Imagine where Xerox would be today if it had been deviant enough to stop thinking of itself as a copier company. Think about what it would have meant to the former Big Three automakers if they had been smart enough to hire Ralph Nader and other consumer advocates as consultants and social-trend spotters, instead of chasing them down the backstreets of Detroit. How different would the airline industry be today if the nation's air carriers were deviant enough to imagine that their mission was to transport people, not to ship weight?

The history of innovation proves it; corporate leaders need to accept it: The advantage always falls to the deviant, because nature -- and commerce -- hates stasis. Deviants, by definition, are individuals who don't, won't, or can't play by the rules. Their mission is to propagate their deviance, not to climb the corporate ladder. As employees -- if they can even tolerate being employees -- they tend to be insubordinate. They often appear to be unfocused. They are almost always highly individualistic, and, more often than not, they make lousy team players. They range from difficult to manage (the best-case scenario) to totally unmanageable (the default mode). They are also the greatest hope that moribund corporations have for renewing their vision, energy, innovation, and future.

The challenge to business is simple: Think deviant. Start by finding the most deviant person you know. Take her to lunch. Do it today.

Ryan Mathews (ryan.mathews@firstmatter.com) and Watts Wacker (watts.wacker@firstmatter.com) are coauthors of The Deviant's Advantage: How Fringe Ideas Create Mass Markets (Crown Business, September 2002).

Sidebar: The Elvis Chronicles: Profiles in Deviance

Circa: 1950 - 1954
Occupation: Teen dreamer; white-trash truck driver
Loves: His momma and African-American music
Where he's at: Fringe to the Edge

Circa: 1954 - 1955
Occupation: Fledgling king of crossover music
Loves: His momma and fame
Where he's at: A local hit, Elvis has entered the Realm of the Cool

Circa: 1955 - 1960
Occupation: Rock star; movie star; soldier
Loves: His momma, young girls, and Harley-Davidsons
Where he's at: Next Big Thing

Circa: 1960 - 1977
Occupation: Vegas lounge act
Loves: His momma, fried peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches, and sequins
Where he's at: Social Convention

Circa: August 16, 1977 -
Occupation: Postage-stamp model; dead King
Loves: His momma, the fact that his daughter is no longer married to Michael Jackson
Where he's at: Between icon and cliché

Sidebar: Advice to Deviants

Hunter S. Thompson, the great deviant gonzo journalist, once wrote, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Not only is that good advice, there's never been a better time to act on it. If you're a deviant, you're in luck! The market has decided to look on you with favor -- you actually have a chance to cash in on your weirdness. In slightly less forgiving times, deviants didn't make vice president. Instead, they were exiled, stoned to death, imprisoned in cold, dark dungeons, or burned at the stake. So things could be a lot worse. Now, if you're a deviant trapped inside the body of a large corporation, here are 10 pieces of advice.

1. Split before you catch whatever "they" have.
2. Relax! They don't have a choice. Sooner or later, they'll have to listen to you.
3. Start your own company. It's easier than converting the masses.
4. Remember, you look as strange to them as they look to you.
5. Sell out! Sure, it lacks integrity, but the benefits can be pretty nice.
6. Learn the language. Pretend that you're in Uzbekistan. You need to learn to communicate in order to survive.
7. Nothing succeeds like success. Make them some money, and watch how fast they learn to love you.
8. Bear this in mind: Nothing goes from your head to a mass market without being changed.
9. Adopt a suit. Unless you're certifiable, they will have a hard time hating you as they get to know you.
10. Be who you are. After all, what other real choice do you have?