"John Putzier, president of FirStep, Inc, a performance management consulting firm in Pennsylvania, takes that laissez-faire attitude even further. In his book, Weirdos in the Workplace, he argues that some people with weird traits are in fact geniuses. Not all, but some. Imagine, he says, having Albert Einstein in your technology department. He might forget his shoes, but who really cares? Weirdness can add value to the company, according to Putzier. People feel free to be creative, to look at things differently and to bring a perspective that conformists couldn’t even begin to imagine.

Manary, from Assiniboine, agrees. “If you try to change something intrinsic to their nature, you risk destroying what is special about people — the reason you wanted them on your team from the beginning.” For that reason, Assiniboine offers diversity training that covers far more than the differences among sexes, races and nationalities. “We use True Colors and Myers-Briggs personality-type system to encourage an understanding of different work styles and personalities,” says Manary. For the most part, Manary says that co-workers understand that people have to do things in their own way."

by Laureen Griffin