The Deviant's Advantage: How to Use Fringe Ideas to Create Mass Markets

Don’t be afraid of deviants. They just may save your business.

In today's challenging and sometimes puzzling business environment, deviance equals innovation--the kind of breakthrough thinking that creates new markets and tumbles traditional ones. In The Deviant's Advantage, two of America's most respected futurists show how this deviance proceeds along a traceable trajectory, explaining how and why:

• Christian fundamentalism morphed from college Bible studies to Republican party king-making
• Reebok cares more about what’s on the feet of kids in Detroit and Philadelphia than what the so-hip-it-hurts set is wearing in New York or on Rodeo Drive
• Hugh Hefner, the creator of Playboy, transformed into a cultural icon with decidedly Puritan sensibilities

Tomorrow's breakthrough concept is lurking out there right now in the mind of a deviant individual. Your choice is simple: find it and exploit it or be buried by those who do.

RYAN MATHEWS is a futurist and principal of FirstMatter, a trend-watching consulting firm. Hailed as one of the few true philosophers in modern business, Mathews has been profiled in publications from Fast Company to Wired. He is a coauthor of the bestselling The Myth of Excellence and lives in Detroit, Michigan.

WATTS WACKER, also a futurist and principal of FirstMatter, has been profiled in such publications as Fast Company and Forbes and was called “one of the 50 smartest people in the business world” by the Financial Times. He is a coauthor of The 500-Year Delta and The Visionary’s Handbook. He lives in Westport, Connecticut.


From the Hardcover edition.