An unconventional business book for the rebels and misfits—the Rare Breeds—who don’t fit the traditional mold, offering an approach that’s anything but business as usual.“Brazen rant!” — Seth Godin, New York Times bestselling author of This is Marketing and What to Do When It’s Your TurnIn every job you’ve ever had, you’ve been judged, labeled, and made to feel like an outsider. Defiant. … Marketing and What to Do When It’s Your Turn
In every job you’ve ever had, you’ve been judged, labeled, and made to feel like an outsider. Defiant. Dangerous. Different. A real pain-in-the-ass.The message?
To be successful, you’ve got to fundamentally change.
But what if — instead of conforming — you learned how to punch society’s codes in the nose, run like a hooligan through the corridors of entrenched power, and succeed — not by grinding down your prickly parts, but by going all-in on who you really are?
“A guide for strategic rebellion.” — Mark Levy, founder of Levy Innovation and creator of Your Big Sexy Idea®
Meet Sunny Bonnell and Ashleigh Hansberger, award-winning global brand consultants, founders of Motto, and authors of Rare Breed: A Guide to Success for the Defiant, Dangerous, and Different. In this book, you’ll come face-to-face with seven controversial virtues that are typically seen as ladder-burning, career-ending personality traits that – convention says — keep mavericks, oddballs, and visionaries like you from getting along, getting buy-in, and getting ahead.
“A beautiful reminder that you are not alone.” — Charlamagne Tha God, New York Times bestselling author of Black Privilege
Sunny and Ashleigh provide singular insight into how you can flip the script and turn your so-called “vices” into your virtues, transforming your most “undesirable” flaws into the high-octane fuel of your success. In a world that wants to own you, you’ll finally learn how to own yourself, through embracing all your parts – not just the pretty ones.
College dropouts and social misfits Sunny and Ashleigh provide front-row seats to their own counterintuitive rise from broke-ass outsiders to brand consultants for iconic brands. Success, they show you, is no longer the sole purview of the Harvard MBA graduate. Your ticket to ride resides within the side of you that’s disorderly, independent, and rogue.
Deep down, you’ve always been the kid to point out when the emperor has no clothes. Yet, time and time again you’ve been faced with the consequences of deviating from social expectations. This is a new conversation for a new era.
What would happen if, starting today, you walked away from the sheeple?
What could you build?
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You have a choice to make — the choice to become a rare breed, someone who cares enough to contribute, to speak up and to challenge convention. Not to hustle, which is selfish, but to make a generous ruckus and to make things better. Take what you need from this brazen rant and go!
In “Rare Breed: A Guide To Success For The Defiant, Dangerous and Different, a book by the award-winning founders of the brand and digital powerhouse Motto, authors Sunny Bonnell and Ashleigh Hansberger deliver a high octane message to the rebellious thinkers, relentless perfectionists, strange weirdos, and spellbinding orators of the planet…….
“Squeeze every ounce of talent from yourself and everybody around you until one day, your potential is realized, and you change the world.”
Upon stumbling upon this book, I immediately thought to myself “Bonnell and Hansberger are my kind of peeps.” They appeal to my “contrarian nature as a Black, Libertarian, Taoist non conformist with nomadic proclivities.
Outside of the likes of heroes like Black intellectual Dr. Cornel West, the late foodie extraordinaire Anthony Bourdain, and singer Samantha Gongol of Marian Hill, I find most celebrities and everyday people I cross paths with boring as fuck. So reading this book was mellifluous to my mind, arguably the most personally impactful book I’ve read this year.
https://youtu.be/d7dZ_2RXnYQ
The biggest takeaway I walked away from it with? That I am boring as fuck too!
If I want to become more of a clanging cymbal in the world in terms of my Great Books, Great Minds mission of Fueling Human Connection, One Book At A Time, I need to up my own badass game. Pure and symbol
The introduction to Bonnell’s and Hansberger’s book Rare Breed comes out a blazing comes out a blazing, offering this prescriptive for following an unconventional path
“If You Want to Succeed, You Have to Own Who You Are”
Recounting their own series of trapeze acts in business and life, the authors shared this in the book:
“We were learning the hard way that vision, dangerous thinking, and defiance of the status quo come with a price. It made the first several years of building Motto a monstrous roller coaster. On one hand, we had nothing to lose. It was fun, real, raw, we loved every minute of it, and we helped cool companies do amazing things. But on the other, our guts hurt from the punches. We bounced checks, slept at the office, experienced soul-crushing defeats, and Sunny got so thin from stress and anxiety that her family staged an intervention. Most of all, we were lonely.”
And then there was this…..
“After admitting life had kicked out every ounce of heart left for the business, we had a conversation with Sunny’s dad, one of our greatest mentors. He warned us: “You two are a rare breed. Not everyone will love you. Some may hate you. But the ones who get you will never forget you. Now, dust yourselves off and get back in that saddle.”
Introduction aside, in the ensuing chapters, Bonnell and Hansberger launch into a meteor shower of wisdom, what they affectionately refer to as virtues. Like an espresso jolt at Peet’s Coffee, they take readers on a dizzying adventure through the book’s sections —
Rebellious, Audacious, Obsessed, Hot Blooded, Weird, Hypnotic, Emotional.
The pages offer a rude wake up call to flaneurs and those who are half-stepping it through life. The authors note in the book:
“First, remember that the Virtues alone don’t make you a Rare Breed. You need to use them to inspire others and build a better future. By awakening your potential, you’ll make hope viral for all the gifted outliers who will follow in your footsteps.”
“Second, being a Rare Breed is an act of soaring, unrelenting belief. There’s more to being exceptional than wanting to be. When it comes to launching your moonshot, you’ve got to believe that you have what it takes.”
As Bonnell and Hansberger vividly hammer in with this short refrain
Being defiant, dangerous, and different is a gift.