differs from typical leadership books that focus on climbing corporate ladders or maximizing profits. The mavericks profiled here are driven by purpose rather than conventional success metrics. In that sense, it has more in common with books about social entrepreneurship and changemaking, like “The Blue Sweater” by Jacqueline Novogratz.

Questions Worth Pondering

As I reflected on Mavericks, several questions kept coming up for me. What would happen if everyone in an organization tried to be a maverick? Would you get creative chaos or would competing visions cancel each other out? Is there an optimal ratio of mavericks to maintainers in any given system?

I also wonder about the personal costs of maverick leadership that the book doesn’t fully address. Khadim Hussain faced opposition from his own father for two decades. That’s an enormous sacrifice. How do you weigh the importance of your cause against the strain on personal relationships? When is compromise wisdom and when is it betrayal of your beliefs?

And here’s a question for you: What’s one belief you hold strongly enough to fight for it against opposition? What change do you want to see in your workplace, community, or the world? And more importantly, what’s stopping you from being the person who makes that change happen?

Final Thoughts: Your Maverick Journey Starts Now

What I appreciate most about Mavericks is its fundamental optimism. In a world that often feels stuck—where institutions resist change, where cynicism is easier than hope, where “that’s just how things are” seems like an unassailable argument—this book insists that individuals still matter. That ordinary people can create extraordinary change.

The five characteristics of mavericks that the authors identify aren’t superhuman qualities. They’re human qualities that we’ve perhaps allowed to atrophy. Belief. Resourcefulness. The courage to be different. The vision to see possibilities others miss. The persistence to keep going when facing opposition.

We all had these qualities as children. The question is whether we’ll choose to reclaim and develop them as adults.

If you’re reading this at Books4soul.com, chances are you’re already someone who thinks differently. You’re seeking wisdom and insight from books rather than passively consuming whatever the algorithm serves up. That’s a maverick move in itself.

The next step is taking what you learn and actually applying it. Identifying your cause. Questioning one assumption. Trying one unconventional approach. Making one choice that prioritizes what should be over what is.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Have you encountered maverick leaders in your own life? What characteristics did they display? And what’s one area where you could embrace more maverick thinking? Drop a comment below and let’s continue this conversation. After all, maverick societies are built one conversation, one choice, one person at a time.